Translating Names in Harry Potter

Book excerpt: This book investigates the translation potential of names in children's literature through the analysis of the translational patterns of names from English into Greek in the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. More specifically, it proposes a new name taxonomy wherein names are envisaged as multidimensional entities consisting of a thematic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic dimension and linked with their translation potential through the detailed exploration of name-type and translation procedure. It is suggested that the extensive use of the translation procedures of transcription and literal translation could be argued to seriously affect the functions of the SL names but the claim of this book is that other equally important functions are brought to the spotlight. On these grounds, a new functional name-translation model is proposed, wherein the contextualised nature of names is foregrounded, thus pinpointing the changing status of functions depending on the communicative situation as well as the target culture's needs and expectations. This book will appeal to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers in the fields of linguistics, literature and translation.