Chapter 13: Nicolas Flamel
| Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China) | ||
| 尼可･勒梅 Níkě Lèméi |
尼可 Níkě = 'Nick' 勒梅 Lèméi = 'Lemei'. |
Nick Lemei |
| Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan) | ||
| 尋找尼樂･勒梅 Xúnzhǎo Nílè Lèméi |
尋找
xúnzhǎo = 'to seek'. 尼樂 Nílè = 'Ni-le'. 勒梅 Lèméi = 'Lemei'. |
Looking for Ni-le Lemei |
| Japanese | ||
| ニコラス・フラメル Nikorasu Furameru |
ニコラス
Nikorasu = 'Nicolas'. フラメル Furameru = 'Flamel'. |
Nicolas Flamel |
| Korean | ||
| 니콜라스 플라멜 Nikollaseu Peullamel |
니콜라스 Nikollaseu = 'Nicolas'. 플라멜 Peullamel 'Flamel'. |
Nicolas Flamel |
| Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology) | ||
| Nicolas Flamel | Nicolas Flamel (pronunciation: Ni-cô-lát La-men). | Nicolas Flamel |
| Mongolian (previous) | ||
| Николас Фламел Nikolas Flamel |
Николас Nikolas = 'Nicolas'. Фламел Flamel = 'Flamel'. |
Nicolas Flamel |
| Mongolian (new) | ||
| Николас Фламел Nikolas Flamel |
Николас Nikolas = 'Nicolas'. Фламел Flamel = 'Flamel'. |
Nicolas Flamel |
Nicolas Flamel is a historical figure from the 12th-13th centuries who is supposed to have found the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. The English name that corresponds to 'Nicolas' is 'Nicholas', with the final 's' pronounced. In contemporary French, however, 'Nicolas' should be pronounced 'Nicola' (/nikɔla/), with the final 's' silent. That is, 'Nicolas Flamel' should be pronounced 'Nicola Flamel'.
The Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian translators do not appear to have been aware of the French pronunciation. They all indicate that the 's' should be pronounced.
Both the Chinese and Japanese use a centred dot to separate 'Nicolas' and 'Flamel'. Korean does not follow this practice, simply using a space.
How is 'Nicolas' transliterated?
- In Japanese, the generally accepted pronunciation of 'Nicolas' in 'Nicolas Flamel' is ニコラ Nikora. The Japanese translator gives ニコラス Nikorasu.
- In Korean, both 니콜라 Nikolla and 니콜라스 플라멜 Nikollaseu appear to be current for Flamel's name. The translator opts for the latter. The 'l' in 'Nicola' is rendered as a double letter in the hangul script.
- In the Vietnamese translation the name is spelt Nicolas. In the originally published instalments, a footnote indicated that the pronunciation of 'Nicolas' was Ni-cô-lát.
- Both Mongolian versions give the name as Николас Nikolas. Note that Russian practice, which Mongolian usually takes as a model, renders 'Nicolas' in Flamel's name as Николя nikolya.
How is 'Flamel' transliterated?
- 'Flamel' is rendered in Japanese as フラメル Furameru, which is the standard rendition of this name whether the original is English or French.
- In the Korean, 'Flamel' becomes 플라멜 Peullamel because Korean does not have an 'f'. The first 'l' in 'Flamel' is rendered as a double letter in the hangul script.
- In Vietnamese this is written 'Flamel', but a footnote in the original instalments indicates that this should be pronounced La-men, presumably because both 'fl' and final 'l' are difficult for Vietnamese speakers to pronounce.
- In the Mongolian translations, 'Flamel' is rendered as Фламел flamel. This is a direct transliteration of the English. As is standard for transliterations from foreign languages, the Cyrillic letter э ('e') is replaced by е ('e'), following Russian practice. It is worth noting, however, that the Mongolian has not followed the Russian transliteration of Flamel's name, which is Фламель flamel'. The soft sign at the end of the Russian name indicates that the final л ('l') is to be pronounceed as a light 'l', as in French.
Chinese
The two Chinese-language translations do not use accurate transliterations of Nicolas Flamel's name, which should be 尼古拉·弗拉梅爾 (Trad.) / 尼古拉·弗拉梅尔 (Simpl.) Nígǔlā Fúlāméi'ěr. Instead, both use slightly different impressionistic versions of the name. As at other places in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, it is clear that the Mainland translator was guided by the earlier Taiwanese translation.
- The Taiwanese translation uses 尼樂 Nílè for 'Nicola'. This is in keeping with the tendency to use impressionistic names on Taiwan. Although the practice in China is to attempt to reproduce each sound distinctly, the Mainland translator has simply modified 'Nicolas' into something approximating the English name 'Nick', i.e., 尼可 Níkě.
- 'Flamel' is rendered in both versions as 勒梅 Lèméi, again a very impressionistic renditon of the name.
(Korean appears thanks to "Hiro".)
(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
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