HARRY POTTER PROJECT
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The Four Houses (Ch)

 

 

THE FOUR HOUSES
English
Mainland
Taiwan
Notes
Gryffindor 格兰芬多
Gélánfēnduō
葛來分多
Géláifēnduō
In the Mainland version, the last three characters (兰芬多) mean 'orchid' + 'fragrance' + 'abundant' -- pleasant characters but not especially meaningful. In the Taiwanese version the three characters 來分多 mean 'come points many', nicely catching the contest among houses to earn points.
Slytherin 斯莱特林
Sīláitèlín
史萊哲林
Shǐláizhélín
For Slytherin, the Mainland version is a straightforward transliteration - note that 'sly' here rhymes with 'slimy', not with 'slither'. The Taiwanese version is less accurate phonetically but tries to give some kind of meaning: 'history' + 'plant name' + 'philosophy' + 'forest' (= philosophical forest?). The first syllable is shi instead of the expected si, but would be pronounced si by Taiwanese speakers.
Ravenclaw 拉文克劳
Lāwénkèláo
雷文克勞
Léiwénkèláo
For Ravenclaw, the first character is 'draw/pull', in the Mainland version, 'thunder' in the Taiwanese. The Taiwanese seems more appropriate for a house name in a magic school.
Hufflepuff 赫奇帕奇
Hèqípàqí
赫夫帕夫
Hèfūpàfū
For Hufflepuff, the Taiwanese is relatively close to the English and not particularly interesting in meaning, but the Mainland version surprisingly goes the other way, substituting 'strange' for the phonetic Taiwanese . The result is a rather interesting sound.

FOUNDERS OF THE FOUR HOUSES
English
Mainland
Taiwan
Notes
Godric Gryffindor 戈德里克・格兰芬多
Gēdélǐkè Gélánfēnduō
高錐客・葛來分多
Gāozhuīkè Géláifēnduō
高錐客 Gāozhuīkè (Taiwanese version) uses zhuī to approximate the English 'dr' sound, and in fact the sounds are very close. The Mainland rendition 戈德里克Gēdélǐkè is more technically correct with 德里 délǐ, but in reality the sound is not as close to English.
Salazar Slytherin 萨拉查・斯莱特林
Sālāchá Sīláitèlín
薩拉札・史萊哲林
Sǎlāzhá Shǐláizhélín
 
Rowena Ravenclaw 罗伊纳・拉文克劳
Luóyīnà Lāwénkèláo
羅威娜・雷文克勞
Luówéinà Léiwénkèláo
 
Helga Hufflepuff 赫尔加・赫奇帕奇
Hè'ěrjiā Hèqípàqí
海加・赫夫帕夫
Hǎijiā Hèfūpàfū
 

 

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