Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts

Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China)
在丽痕书店 Zài Lì-hén Shūdiàn	在 zài = 'in'. 丽痕 lì-hén = 'beautiful' + 'stain'. 书店 shūdiàn = 'bookshop, bookstore'.	In Beautiful Stain Bookshop
Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan)
在『華麗與污痕書店』裡 Zài "Huálì yǔ Wūhén Shūdiàn" lǐ	在 zài = 'in'. 華麗 huálì = 'splendour, magnificence, flamboyance; beautiful'. 與 yǔ = 'and' (formal). 污痕 wūhén = 'blot, dirty mark'. 書店 shūdiàn = 'bookshop, bookstore'. 裡 lǐ = 'inside'.	Inside 'Flamboyance & Blot' Bookshop
Japanese
フローリッシュ・アンド・ブロッツ書店 Furōrisshu Ando Burottsu shoten	フローリッシュ Furōrisshu = 'Flourish'. アンド ando = 'and' (English). ブロッツ Burottsu = 'Blotts'. 書店 shoten = 'bookshop'.	Flourish and Blotts Bookshop
Korean
플러리쉬와 블러트 서점에서 Peulleoliswi-wa Beulleoteu Seojeom-eseo	플러리쉬 Peulleoliswi = 'Flourish'. 와 wa = 'and'. 블러트 Beulleoteu = 'Blott'. 서점 (書店) seojeom = 'bookshop, bookstore'. 에서 -eseo = 'in, at'.	In Flourish and Blott Bookshop
Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology)
Phú quí và cơ hàn	phú quí (富貴) = 'wealth and honours'. và = 'and'. cơ hàn (饑寒) = 'hunger and cold'.	Wealth & Honours and Hunger & Cold
Mongolian (previous)
Флориш ба Блотс дэлгүүрт Florish ba Blots delgüürt	Флориш Florish = 'Flourish'. ба ba = 'and'. Блотс Blots = 'Blotts'. дэлгүүрт delgüürt (дэлгүүр delgüür 'shop' + locative/dative case ending -т -t 'at, to') = 'at the shop'.	At Flourish and Blotts Shop
Mongolian (new)
"Флориш ба Блоттс" дэлгүүр "Florish ba Blotts" delgüür	Флориш Florish = 'Flourish' ба ba = 'and' Блоттс Blotts = 'Blotts' дэлгүүр delgüür = 'shop'	Flourish and Blotts Shop

Harry is at Flourish and Blotts, a bookshop in Diagon Alley, buying his school books.

How is 'Flourish and Blotts' translated?

'Flourish and Blotts' looks as though it was established by two gentlemen called Mr Flourish and Mr Blotts, cleverly putting together two words with roughly opposite meanings. 'Flourish' means a 'flowery embellishment in writing' (such as a curly line or piece of decoration). It is derived from the verb 'flourish', meaning to wave something about in a way that makes people notice it, which is then related to the expression 'with a flourish', meaning 'to do in a showy way'. 'Blot', of course, means an inkstain on the paper.

Several translators try valiantly to capture the flavour of the English but with limited success.

• From the dictionary, the closest terms Chinese appears to have for a flourish in writing are:
  
  裝飾曲線 (Trad.) / 装饰曲线 (Simpl.) zhuāngshì qūxiàn 'decorative curve' or
  花體線 (Trad.) / 花体线 (Simpl.) huātǐ-xiàn 'flowery line'.
  
  There are several possible words for 'blot', including:
  
  墨點兒 (Trad.) / 墨点儿 (Simpl.) mò-diǎr 'ink spot'
  墨漬 (Trad.) / 墨渍 (Simpl.) mòzì 'ink stain',
  污痕 wū-hén 'dirty mark'.
  
  But the actual Chinese-language translations of this chapter title are:
  
  
  • The Chinese-language version from Taiwan uses 華麗與污痕 Huálì yǔ Wūhén. This consists of 華麗 huálì meaning 'splendour, magnificence, flamboyance' and 污痕 wū-hén 'dirty mark, blot'. This does convey the general meaning of the title, but the specific sense of 'a flourish in writing' is passed over in favour of the general term 華麗 huálì 'splendour, magnificence'.
    
    
  • The Mainland Chinese version, which may be copying the Taiwanese, condenses this into a short compound, 丽痕 lì-hén (Trad. 麗痕).
    
    丽 lì means 'beautiful'; 痕 hén means a 'mark, scar, trace'. The intent was obviously to create a word along the lines of 好壞 (Trad.) 好坏 (Simpl.) hǎo-huài 'good-bad' (good or bad), 生死 shēng-sǐ 'alive-dead' (life or death). But this doesn't work very well for 丽 lì 'beauty' + 痕 hén 'mark'. They are just as likely to be interpreted as 'beautiful mark', 'beautiful stain' or 'lovely scratch'.
    
    
• The Vietnamese translator drifts away from the original English to create a new opposition between 'wealth and honours' (phú quí) on the one hand and 'hunger and cold' (cơ hàn) on the other. There is something almost Confucian about the picture of the student at Hogwarts either passing the Imperial examinations and living a wealthy and successful life, or failing, leading to a life of cold and hunger.

Others translations simply transliterate the English.

• The Japanese is フローリッシュ・アンド・ブロッツ Furōrisshu Ando Burottsu, which even transliterates the 'and' as アンド ando. However, neither 'flourish' nor 'blot' would be familiar to most Japanese speakers, even those with a reasonable grasp of English.
  
  The conventional transliteration of 'flourish' is furōrisshu, closer to the pronunciation of the English word 'floor-ish' (i.e., resembling a floor) than to 'flourish'. (Note that Japanese フ fu is actually half-way between 'fu' and 'hu' in English and is not an accurate rendition of 'f'.)
  
  
• The Korean is 플러리쉬와 블러트 Peulleoliswi-wa Beulleoteu. This is similar to the Japanese, except that the word 'and' is translated into Korean, not left in English, and 'Blotts' does not end in an 's'. Like many languages, Korean replaces 'f' in foreign words with a 'p'.
  
  
• The two Mongolian versions use virtually identical transliterations of the two words 'Flourish' and 'Blotts'. The newer translation, Флориш ба Блоттс Florish ba Blotts sticks particularly close to the English spelling of 'Blotts', even though the second т 't' is actually superfluous. 'And' is rendered as ба ba 'and' in preference to энд end. Many Mongolians are likely to pronounce the ф 'f' in флориш as п 'p'.

Translators who add 'Bookshop/bookstore'

• Both Chinese translations, the Japanese translation, and the Korean translation all add the word 'bookshop' or 'bookstore' to the name of the shop. This is identical in all three languages, 書店 / 书店 (Simpl.) (Chinese shūdiàn, Japanese shoten, Korean seojeom). However, the ordinary word for 'bookshop' in Japanese is 本屋 hon'ya.
  
  
• The two Mongolian translations add just the word 'shop' (дэлгүүр delgüür).
  
  
• The Vietnamese translation does not add any word meaning 'shop'. Just looking at the chapter title, it is hard to tell that the chapter is about a shop at all.

Adding 'At'

• The two Chinese translations, the Korean translation, and the older Mongolian translation all add words or endings meaning 'at' (在 zài in Chinese, 에서 -eseo in Korean, -т -t in Mongolian).
  
  
• The Japanese, Vietnamese, and newer Mongolian translations omit any word for 'at'.

(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)

(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)

⇚ Chapter 3

Chapter 5 ⇛