Caught up in translation

Ahhh, Quebec City in the summer time.

What a beautiful city! What amazing weather!

What a great opportunity to practice my French!

And what a great opportunity to visit a number of used book stores and find, at really great prices, the final four Harry Potter novels in their French translations.

I now own the entire seven-book series in French. I have written several posts on this blog related to these translations and they have been some of the best read entries of all.

As much of a challenge as it is to read the books in another language, it is also very rewarding. Despite some of my earlier reservations, I find the translators have done a wonderful job of capturing J.K.'s original language and imagery, of recreating the magic of her world, even of coming up with inventive names for some of the characters.

And, by forcing me to read the stories more slowly, the French translations have more than once permitted me to notice details that I have missed in my many readings of the English versions in the past. I get so caught up in the story in English that I tend to speed right through each and every time.

With the French, I have to read slowly, look up unfamiliar words, think about what I'm reading in order to keep up. And that means I sometimes notice more.

Stay tuned. My plan is to read The Deathly Hallows in English (since I have just finished reading the first six novels), then start over again with the French translations. It should be fun!