Chapter 5: An Excess of Phlegm
| Simplified Chinese (Mandarin: China) | ||
| 黏痰过多 Niántán guò duō |
黏痰
niántán = 'phlegm'. 过多 guò duō = 'too much'. |
Phlegm in excess |
| Traditional Chinese (Mandarin: Taiwan) | ||
| 滿屋子蛙兒 Mǎn wūzi wār |
滿 mǎn = 'full, the whole'. 屋子 wūzi = 'room'. 蛙兒 wār = 'frog'. |
Room full of frog |
| Japanese | ||
| ヌラーがべっとり Nurā ga bettori |
ヌラー nurā = 'Nura', a subtle variation on Fleur (by substituting ヌ nu for フ fu in フラー Furā). Nurā has a sticky, slimy feeling. が ga = subject particle べっとり bettori = 'thickly covered in (blood, etc.)'. |
Covered in sticky N'leur |
| Vietnamese (Chinese characters show etymology) | ||
| Hơi bị nhớt | hơi = 'gas, vapour, odour; small, a little'. (?) bị (被) = particle indicating 'suffering or experiencing something unpleasant'. nhớt = 'mucus, mucilage, slime'. |
A little afflicted by mucus (?) |
This chapter title refers to Ginny's contemptuous nickname for Fleur Delacour, her brother's girlfriend, which likens her to phlegm, both for the similarity of sound ('Fleur' and 'phlegm'), and presumably for Fleur's use of throaty-sounding French 'r's when speaking English.
For the treatment of 'Fleur' and 'Phlegm' as an exercise in word play, see the page on Fleur / Phlegm.
For the chapter title, the Mainland Chinese translator goes for the quite literal 'excess of phlegm'.
The Taiwanese translator uses the word 滿 mǎn meaning 'full', which is used colloquially to mean 'all over, everywhere', as in the spoken expression 滿世界 mǎnshìjiè literally 'all over the world' or more colloquially 'everywhere'. Here it is used in the expression 滿屋子 mǎn wūzi 'all throughout the room'. Combined with Fleur's nickname, this becomes 'a room full of frogs'.
The Japanese translator has Ginny call フラー Furā by the name ヌラー Nurā, which sounds slimy in an onomatopoeic sense The stickiness is emphasised by using べっとり, meaning 'sticky, gooey, or covered in something'.
The Vietnamese translator speaks literally of 'being afflicted by mucus'. The sense of being 'afflicted' by Fleur Delacour is captured, but unfortunately the pun on Fleur and Phlegm is not.
(Detailed notes on the chapter can be found at Harry Potter Lexicon)
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