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The Titles of Magical Books in Harry Potter |
Year With The Yeti
| Chinese (Mainland) | 与西藏雪人在一起的一年 Yǔ Xīzàng xuěrén zài yìqǐ de yìnián |
与 yǔ
= 'with'. 西藏 Xīzàng = 'Tibet'. 雪人 xuěrén = 'snow man'. 在一起 zài yìqǐ = 'together'. 的 de = connecting particle 一年 yìnián = 'one year'. |
One Year with the Tibetan Snow Man |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 與雪人相伴的歲月 Yǔ xuě-rén xiāng-bàn de suì-yuè |
與
yǔ
= 'with'. 雪人 xuě-rén = 'snow man'. 相伴 xiāng-bàn = 'mutually accompany'. 的 de = connecting particle 歲月 suì-yuè = 'years and months' = 'years'. |
Years in Mutual Company wtih a Snow Man |
| Japanese | 雪男とゆっくり一年 Yuki-otoko to yukkuri ichi-nen |
雪男と
Yuki-otoko to = 'snow man' + 'with' = 'with
a snow man'. ゆっくり yukkuri = 'slowly, leisurely'. 一年 ichi-nen = 'one year'. |
One Year Spent in Leisurely Manner with the Snow Man |
| Vietnamese | Một năm với Người tuyết quạu quọ | 
= 'one'.năm = 'year'. với = 'with'. người = 'person'. tuyết (雪) = 'snow'. quạu quọ = 'peevish, ill-tempered'. |
One year with the Ill-tempered Snow 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.
Yeti:
The Yeti is also known as the 'Abominable Snow Man' in English. 'Snow Man' is how he has been translated into the four versions.
Like the Voyages with Vampires, the Japanese must be understood verbally, i.e., as an abbreviation of Yuki-otoko to yukkuri ichi-nen o sugosu ('To spend a year with a snow man in a leisurely fashion'). The reason, again, is because yukkuri can't be used as an adjective, only as an adverb.
 Break
With A Banshee |
Gadding
With Ghouls |
Holidays
With Hags |
| Travels
With Trolls |
Voyages
With Vampires |
Wandering
With Werewolves |
Category: Adventure
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