Beyond Foreignisation and Domestication

Harry Potter in Hungarian Translation

Abstract

This article looks at the Harry Potter series in Hungarian translation, with some reference to translation in a broader sense, including parody. All the five translations of J. K. Rowling's series were prepared by Boldizsár Tamás Tóth, who had previously specialised in film translation. This present article intends to demonstrate that the translator neither unquestionably domesticates, nor foreignises the texts. Tóth respects the otherness of the 'original,' and, in the main, does not relocate the wizard world in Hungary. His translations intend to reconceive the foreignness the translator may have encountered in his reading of the 'originals.' On the understanding that creative and academic work are not so clearly distinguishable under the aegis of the postmodern, the article will also point out in what respects the translation strategies could be more daring or subversive. The analysis includes comparisons of names of persons, places, magicians' objects, school subjects, and so on, in the 'original' and the Hungarian translation.