Chinese fans of Harry Potter used to wait for months after the publication of each book before getting a decent translation of their hero’s latest adventures. Meanwhile, sloppy online translations and even fully fake Harry Potter books would hit the Chinese market, mostly over the Internet.
The final Harry Potter book was translated in just two days. On the Chinese site yWeekend (see translation by ESWN), high school freshman Xiao Wang explained how he tested and organized the 60 volunteer translators online, via the popular Chinese chat and blogging service QQ:
“There are about 20 high school students — mostly juniors on summer vacation after taking university entrance exams. Among us, seven or eight previously participated in translating Harry Potter books. For the majority, this was their first participation in a large-scale translation project. Previously, they had only done some translations for practice during their spare time.”
Xiao Wang also operates a special Harry Potter section at Baidu, China’s largest search engine. His translation might be the best, but is done without the permission of China’s official publisher of the Harry Potter books, People’s Publishing House.
Wang contends, “Actually, I feel that we have very little impact on the official translation of the book. Genuine Harry Potter friends will always want to buy the official version, because the quality is better and they want to collect it. I had done a poll about how Harry Potter fans want to read the final Harry Potter. More than 100 people participated, of which almost 70 want to buy the official Chinese-language translation. Only two said they would only read the online translation.”
