Customer Reviews

Garri Potter i filosofskii kamen / Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter (Russian)) (Russian Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a Russian-English translator, and a fan of the Harry Potter books. A friend gave me the Russian version of the first book, and I was quite interested to see how it went. To be blunt, it is poorly translated, and appears to be the result of the Russian publisher hoping to get something on the shelves as soon as possible. A great deal of Rowling's humor lies in her turns of phrase, and the translator made only half-hearted attempts to convey these, if he made the attempt at all. I frequently wondered about his grasp of the English language. Most baffling to me was that the translator changed Neville's pet toad into a turtle--but only on some pages. I cannot recommend this book even as a curiosity, since that would only encourage the publisher to continue putting out shoddy work.

I have been reading the Harry Potter novels for ages, and they will always be my favorite. I first read them in English two years ago, since of the two languages I know, English would have to be my better one. But last year, while visiting my family in Russia, I found and bought the translated version of books 1-4.

In my oppinion, the translation wasn't perfect, and not as good as it could have been. Nothing much was changed, but I found a strange loss of humor. I was more than surprised to find that my friends were also reading these books in Russia, and I'm happy with the translation since it's better than nothing. I suggest if you know or are learning Russian, and have read Harry Potter in another language, that you definately buy this book to compare. It's the first book in the series.

Unfortunately, the first Russian-edition Harry Potter leaves a lot to be desired. The translation is awkward and stilted, and best skipped entirely in favor of the later Russian editions, which keep more to the spirit of the orginals.

I've read the latest Russian language edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" released by Rosman in 2006. The translator is listed in the book as I. Oransky. I think it's not perfect, but done pretty well, and you can't get too far with the Harry Potter reading unless you begin with the first book in the series. So if your child is ready to start "exploring" "Harry Potter" in Russian language, here is where he has to start, and believe me, the start won't be too disappointing...

I'm a polyglot so when I saw Harry Potter in Russian, I had to have it. It's more difficult reading than the graded readers I use to teach with, but the kids got excited to even read a few paragraphs from it. It has joined my American, British, German, Spanish, and French versions, and I have no doubt I will purchase more volumes just because I want it in Russian. When my students see it, they are intrigued by the lettering, and more than one has learned the basics of Russian just to be able to read a little. I would not recommend it to beginners, as the word stock is not graded down, but for pleasurable reading, it's a great way to keep up one's vocabulary and grammar!

They translated this one from the English version, not the American version. There are a few differences, but it's pretty well translated.