The Titles of Magical Books in Harry Potter

 

Wandering With Werewolves

 

Chinese (Mainland)	与狼人一起流浪 Yǔ lángrén yìqǐ liúlàng	与 yǔ = 'with'. 狼人 lángrén = 'wolf man'. 一起 yìqǐ = 'together'. 流浪 liúlàng = 'drift'.	Drifting Together with the Wolf Man
Chinese (Taiwan)	與狼人結伴浪跡天涯 Yǔ lángrén jiébàn làngjì tiānyá	與 yǔ = 'with'. 狼人 lángrén = 'wolf man'. 結伴 jiébàn = 'to go with'. 浪跡 làngjì 'wander about' 天涯 tiānyá 'the ends of the world'.	Wandering the World with a Wolf Man
Japanese	狼男との大いなる山歩き Ōkami-otoko to no ōi naru yama-aruki	狼男と ōkami-otoko to = 'wolf man' + 'with' = 'with a wolf man'. の no = connecting particle 大いなる ōi naru = 'big, large, great'. 山歩き yama-aruki = 'mountain walking'.	Great Mountain Hikes with a Wolf man
Vietnamese	Lang thang với người sói	lang thang = 'roaming'. với = 'with'. người sói = 'person + wolf' = 'wolf man'.	Roaming with a Wolf Man

The books in the Gilderoy Lockhart Series follow a simple but humorous pattern in English. All describe spending time with a particular kind of unsavoury creature, expressed in the form 'X with Y'. In each case there is alliteration between X and Y (Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, etc.).

The interesting points in any translation are:

How this assortment of unpleasant creatures is translated.

How the parallel meanings are expressed.

How the effect of the alliteration is reproduced. This is the most difficult task because alliteration is, of course, dependent on the particular sound of words in a language.

Werewolf:

Like the vampire, the werewolf has travelled extensively to other cultures and is quite easily translated as a 'wolf man' or 'wolf person'.

Break With A Banshee	Gadding With Ghouls	Holidays With Hags
Travels With Trolls	Voyages With Vampires	Year With The Yeti

Category: Adventure