If you haven’t read the article, Challenging Myself by Drawing Slice of Life Manga!, please check it out first. It includes self-introduction of the writer and how to read 4-koma manga in this blog.
Episode-3 Philosopher
When I first saw these words, realise, learnt, colour, practise, mouldy, and etc. in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I thought they were misspelled. The English we learn at Japanese schools is American English, so I was unfamiliar with British English spellings. If you write the answers using British spellings for an English test, they might be marked as incorrect at schools in Japan (although it depends on the teacher’s knowledge and generosity).
There is Always Demand for British English in Japan.
Even though Japanese students learn American English at schools in Japan, there are always Japanese people who want to study British English, like me. I think the Harry Potter series, including books and movies, has played a huge role in increasing the number of Japanese people who get interested in the UK and British English.
There are English conversation schools that focus on teaching British English, but there are not many. So I searched a British teacher who is living in Japan online and decided to take a private English lesson at a café (since there were no online English lesson services at that time).
Complaining about Teaching English in Japan.
The British teacher I took a private English lesson from was an exchange student who was studying at a college in Japan (if my memories are correct). He was not a professional teacher, but I didn’t mind it because I wanted to have a chance to listen to British English and practice conversation.
One time, I asked him if there was anything he didn’t like when he was doing English teaching to Japanese adults as a part-time job. The answers I still remember are as below.
Complaint (1) : Some Japanese students could speak English only in short sentences, and he had to keep talking one-sided to avoid silence during lessons.
Complaint (2) : Some Japanese students constantly asked him to go out for dinner or a drink after the lesson.
Complaint (3) : One Japanese male student always asked him to go for a drink, and he felt he was being used for picking up women.
I don’t think teachers at English conversation schools have complaints like his. For (1), English conversation schools have curriculums and students have to buy their textbooks. So there is always time for students to read aloud the conversations in the textbooks.
As for (2) or (3), most students try to respect teachers’ private time and also it tends to be late if students wait until all lessons finish to ask teachers to go out for dinner or a drink.
Episode-4 Why Is It the Sorcerer’s Stone?
Before finding out the difference of Harry Potter’s 1st book title in the UK and the U.S., I did not know “English” is different depending on the country even if their 1st language is English. I had thought all people in English speaking countries could share the same publications so that translation was not necessary. I was shocked to notice that I had been wrong for a long time, and at the same time I thought it was interesting that there are differences for spellings, words, phrases, dialects, speaking manners and etc. even within the same language.
How about Japanese Titles of Harry Potter Series?
I have mentioned that the title of the Japanese version of Harry Potter for the 1st book is based on the translation of the U.K version. How about Japanese titles of Harry Potter after the 1st book?
In Japanese titles, there is no article before nouns and every noun is regarded as singular.
| Original title | Japanese title | English meaning of Japanese title (direct translation) |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | 『ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石』(harī pottā to kenja no ishi) | Harry Potter and philosopher’s stone |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | 『ハリー・ポッターと秘密の部屋』(harī pottā to himitsu no heya) | Harry Potter and room of secret |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 『ハリー・ポッターとアズカバンの囚人』 (harī pottā to azukaban no shūjin) | Harry Potter and prisoner of azukaban |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 『ハリー・ポッターと炎のゴブレット』 (harī pottā to honoo no goburetto) | Harry Potter and goblet of flame |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | 『ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団』 (harī pottā to fushichou no kishidan) | Harry Potter and knight team of phoenix |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | 『ハリー・ポッターと謎のプリンス』(harī pottā to nazo no purinsu) | Harry Potter and mysterious prince |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | 『ハリー・ポッターと死の秘宝』(harī pottā to shi no hihou) | Harry Potter and hidden treasure of death |
Some of the Japanese titles are very different from the original English titles. I thought it is interesting that the Japanese translator and publisher chose the word mysterious instead of half-blood for the 6th book. The translation of half-blood is 半純血(han-junketsu) in Japanese. 半(han) literally means half and 純血(junketsu) means pure blood. Although the word 半純血(han-junketsu) is used in the book, it is said that they did not use the word for the Japanese title because Japanese children are not familiar with it, and children can’t understand it means half muggle and half wizard/witch before reading the story.
The next episode is here.
