• 
• 

Anxious local readers have reserved more than 200,000 copies of the Thai translation of the latest Harry Potter book, and this number is expected to soar.

The translation will be available in the first week of December.

The local editor of the translated versions is Pornkawin Sangsinchai of Nanmeebooks. She's just wrapped up blue pencilling "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

It's a massive task rewriting the books into Thai, but she and translator Sumalee Bumrungsuk think they've managed.

Ensuring smooth delivery of the more difficult Hogwarts English and JK Rowling's canon of idioms, wordplays, gags and jokes is no mean feat. Sumalee and Pornkawin explain that finding Thai equivalents for Rowling's jokes are a "tremendous ordeal".

"We found Rowling's jokes and idioms some of the most difficult to find equivalents for. Our job is to strike a balance between the translated language and the author's originality. It's simply impossible to find a Thai equivalent for everything in the book.

"Then there are times when certain constructions do not allow for Rowling's use of short words, because in Thai using those short words would make things less understandable," she says.

Pornkawin says the seventh and final Potter chapter is the most fun. It is also the darkest and most sinister.

Pornkawin believes the use of suspense is the bridge connecting each book in the series. This creates reader anticipation. What's remarkable, she says, is that readers are growing up at the same pace as the characters.

"Regardless of magic, swashbuckling action and the plot, the latest and final book is pure fun. Rowling's storytelling is first-rate," she says.

In the first Potter, readers are entranced by who will steal the sorcerer's stone as Harry sneaks past the three-headed dog and into the bowels of the school. He is almost killed in a battle with the thief.

In the second instalment the mystery surrounds the opening of the chamber of secrets and its monster within.

By the third - considered by many to be the best - there's a twist in the tail, as accused murderer Sirius Black becomes friend, not foe.

More tricks and magic and plot in volume four are tempered with grief as Cedric dies.

The fifth volume is more serious and Harry grows more defiant as he contends with Dumbledore's prophecy - the demise of either Harry or Lord Voldemort.

In Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts he comes to terms with the earlier death of Black and despair as Dumbledore is slain by Professor Snape.

Pornkawin won't reveal details of the seventh and final chapter but will admit it is more fun than some of the others.

"The last book is more fun - and there is finality. Will Voldemort be killed or is Snape really a bad guy?" she says.

Pornkawin says death is a necessary element in all the Potter books.

"Death has a lot of meaning in the series. We see the death of Cedric in four and more in the volumes that follow. The last has death as a theme; Harry has to fight for his own life.

"I believe Rowling wants readers to realise the importance of life and sacrifice. Children

need to know that the path of life is not always smooth, but what's around us - friends, family and loved ones - makes these difficulties bearable.

"For instance, Harry's mother must die so her son can survive. Even still, Harry feels her with him at all times. I reckon that's the message Rowling tries to get across to readers," she says.

The themes of friendship and family emerge in the last book, says Pornkawin. And that's why she loves it so much.

Pornkawin says Harry is on his own but can live happily as a 17-year-old because he's got friends who are his other family.

She believes there's a lot of themes local authors can take from the Potter books - such as how to tell right from wrong on one's own. It's the way we should teach our children to think, she says.

Pornkawin believes adults in this country dictate to children their version of right and wrong, allowing no room for independent thought.

"Even in publishing, distributors take only books featuring lessons in morality. If a book lacks a moral lesson, they won't buy or distribute it.

"They forget that children like to read fun books that are not too concerned with morals, and they forget children can think for themselves," she says.

Manote Tripathi

The Nation