Customer Reviews

Harrius Potter et Camera Secretorum (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Latin Edition)

5 star:		(7)
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2 star:		(1)
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A fan of Peter Needham's brilliant translations of Harry Potter, I've posted a lengthy review of this latest installment, a review unfortunately too long to appear here, on my own web site:web.me.com/efirmage/Supporting_Documents/Scholarly_Works_files/Review%20of%20Harry%20Potter.pdf. The review includes numerous examples of Needham's deftness in turning idiomatic English into equally idiomatic Latin. Suffice it to say, this new translation is as good as the first. I can't imagine a better way to introduce kids to the fun of Harry Potter and Latin. And for anyone interested in learning conversational Latin (no, that's not a contradiction in terms), this book is a superb teacher.

While I wouldn't read Harry Potter in English I was delighted to get it in Latin. After reading the first book I was really hoping that more would be translated though I didn't really expect this to happen. After all Latin isn't supposed to be very popular! But the success of the first book proved me wrong. I was happy to get this book and it lived up to my expectations. It's an entertaining story written in highly readable Latin. If you liked the first book you'll love this one too.

It was lots of fun reading this book and having it in Latin was a special treat indeed. The translation is great and reading it I felt that the book was written in Latin. The translator, Peter Needham, has done a pukka job at rendering modern language into an ancient tongue, and words such as car (autocinetum) or elevator (anabathrum) seem to come natural. This just goes to show that far from being a dead language Latin has been in use continuously from Roman times right up to the present. New words have been added to Latin just like English gets new words for new things and even though the number of Latin speakers today is much lower than in the past it is still a living language that continues to be used. I wish the rest of the Harry Potter series could be translated as well. It's so much more fun than reading De Bello Gallico, for example, and would a lot more encouraging for students to learn Latin and indeed make learning Latin more fun.

Other great and exciting books are Insula Thesauraria (Latin Edition), Pericla Navarchi Magonis (Latin Edition), Mysterium Arcae Boulé: The Boulé Cabinet Mystery (Latin Edition), Rebilii Crusonis Annalium (Latin Edition), but especially Fabulae Divales: Fairy Tales in Latin (Latin Edition) is great if you like magic and fairy tales.

See my list "Latin Reading List".

What a great way to practice Latin! I am a Harry Potter fan, and being able to read it in Latin was a treat. I often struggle to find ways to practice Latin, and reading Harry Potter was infinitely more enjoyable to be than trying to work through Cicero or De Bello Gallico... I highly recommend it to anyone trying to learn or wanting to practice Latin.

I got this as a gift for my mother who's a Potter nut and is fluent in Latin & she loves it! It's also fun for me to try and figure out what's going on with my very limited Latin but good understanding of the stories. Highly recommended as a fun and unusual gift for serious fans!!!

I admired the translation of 'Philosopher's Stone' and defended it against some criticism that I felt to be quite unfair: but I can hardly believe that this was by the same translator. To me, it reads like the effort of an enthusiastic student who has yet to grasp the principles of translating and transforming style and idiom.
A great disappointment.

I bought this as a gift for a Latin scholar, who also happens to be a Harry Potter fan. It turned out to be a good gift.
It would also make a great gift for someone who is learning Latin--easily expand your vocabulary.

Praised be the one who translated this book.
The editing is very professional, and I am hoping they
translate the rest of the books also.

It is surprising ascertain as the translation of Needham is able to maintening the freshness of the tale. I am accustomed to use the latin in the latin-gregorain Mass, but it is however a curial latine; this one, on the contrary, is really modern !

Valete (goodbye in latin), Natale Vadori, Trieste, Italy