| > Harry Potter Often keeps the same spelling in other countries. Some outliers: Χάρι Πότερ (Chi as approximation to soft H) Hare Pota me te Whatu Manapou (written Māori is modern, and it attempts to avoid its foreign roots) Harrius Potter (Vatican City) Harijs Poters (Latvia) Garri Potte (Uzbeki Russki) Harry's name seems to remain the same in many translations: I assume as part of the overseas marketing of the title. French changes Snape into Rogue (rogue means haughty and unpleasant), and Dutch turns Dumbledore into Perkamentus (the translator created a new name, and Rowling chose https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/harry-potter-words). So fuzzy search helps people
that don't know English that well. Edit: When I'm in other countries, I regularly struggle to understand local pronunciation for English names like when someone struggled to tell me who Piratus Draque was, or Cristóbal Colón (Christophorus Columbus). English speaking people are lucky that high-status English has the norm of using people's own original pronounciation and often retains spelling (we butcher some languages more than others, but to me it seems that Spanish butchers all names). Although some get changed on purpose like Kant. |