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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
Chapter 17: A Sluggish Memory
(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) | 混沌的记忆 Hùndùn de jìyì |
混沌
hùndùn
= 'chaotic, muddled'. 的 de = connecting particle 记忆 jìyì = 'memory'. |
The muddled memory |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 史拉式回憶 Shǐlā-shì huíyì |
史拉式 Shǐlā-shì = 'Slug-style'. 回憶 huíyì = 'memory'. |
The Slug-style memory |
| Japanese | ナメクジのろのろの記憶 Namekuji noro-noro no kioku |
ナメクジ namekuji = 'garden slug'. のろのろ noro-noro = 'slow moving, sluggish' (onomatopaeic word). の no = connecting particle 記憶 kioku = 'memory'. |
The garden-slug slow-moving memory |
| Vietnamese | Một ký ức bị nhiễu | một = 'a'. ký ức (記憶) = 'memory'. bị (被) = 'be subject to'. nhiễu = 'interference'. |
An interfered-with memory |
Like Chapter 7, this is a reference to Horace Slughorn. A sluggish memory is a memory that is slow, lethargic, and difficult to arouse. The 'sluggish' memory in question is Slughorn's memory of what he said to the young Tom Riddle, which he himself modified in order to blot it out.
A closer look at translators' attempts to render this pun, along with those at Chapters 4 and 7, can be found at Slughorn, Slug Club, Sluggish (Wordplay 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 16 |
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