Mesaĝoj: 30
Lingvo: English
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-01 02:25:27
Shawna:My understanding of the situation is that there is already a translation. It was team-translated by a group of Esperanto speakers. The problem is publishing it. A bunch of people have tried contacting the relevant publishers - Bloomsbury (who published the British edition and a couple of other languages, Latin and Welsh and Ancient Greek spring to mind), Scholastic (American edition) and perhaps some others. But they kept being given the runaround and basically the publishers aren't interested in publishing the translation, and it would be illegal to publish it without their official position. The translation that has been done has not been released to anyone at all, other than those who translated it. I think it's to avoid antagonizing the publishers (since releasing an unsanctioned translation would be illegal), and since the Esperanto community still wants something from them, it would be better not to burn any bridges.
What if, along with the petition, if some people volunteered to help translate the book into Esperanto? It's possible that they haven't yet because they don't know how to go about finding translators.
Shawna
Having said this - there is an Esperanto translation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which most assuredly was not officially sanctioned, and is therefore technically illegal. It was published in Russia I believe. I have had a few conversations on the topic with various people who made phone calls to publishers etc. The general consensus was that if this drags on forever and ever, an illegal version will probably eventually be published, in Russia or somewhere else with lax publishing laws.
Mythos (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-02 02:42:49
pacepacapaco (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-04 00:29:01
I'm signing by the way...
Novico Dektri (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-04 22:35:54
And yes, Erinja, a translation has already been made. The problem is getting it published.
The Esperanto speaking community is an enthusiastic one. I don't care how many people disagree with me, but if you got supporters of Esperanto-Harry Potter advertising on webpages, and making petitions at Universal Congresses, and writing letter after letter to the publishers- surely they couldn't just ignore us forever, could they? They won't publish it because they think there's no demand for it. We have to prove to them that they are wrong.
Shawna (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-05 06:16:56
Interesting about the German, pacepacapaco. That's quite a difference. Of course, I'm now wondering what the Welsh version looks like, because Welsh has some of the longest words of any language. What's funny is it seems that half the letters in the words aren't pronounced.
Example: Featherstoneshire (I'm sure this isn't exactly how it's spelled, but it's close) is pronounced Fenshaw. I wish I were kidding.
Esperanto probably wouldn't add many pages overall to the book. It wouldn't be like Braille versions. Braille books are almost always two to three times the size of visual print!
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-06 21:36:50
Novico Dektri:I think publishers just don't care at all. I think an Esperanto version would sell a lot of copies but I think the publishers just do not care because they don't think Esperanto is a worthwhile language. I think part of it is that they have a certain image they want to project. Therefore, you won't be finding Harry Potter breakfast cereals and such - I think they don't want too much cheap junk with the Harry Potter name all over it (haha and certainly not *cheap*, in any case). I think that they don't take Esperanto seriously. I think they regard it as a "fake" language that would sully the reputation of the Harry Potter franchise if our translation were published. I think they view Esperanto and Klingon as being more or less in the same boat.
The Esperanto speaking community is an enthusiastic one. I don't care how many people disagree with me, but if you got supporters of Esperanto-Harry Potter advertising on webpages, and making petitions at Universal Congresses, and writing letter after letter to the publishers- surely they couldn't just ignore us forever, could they? They won't publish it because they think there's no demand for it. We have to prove to them that they are wrong.
Novico Dektri (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-07 01:52:45
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-07 15:24:18
Novico Dektri:So you honestly feel then, that the publishers will never take Esperanto seriously no matter how much we protest, under the presumption that we WILL protest?Yes, that's my opinion. I honestly think that the publishers will not give a rat's patootie about us, no matter how much we protest. I think the number of people who would buy this book is still small compared to the numbers that interest the publishers. Furthermore - I think they would not want to publish a team-translated edition of the book. They would want someone experienced to look over things and make changes. I have no idea about the quality of the translation that has been made but I am 100% certain that the publishers would require a thorough looking over and editing of it to make sure everything is up to their standards. And I think this is far more effort than they are willing to expend for publishing a book in a language that they regard as fake and that has few speakers.
spence20 (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-30 03:57:47
spence20 (Montri la profilon) 2006-aŭgusto-30 06:06:00
Shawna:Example: Featherstoneshire (I'm sure this isn't exactly how it's spelled, but it's close) is pronounced Fenshaw. I wish I were kidding.At the risk of seeming pedantic, I don't think Featherstoneshire is of Welsh origin. It looks English.
You are right though when you say that Welsh has some ridiculously long words. A good example is the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!