|
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
Chapter 11: The Firebolt
(For the romanisation of Chinese and Japanese, see Transliteration. To understand the writing systems of CJV, see Writing Systems. For word order notes, see Word Order)
Where a Vietnamese word has been borrowed from Chinese, the original Chinese character is shown in parentheses.
| Chinese (Mainland) | 火弩箭 Huǒ nǔjiàn |
火
huǒ
= 'fire'. 弩箭 nǔjiàn = 'crossbow arrow'. |
Fire crossbow-arrow |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 火閃電 Huǒ shǎndiàn |
火
huǒ = 'fire'. 閃電 shǎndiàn = 'lightning'. |
Fire lightning |
| Japanese | Honō no ikazuchi / Faiaboruto |
炎
honō = 'flames, fire'. の no = connecting particle 雷 ikazuchi = 'thunderbolt'. ファイアボルト Faiaboruto = 'Firebolt' (English). |
Flame thunderbolt / Firebolt |
| Vietnamese | Tia chớp | tia chớp = 'lightning bolt'. | Lightning bolt |
The 'Firebolt' is Harry's new broomstick, which is translated semantically into all three languages. The Taiwanese and Japanese versions fairly literally translate the name as 'fire' + 'lightning bolt'. The words used for 'fire' and 'bolt' in Japanese are both fine-sounding poetic words, not common everyday words.
The Mainland Chinese version has departed from the 'lightning bolt' simile to compare the broom to an arrow (or 'bolt') that has been shot from a crossbow.
The Vietnamese ignores the 'fire' component and translates only the word 'bolt (of lightning)'.
The furigana above the words 炎の雷 honō no ikazuchi indicate that they should be read with the English pronunciation Faiaboruto 'firebolt'. This manages to provide the meaning of the name in Japanese while also giving the original English pronunciation. (See above, Chapter 3, for furigana).
An advertisement for the Firebolt appears at Chapter 4. The text of the advertisement can be found at The Firebolt in the Passages section.
(A summary of this chapter can be found at Harry Potter Facts. Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
 Chapter 10 |
 |
