Lost in translation: Harry Potter in Arabic

Published in

The Curious Storyteller

5 min readJul 31, 2016

When J.K Rowling imagined the famous story of Harry Potter, she built a specific universe. The world of Harry Potter is set in the United Kingdom and shares cultural references with the British society as well as the Western world. Harry eats porridge in the morning and celebrates Christmas by the fireplace.

She told a universal story set in a particular context. How did readers who did not speak English understand the story? How did translators adapt the text to another language and culture?

Here are findings from a paper on the translation of Harry Potter in Arabic written by Syrian scholar, Wafa Dukmak.

Forget about snogging and drinking: cultural habits that got deleted

According to Dukmak, “some foods and drinks popular in the western world are not accepted in Arab culture, especially those prohibited by Islam like pork and alcohol.”

In the first book of Harry Potter, all the drinking references were deleted except for Voldemort followers. The Deatheaters were left drinking alcohol. Dukmak thinks it’s because they represent the evil side and it is an ideological choice.

When the drinking was not deleted, it was changed. A large brandy became a “glass of water” for example. Hagrid’s habit of drinking was deleted. For example, these quotes did not appear in the Arabic version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: “every now and then he gets drunk”,“once he’s got Hagrid drunk”.

Harry Potter is considered children literature. However, “kissing is considered inappropriate for the Arab child reader,” writes Dukmak.

Here are some examples:

“ ‘Bye Harry’ said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek”
Arabic translation: “Hermione waved at him and said ‘goodbye Harry’”

“Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder In the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who to Harry’s amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lop-sided.”
Arabic translation: “ Harry watched Hgrid sitting at the teachers’ table, talking to Professor McGonagall. To his amazement, he saw her laughing merrily at something he said to her.”

In 7th book, the official translator left some alcoholic drinks in the text. He also kept the kissing, snogging, hugging and did not adapt anything. Dukmak seems to think it was because readers were growing up by the 7th book.

Houses and schools are different in the Arab world

“The building system of England present in the book is somewhat different from that in the Arab world and especially Syria, ”explains Dukmak. At the beginning of the first Harry Potter book, J.K Rowling describes the Dursley’s house, which is a two-store house. This type of house is not very common in Syria as most people live on flats on one floor. The few people in Syria who have two floors are well off. In the case of England and for the Dursleys, it is not the case. Their house is one of many suburban houses.

The school systems are also different. “Hogwarts is a boarding school, a concept which is not familiar for Arab children. In Syria, there are only a few schools where children can study and live during the school year. They are not associated with prestige. Students come from far away villages and disadvantaged parts of the country.” The translators had to make their translation of Rowling’s universe clear enough for an Arab audience.

Arabic translators do not like translating food items:

In her paper, Dukmak highlights the importance and quantity of food items in Harry Potter. In the Philosopher’s Stone, there are over 80 food items. Almost a quarter of the food items stay the same in translation like “cold tinned tomatoes”.

But in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the new translator decided to forget some of them. Over 45% of references to food items were deleted.

Here is a table of how different British food items were translated into Arabic:

Some cultural references were just too complicated

There were moments that were complicated to translate. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dukmak thinks the translator particularly abridged the original texts. For example, “whole scenes of leprechauns’ cheering act during the Quidditch World Cup final between Ireland and Bulgaria were left out in translation.”

Although Halloween is a well-known celebration, some readers are not familiar with the traditions that go on during the day. For example, see this translation:

“On Halloween morning they woke up to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors”
Translation in Arabic: “On Halloween morning, they woke up to a delicious smell filling the corridors. It was the smell of pumpkin cake that is special for the celebration.”

Describing clothes is not easy either:

“ Both were dressed as Muggles though very inexpertly; the man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes; his colleague, a kilt and a poncho”
Translation in Arabic: “Both were dressed in commoner’s clothes. The man who was holding the watch was wearing an old fashioned outfit while his colleague was wearing a Scottish skirt and a short cloak.”

A critical paper: Was there any coordination between translators?

Overall Wafa Dukmak notices many differences in the different Arabic Harry Potter books. The several translators didn’t seem to have been coordinated by the publishing house. The translator of the fourth book deleted many parts of the book and forgot a lot of food items. A single word in English would sometimes be translated differently in the various books. That might have hindered the readers’ comprehension that is was the similar object all throughout the series.