A cartoon from British satirical magazine Private Eye pointing out who will be the real victims at the end of the final book. NOT spoilery at all!

http://pics.livejournal.com/ffutures/pic/0001wyye/

LOL, that's great!

So true! Same goes for Scholastic Publishing here in the US. It's too bad that spoilers are leaking out...geez...can't people wait a day?! So thanks for clearly labeling the thread as spoiler-free. I'm almost afraid to go on the internet because I might accidentally see something!

Nice cartoon!

Groobie, this is so true. I read a newspaper yesterday and I'm really afraid I read a spoiler. This was just so bad, because the article looked really like it wouldn't include any spoilers. I mean, there was a photo of two people wearing t-shirts that read: We don't give the end away (or something along the lines)

Arghh. Okay, I've long ago made my decision to read the translated version of this book, which means I've got to wait till the end of October. Three more months. I can do that.

Wow...I think it will be near impossible to remain spoiler-free for three months!

Not if you threaten to kill your friend if they tell you anything . But honestly, I think I'll get through the next weeks Harry-free. They don't discuss these things in TV or so. Once the English book is available they stop the rumors, because everyone who wants to find out could read the English version. Well, almost everyone. While I like Hermionie better than Hermine (her German name) I don't see a point in buying the last book in English. And I like the German drawings of Harry much better

I couldn't agree less. I sure don't like the German drawings. They always make me shudder. And some of the other translations...

Can you imagine the beautiful little "Snitch" becoming a "Schnatz"? And all those other Quidditch-terms... Thanks, but no thanks!

...Why does Schnatz just sound so... so... wrong?

I don't mean in the word for the little snitch thing, but in a way that has me turning several shades of red. I don't even know what the word means aside from snitch. O.o

And lol! Cute funny Poooor publishing companies!

The odd thing about the illustrations is that the British editions don't have any, apart from the cover - not sure why, for some reason they just don't do it. I must have read four or five before I even knew that the other countries got pictures.

Just waiting for my copy to arrive. I suspect that the postmen are rather busy today...

Schnatz has a certain German ring and look to it, while Snitch looks and sounds English. I'd pefer Schnatz, but then I don't think I get a say in the matter, I don't read the books.
As far as I'm aware the word does have a meaning in German, it was made up for Harry Potter. It seems to be derived from Schatz (treasure), but only the translators could tell.

Somebody here reading both English and German version? How's the translation otherwise?

I've read a couple of the books in Spanish. That did wonders for my already bizarre vocabulary, I can tell you!

(I learned basic Spanish in a hurry, then got on to more advanced vocabulary. As a result, by the time I'd finished my studies, I couldn't identify basic foodstuffs very well, but I could talk very intelligently about drought, drug trafficking, the economy and environmental issues pretty effectively! After reading Harry Potter... Well... I'll leave that to your imagination!)

What struck me was the inconsistencies in the translations between the Spanish books; is it the same with other languages?

Now, I know that different people did the translations, but you'd think that they'd try to use the same terms. Thus, 'goblin' in the first book is translated using the same word as 'gnome' in the second. Of course, they are not the same thing.

And, Marcus... Other countries get pictures. Really? I didn't know that. Neither the Spanish nor the French versions I've seen have any.

Chris

It may only be the American editions - I haven't looked at others.