Site last updated:
1 January 2009

Many Happy Editions

I am collecting foreign-language translations of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Probably I should have tried collecting the first book in the series because there probably won't be as many translations of book three as there are of book one.

On the other hand, a guy in Canada has already collected all the translations of book one. I'm so jealous! Plus, he says the Khmer translation is hard to get, and somehow I wasn't clever enough to get it while I was actually physically in Cambodia. It seems to be available online from Monument Books, but ordering it online at this point would be a kind of let-down.

Why am I collecting these books? Because it's neat to have books in neat languages, even if I can't read them. (Collectors don't really have reasons that make sense.) Some of them I can sorta read. I've studied Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Latin, German and Mandarin Chinese. I've read entire books in Spanish and Italian (and French if you count studying the Little Prince in school). Actually, I'm not sure I have read a whole book in Spanish. Probably I have. Probably I could. The others? No. 'Specially not Japanese or Mandarin. 

I'm happy for Rowling that she is able to sell her books around the world, and happy for non-English speakers that they have access to her stories.

The Movies

Oh, and about the movies: they did a great job with the first one. A great book, a great story. Full of magic and wonder. The second movie was, at best, as good as the second book, which is the worst of the five. And I'm really just not a fan of spiders. Creepy. The third and other movies? I decided not to see them. For a couple of reasons. Their original Dumbledore had to be replaced, for one thing. But mostly it's two other reasons.

I heard that the director changed the style of the movie. In order to portray the characters as more normal teenagers, he dispensed with the wizard robes, etc. The most important reason, though, is that I don't want the movie to replace the book-pictures in my head.

That's what happened with the first book: now when I read it, I see the movie. I can't imagine the story for myself anymore. They did a good job, and it's a good movie, but it changed the way I experience the book. I don't want that to happen with the third book. Movie Ron is just not as cool as Imaginary Ron.

Dumbledore is cool.

Somewhere online, I encountered a contest that asked: "If you could be a character from the Harry Potter series, who would you be?" I thought about it for a minute or so, and then I knew. I would be Albus Dumbledore. He is eminently wise and kind. He is highly respected and greatly admired. Though he is not perfect, he usually turns out to be right. And in a world of dementors and death eaters, bureaucrats and bullies, he is Harry's refuge.

Books by J. K. Rowling

Links

• Official J. K. Rowling Site (I recommend the text-only version.)
• Harry Potter in TONS of foreign languages
• HP in foreign languages
• More about the Translations
• Translated names and terms
• Biographical article
• List of links
• About Rowling
• About being a famous writer
• Harry Potter as an industry catalyst
• An In-Depth Review of The Legend of Rah and the Muggles by Nancy K. Stouffer
  (Nancy Stouffer is the woman who claims that Rowling violated her intellectual property rights somehow. According to this review, the claim is completely bogus.)
• Fantastic Fiction (A favorite resource.)
• Sci-Fan Site (Another useful resource.)
• Global Network of Dreams (Other authors you might like.)