Hooray! My Harry Potter in German collection is now complete!
My son got back tonight from a Study Abroad program in Prague, and he brought me back Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes, Harry Potter #7, the only volume I didn’t have the German version of. So today’s Sonderling Sunday, of course, will begin this book.
My son pointed out right away that the title, directly translated “Harry Potter and the Hallows of Death,” sounds better than the original English title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He’s right.
And I love the way Harry on the cover looks totally like a German teen!
I’m amazed that the new volume, in paperback, actually is smaller and thinner than my English hardback. They used thin paper and small print, and there are no pictures at the chapter headings. My English book has 759 pages, and the German book 767, so there are still more pages in German, but just barely.
The first chapter title is “The Dark Lord Ascending” = Der Dunkle Lord erhebt sich
And here’s the first sentence:
“The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.”
= Die beiden Männer kamen aus dem Nichts, erschienen wenige Meter voneinander entfernt auf dem schmalen, mondhellen Weg.
“wands” = Zauberstäbe (“magic-rods”)
“The best” = Hervorragende (“Excellent”)
“brambles” = Brombeersträuchern (“Blackberry shrubs”)
“hedge” = Hecke
“impressive wrought-iron gates” = imposante schmiedeeiserne Doppeltor (“imposing smith-iron double gates”)
“footsteps” = Schritte
“peacock” = Pfau
“strutting majestically along the top of the hedge”
= der majestätisch auf der Hecke entlangstolzierte
“Gravel” = Kies
“pale-faced” = fahlgesichtigen
“heartbeat” = Herzschlag
“handle” = Türklinke (“door-handle”)
“roaring fire” = prasselnden Feuer
“handsome marble mantelpiece” = hübschen marmornen Kaminsims
“the new arrivals” = die Neuankömmlinge
“gloom” = Düsternis
“snakelike” = schlangenähnlich
“a pearly glow” = ein perlmuttartiger Glanz
“nightfall” = Einbruch der Dunkelheit
“place of safety” = sicheren Aufenthaltsort
“others fidgeted” = andere rutschten unruhig auf ihren Stühlen hin und her
(“others slid restlessly in their chairs back and forth”)
“intensity” = Eindringlichkeit
“scorched” = versengt
“curved” = krümmte
“Confundus Charm” = Verwechslungszauber (“Confusion Magic”)
“wheezy giggle” = pfeifendes Kichern
“enchantments” = Zauberbannen
“squared his shoulders” = straffte die Schultern
“Curse” = Fluch
“Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement” = Leiter der Abteilung für Magische Strafverfolgung
A 23-letter word!
“Ministry departments” = Ministeriumsabteilungen
“high-ranking” = hochrangigen
“destination” = Bestimmungsort
I’ll finish tonight with this sentence:
“That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs.”
= Dass Potter noch lebt, ist mehr meinen Irrtümern zuzuschreiben als seinen Erfolgen
I’m finishing on page 6 of the English version, Seite 14 of the German (more front matter is counted). (Interesting — the German book is 8 pages longer than the English, and that might be the difference right there.)
It’s good to be back with Sonderling Sunday! Have a hervorragende week!
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