Chapter 4: Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place
| Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China) | ||
| 格里莫广场１２号 Gélǐmò guǎngchǎng shí-èr hào |
格里莫 Gélǐmò = 'Grimmauld (phonetic)'. 广场 guǎngchǎng = 'square, plaza, place'. １２ shí-èr = '12'. 号 hào = 'number'. |
No. 12 Grimmauld Place |
| Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan) | ||
| 古里某街十二號 Gǔlǐmǒu-jiē shí-èr hào |
古里某
Gǔlǐmǒu = 'Grimmauld (phonetic)'. 街 jiē = 'street'. 十二 shí-èr = '12'. 號 hào = 'number'. |
No. 12 Grimmauld Street |
| Japanese | ||
| グリモールド・プレイス十二番地 Gurimōrudo Pureisu jūni banchi |
グリモールド・プレイス Gurimōrudo
Pureisu = 'Grimmauld Place' (phonetic) 十二番地 jūni banchi = 'no. 12' |
No. 12 Grimmauld Place |
| Korean | ||
| 그리몰드 광장 12번지 Geulimoldeu Gwangjang 12-beonji |
Pending | |
| Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology) | ||
Số mười hai, Quảng trường Grimmauld |
số
(數) = 'number'. mười hai = 'twelve'. quảng trường (廣場) = 'place, plaza'. Grimmauld = 'Grimmauld' (pronounced as Grim-môn). |
No. 12 Grimmauld Place |
| Mongolian (new) | ||
| Грималдын ордон гудамжны арван хоёр тоот Grimaldin ordon gudamjni arvan khoyor toot |
Pending | |
'Grimmauld' is transliterated phonetically in the Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese versions, losing the word play on 'grim old place'. The Taiwanese does manage to pack a little meaning into the name as the first character means 'old'.
Each language uses a word referring to a street number (號 / 号 hào in Chinese, số in Vietnamese). The most interesting is the Japanese translation, which uses the word 番地 banchi. The Japanese system of street addresses is quite different from that of Western countries. In particular, most streets are unnamed (apart from a few major thoroughfares), so there is nothing to correspond to 'No. 1, Main Street' as we are used to it. Instead, Japanese cities are divided up into relatively small areas (called 町 chō or machi), which are then divided into numbered neighbourhoods (丁目 chōme). Below that come numbered blocks or 番地 banchi, followed by numbered 号 gō, which indicate the specific building or address. A banchi is thus slightly different from a street number in that it indicates a larger area. However, banchi is a suitable translation here as it is very specifically associated with addresses, whereas gō simply means 'number'. Moreover, a large house like Black's would sound rather small if it were referred to as a gō. For information on Japanese addresses, see Japanese Addresses.
(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
| ⇚ Chapter 3 |  |