Sunday, November 05, 2006
Learning to read with Harry Potter!
Hover over any underlined Chinese character to see the pinyin tooltip(note: if you are reading this in an RSS reader, you probably won't be able to see the pinyin tooltips, in which case you should click on the link to the original post.)
Sorry, no posts for a while, I've been really busy and haven't had much time to even study Chinese myself. One thing I have tried to keep up though, is reading. While I was still in China I picked up the entire collection (so far) of Harry Potter books in Chinese. I find they are at a really good level for me. If I want to read quickly I can do so, ignoring certain words I don't understand. And if I want to read more thoroughly there is a sufficient number of new words that I can look up. Many of these words tend to be repeated, so they stick in your memory fairly easily. And as I've already read the books in English, I already know what's going on, so sometimes I'm able to intuit the meaning of certain words.
(Side note: after reluctantly being persuaded to start reading Harry Potter around Christmas time, I have just finished the 6th book - The Half-Blood Prince - and now I'm waiting with baited breath for the seventh and final book. I can still hardly believe that a children's book can be so complex and gripping!)
Here's an extract from the first book - 哈利·波特与魔法石 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or the Sorcerer's Stone for you Americans), in which Harry first learns the truth about what he is:
“你总该知道你父母的事吧，”他说，“我是说，他们很有名气，你也很有名气”
"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
“什么？我的——我爸妈没有名气，不是吗？”
"What? My -- my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"
“哦，你不知道……你不知道……”他用手指拢了拢头发，用困惑不解的目光盯着哈利。
"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.
“你不知道你是什么人吗？”他终于问……
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally……
……“哈利，你是一名巫师。”
……"Harry -- yer a wizard."
小屋里鸦雀无声，只听见滚滚涛声和狂风呼号。
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
“我是什么？”哈利喘着气说。
"-- a what?" gasped Harry.
“一名巫师，当然”海格说着，坐回到沙发上，沙发又嘎吱嘎吱响得更厉害了，“我相信，只要你经过一段时间培训，一定会成为一名优秀的巫师。你有那样的父母，你怎么可能不是巫师呢？我想现在该是你看那封信的时候了。”
"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."
哈利终于伸手接过一只谈黄色的信封，上边用翠绿色墨水写着：大海，礁石上的小屋，地板上，哈利·波特先生收。他抽出信读起来：
Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:
霍格沃茨魔法学校
校长：阿不思·邓布利多。（国际魔法联合会会长、巫师协会会长、梅林爵士团一级魔法师）
亲爱的波特先生：
我们愉快的通知您，您已获准在霍格沃茨魔法学校就读。随信附上所需书籍及装备一览表。
学校定于九月一日开始。我们将于七月三十一日前静候您的猫头鹰带来您的回信。
副校长（女）
米勒娃·麦格 谨上
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Obviously, some of the character of the original is lost in translation, but for the most part, I find it translates pretty well. I must confess I'm still only halfway through the first book, but it's still the most enjoyable thing I've read in Chinese so far. If you're interested, you can buy the Chinese language version from Amazon:
Sorry, no posts for a while, I've been really busy and haven't had much time to even study Chinese myself. One thing I have tried to keep up though, is reading. While I was still in China I picked up the entire collection (so far) of Harry Potter books in Chinese. I find they are at a really good level for me. If I want to read quickly I can do so, ignoring certain words I don't understand. And if I want to read more thoroughly there is a sufficient number of new words that I can look up. Many of these words tend to be repeated, so they stick in your memory fairly easily. And as I've already read the books in English, I already know what's going on, so sometimes I'm able to intuit the meaning of certain words.
(Side note: after reluctantly being persuaded to start reading Harry Potter around Christmas time, I have just finished the 6th book - The Half-Blood Prince - and now I'm waiting with baited breath for the seventh and final book. I can still hardly believe that a children's book can be so complex and gripping!)
Here's an extract from the first book - 哈利·波特与魔法石 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or the Sorcerer's Stone for you Americans), in which Harry first learns the truth about what he is:
“你总该知道你父母的事吧，”他说，“我是说，他们很有名气，你也很有名气”
"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."
“什么？我的——我爸妈没有名气，不是吗？”
"What? My -- my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"
“哦，你不知道……你不知道……”他用手指拢了拢头发，用困惑不解的目光盯着哈利。
"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.
“你不知道你是什么人吗？”他终于问……
"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally……
……“哈利，你是一名巫师。”
……"Harry -- yer a wizard."
小屋里鸦雀无声，只听见滚滚涛声和狂风呼号。
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.
“我是什么？”哈利喘着气说。
"-- a what?" gasped Harry.
“一名巫师，当然”海格说着，坐回到沙发上，沙发又嘎吱嘎吱响得更厉害了，“我相信，只要你经过一段时间培训，一定会成为一名优秀的巫师。你有那样的父母，你怎么可能不是巫师呢？我想现在该是你看那封信的时候了。”
"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."
哈利终于伸手接过一只谈黄色的信封，上边用翠绿色墨水写着：大海，礁石上的小屋，地板上，哈利·波特先生收。他抽出信读起来：
Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:
霍格沃茨魔法学校
校长：阿不思·邓布利多。（国际魔法联合会会长、巫师协会会长、梅林爵士团一级魔法师）
亲爱的波特先生：
我们愉快的通知您，您已获准在霍格沃茨魔法学校就读。随信附上所需书籍及装备一览表。
学校定于九月一日开始。我们将于七月三十一日前静候您的猫头鹰带来您的回信。
副校长（女）
米勒娃·麦格 谨上
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Obviously, some of the character of the original is lost in translation, but for the most part, I find it translates pretty well. I must confess I'm still only halfway through the first book, but it's still the most enjoyable thing I've read in Chinese so far. If you're interested, you can buy the Chinese language version from Amazon:
Tags:
Labels: Reading
posted by Dan at 9:39 PM
4 comments
links to this post
4 Comments:
Damn books are addictive! I, too, am waiting on pins and needles for the seventh book. I read the first four (not in Chinese of course) in one week when I was still in UNI. In my defense, however, I had the flu so I couldn't do much else.
take care!
hi,很高兴看到你的博客：）
我也很喜欢看哈利波特，我觉得它的中文版翻译的挺好的，当然啦，因为我是中国人嘛！
我最喜欢罗恩的两个双胞胎哥哥，呵呵
祝你开心！
Hello,
Here's is an interactive online Chinese-English dictionary. Why is it interactive? Well, it allows you to look up a word in the dictionary and then save that word in a section called "My dictionary". There, you can tag the word, share it, play with it, highlight it and do much more with it. You will no more need a notebook and a pen to write down your words. You have to give it a try. It's really impressive.
我看了从第一集到第四集的中文版本哈利波特，但后来买了一个英文版的第五集，由于英语不好，没看完~~~看来得更努力学习英语
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