Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1): Ancient Greek Edition

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

 

 

This is an excellent resource for those who happen to be fans of both ancient Greek and Harry Potter. It's a nice opportunity to practice your Greek on something other than original text. It's also great as a teaching resource if you happen to have Greek students. The Greek is representative of the ancient language and there are plenty of paragraphs that would be great practice for those young students of Greek.

Harry Potter in ancient Greek!

Ok, so after the novelty has worn off, will you be able to read it?

You've had at least a year, if not two of Greek or the equivalent right? Because if you don't know Greek, then no, you can't just hold it next to your English copy of Harry Potter and match up the words or anything.

But if you have the requisite background you will probably be translating it, unless you are an advanced Greek "reader."

Most students are going to be doing a lot of translation--looking things up, puzzling over forms, using a translation as a crib, but it's doable.

I expect most people, other than diehards (I consider myself stubborn if not particularly proficient in Greek)and teachers will get this for the fun factor and then let it gather dust. Rather like I did in high school with my copy of Winnie the Pooh in Latin.

But Harry Potter is a compelling read in any language, and if you are a new student learning Greek, or an older one wanting to review--you should give it a try.

The grammar is rather easy, Rowling is known for her great characters and the amazing world she has created and not her intricate, classicising sentence structure--so you won't find any five paragraph sentences, with long subordinate clauses in the ancient Greek translation of Harry Potter ( :

But just like with most ancient Greek texts, you will need to look up a fair amount of vocabulary. All the more so, since the translator had to coin some of the words himself (think the Greeks had Quidditch?)

I recommend his site, where he explains all about his choices and the translation process,and where he posts the vocabulary for the first two chapters (so far).

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/greek_harry_potter/index.htm

Should you buy the book if you are a student of Greek/Harry Potter fan?

Sure if you think you will either sit down and read it, or play with it off and on as a side effort in your Greek studies. It's fun, but I admit I have not gotten very far yet myself. Anything that gets you reading Greek is a good thing.

If you are a teacher of ancient Greek?

Well, it might be fun to introduce the students to the fact that such a thing exists, and some of your students may well get excited about the idea of reading Harry Potter. But as you well know, they will have had to have had a fair amount of Greek before they can read this text, and if they are that far along, you are almost morally obligated to get them reading THE GREEKS <grin>

I don't think many Greek teachers will consider this for a text, and it's not like I have to tell teachers that, but it might be fun for you as a teacher to read it, if you are a Potter fan, and to mention to students for some extra practice during the summer or winter holidays. It might motivate them to keep up their Greek over the breaks.

It's worth a look, especially for younger students, but I mainly think it's something they might be inspired to try on their own. They know the story for the most part, so it will seem less daunting.

hope this helps