Harry Potter in French

This week I agreed to tutor Edith's cousin in English, because Adeline has a big exam coming up which will determine whether or not she gets a cool job which requires intermediate proficiency in one of four languages.  I guess I didn't really understand the logistics of this plan, because today Adeline came to the house, knocked on the door, and said, "We go?"

I did not know where it was we were supposed to be going (I thought the plan was that she and I would practice talking in English whilst going for a long walk), but I've learned to just live in a state of constant confusion.  It's easier to be confused than try to ask and understand what's going on most of the time.  Adeline and I drove through the winding country roads under the silver light of the full moon, and we eventually wound up on a farm.  She parked the car, and we got out.  It was not immediately apparent that there was a house nearby until I'd spent a moment or two thinking that this is how every horror story starts out, but we rounded some trees and came upon the home of Adeline's parents.

It's a very large farmhouse with a crackling fireplace and huge kitchen.  There were many antiques gathered in the living room, like old bird cages and grandfather clocks.  Adeline's father sat watching news coverage of the hurricane currently ravaging the east coast of the United States.  Her mother kissed my cheek and handed me an orange, and then I followed Adeline back to her bedroom.

We had a lot of fun just talking about whatever.  I think she mostly wants to get practice with audio comprehension, so we had normal friendly banter.  I noticed a Jane Austen book sitting on her desk, and I had to flip through the inside for a minute before realizing which one it was, because my literal translation of the title didn't directly correspond to any of Austen's books.  Once I saw "Marianne," however, I knew it was Sense and Sensibility.  Adeline also showed me her version of Pride and Prejudice, and then she brought out her whole collection of Harry Potter books.  Did you know that the French don't call the magical school of witchcraft and wizardy "Hogwarts" like we do?  They call it "Poudlard."  What???  The cover art was super different too.

You'll notice, too, that instead of being titled, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," the first book is called, "Harry Potter at the Sorcerer's School."  The book is significantly thinner than its hefty English counterpart, too, which makes me wonder if a lot of stuff got cut during translation.  While in college, I learned that a lot of stuff goes on during the translation process that authors are usually unaware of, as it's hard to gauge the accuracy of your translated book if you don't speak the language.  And obviously, a lot of things flat out have to be changed, because many things just don't translate from culture to culture.  There are even differences between the UK version and the American version of HP. 

So most of our conversation was me flipping out about the differences between the French and English versions of my favorite books.  Adeline seemed entertained.