The Titles of Magical Books in Harry Potter

 

Important Modern Magical Discoveries

 

Chinese (Mainland)	现代魔法的重大发现 Xiàndài mófǎ de zhòngdà fāxiàn	现代 xiàndài = 'modern, contemporary'. 魔法 mófǎ = 'magic'. 的 de = connecting particle 重大 zhòngdà = 'important'. 发现 fāxiàn = 'discovery'.	Important Discoveries of Modern Magic
Chinese (Taiwan)	現代魔法的重大發現 Xiàndài mófǎ de zhòngdà fāxiàn	現代 xiàndài = 'modern'. 魔法 mófǎ = 'magic'. 的 de = connecting particle 重大 zhòngdà = 'important'. 發現 fāxiàn = 'development'.	Important Discoveries of Modern Magic
Japanese	近代魔法界の主要な発見 Kindai mahō-kai no shuyō na hakken	近代 kindai = 'modern'. 魔法 mahō = 'magic'. 界 -kai = 'circles/world'. の no = connecting particle 主要な shuyō na = 'main'. hakken = 'discovery'.	Main Discoveries in Modern Magical Circles
Vietnamese	Những khám phá pháp thuật hiện đại quan trọng	những = plural marker khám phá = 'discovery, revelation'. pháp thuật (法術) = 'magic'. hiện đại (現代) = 'modern, contemporary'. quan trọng (關重) = 'important'.	Important Modern Discoveries in Magic

The Mainland and Taiwanese versions are exactly the same. This is possibly due to borrowing from the Taiwanese version by the Mainland translator. Note the following:

• The Japanese translation of 'modern' differs from the other two languages (see Magical History).
• The Japanese translator adds 界 -kai ('circles/world') to make the translation sound more natural.
• 'Important' is translated differently in the three languages. The Vietnamese word used to translate 'important', quan trọng, 'important' is a Chinese-style word 關重 guānzhòng that is not actually found in Chinese.
• 'Discovery' in Japanese is very similar to the Chinese word, but the second character is in fact different.

Category: Wizardry