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As I mentioned before I'm translating at least some of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone(the version I have)
The fun part of translating is discovering things like the parallel between the click of Dumbledore's streetlight 'Out-Putter' when he arrives on Privet Drive and the click of the mail slot cover when Harry's first Hogwarts letter arrives. But there are challenges, too.
The version I have is itself a bit of a translation from the British HP and the Philospher's Stone. I doubt many outside of Scholastic Press are certain why some of this was done, especially in the form it was done rather than, say, footnotes. But some things probably did need explaining for children. Some things which were left maybe need explaining as well. For instance, two uses of the word 'knickerbocker.'
First, it's used in the phrase 'knickerbocker glory,' which is something I think most Americans have never heard of. Personally when I first read it, I thought, "Well, it's got ice cream on top. So, it's probably something with fruit in a glass." Then I read on and forgot about it. When I was recently translating though, I needed to actually look it up. My reaction was, "Oh, it's one of *those* desserts." My original guess wasn't so bad, but my understanding was a bit different after looking it up. So should there have been a footnote about it? For my translation I inserted one. But for the "American translation" maybe it was best not to have one. Simpler desserts with fruit and cream seem to be looked on as posh in Europe, but they are rather more homey in America, not something you'd see in a restaurant in most parts of the country. So the impact of the term 'knickerbocker glory' is probably greater if you leave it as is. Plus describing it might leave American kids with the impression it's a kind of ice cream sundae, which it is not. Believe me if your mouth is all set for an ice cream sundae and you get fruit and cream it's a big disappointment, though it's a perfectly fine dessert if that's what you're expecting. It is interesting that the glory has whipped cream and a glacé cherry on top. An American ice cream sundae would have the whipped cream and a maraschino cherry, which is flavored a bit differently. (Whether they are glacé cherries or maraschino cherries, they taste icky-sweet to me. Since I was little, I've made myself popular by giving mine to someone else.)
Why the word knickerbocker? It basically means someone from New York City specifically someone of Dutch ancestry from New York back from the days when it was Dutch New Amsterdam. The Roosevelts, Teddy, Eleanor and Franklin, were all knickerbockers. Most of my New York ancestors were English, but one was a New Amsterdam Dutchman. So is the knickerbocker glory a distant tribute to NYC? The wiki entry says that the dessert reminded someone of knickerbocker-style pants, which seems very odd and unlikely.
But that does bring me to the other use of the word in the book. Dudley's Smeltings uniform includes orange knickerbockers. Not only has that style of pants gone out of fashion in America, so has the word in that usage. The term for that clothing item in America is generally the shortened version 'knickers,' which were last seen commonly on golf courses in the 1950's. But, of course, if you take that term back to Britain, a school uniform consisting of a maroon tail coat and orange knickers is a good deal funnier than Rowling intended!
The fun part of translating is discovering things like the parallel between the click of Dumbledore's streetlight 'Out-Putter' when he arrives on Privet Drive and the click of the mail slot cover when Harry's first Hogwarts letter arrives. But there are challenges, too.
The version I have is itself a bit of a translation from the British HP and the Philospher's Stone. I doubt many outside of Scholastic Press are certain why some of this was done, especially in the form it was done rather than, say, footnotes. But some things probably did need explaining for children. Some things which were left maybe need explaining as well. For instance, two uses of the word 'knickerbocker.'
First, it's used in the phrase 'knickerbocker glory,' which is something I think most Americans have never heard of. Personally when I first read it, I thought, "Well, it's got ice cream on top. So, it's probably something with fruit in a glass." Then I read on and forgot about it. When I was recently translating though, I needed to actually look it up. My reaction was, "Oh, it's one of *those* desserts." My original guess wasn't so bad, but my understanding was a bit different after looking it up. So should there have been a footnote about it? For my translation I inserted one. But for the "American translation" maybe it was best not to have one. Simpler desserts with fruit and cream seem to be looked on as posh in Europe, but they are rather more homey in America, not something you'd see in a restaurant in most parts of the country. So the impact of the term 'knickerbocker glory' is probably greater if you leave it as is. Plus describing it might leave American kids with the impression it's a kind of ice cream sundae, which it is not. Believe me if your mouth is all set for an ice cream sundae and you get fruit and cream it's a big disappointment, though it's a perfectly fine dessert if that's what you're expecting. It is interesting that the glory has whipped cream and a glacé cherry on top. An American ice cream sundae would have the whipped cream and a maraschino cherry, which is flavored a bit differently. (Whether they are glacé cherries or maraschino cherries, they taste icky-sweet to me. Since I was little, I've made myself popular by giving mine to someone else.)
Why the word knickerbocker? It basically means someone from New York City specifically someone of Dutch ancestry from New York back from the days when it was Dutch New Amsterdam. The Roosevelts, Teddy, Eleanor and Franklin, were all knickerbockers. Most of my New York ancestors were English, but one was a New Amsterdam Dutchman. So is the knickerbocker glory a distant tribute to NYC? The wiki entry says that the dessert reminded someone of knickerbocker-style pants, which seems very odd and unlikely.
But that does bring me to the other use of the word in the book. Dudley's Smeltings uniform includes orange knickerbockers. Not only has that style of pants gone out of fashion in America, so has the word in that usage. The term for that clothing item in America is generally the shortened version 'knickers,' which were last seen commonly on golf courses in the 1950's. But, of course, if you take that term back to Britain, a school uniform consisting of a maroon tail coat and orange knickers is a good deal funnier than Rowling intended!
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I think it would have been much better for American kids to have to deal with the British references rather than creating American versions. I suspect that happens with some adult books, too.
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No argument there!