Will Harry Potter’s eighth book learn Tatar earlier than Russian?
The text of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is already ready, and the Tatar Publishing House is trying to obtain the right for its publication
Translation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child can see the light of the day before the Russian translation. It will turn on whether the Tatar Publishing House will obtain permission of the rightsholder – an English agency The Blair Partnership. The publishing house hopes the English won't be too strict. The translator – a KFU student Aidar Shaikhin – has already published the first part of the play in Tatar on the Internet. He revealed to our newspaper several secrets about what will happen in the eighth book about the worldwide famous magician.
'We want our Tatar kids be on the crest of the wave and be able to get a translation from the source language, not through the Russian translation'
The Tatar Publishing House is negotiating with the English agency The Blair Partnership who has the author's rights for the eighth part of the story about Harry Potter — Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The director general of the Tatar Publishing House Ildar Sagdatshin told Realnoe Vremya if they came to an agreement, the Tatar translation of the play might be published before the Russian one. The Tatar version will be called Һарри Поттер һәм ләгънәтле бала. But the edition is under discussion now.
'We asked for the rights of the owners, the price and prepayment. At the same time we sent our offers. We wrote an approximate number of copies, stakes of the Tatar Publishing House and the money we can pay to the author because we don't purchase exclusive rights. In other words, we mean a certain amount of copies and only in Tatar. The final decision has not been made yet,' tells Sagdatshin.
He says London replied. It is said the offer of the Tatar Publishing House was received.
Sagdatshin notes it is a commercial project of the Tatar Publishing House. This is why it is due to make at least a minimum profit. It means the book is to be in demand after the publication. The marketing department of the book house did researches that showed that the translation of the eights book about Harry Potter would be quite popular. But the thing is that children who can't use their money on their own are the target audience.
'We said to them we did not plan to make many copies. The book business has such monsters as AST, Pegas and others. They make many copies, organise PR events in chains of shops in all regions. We are not such a big publishing house to make fortunes. This is why we wrote them it would be one of our commercial projects, though money is not our goal. We want our Tatar kids be on the crest of the wave and be able to get a translation from the source language, not through the Russian translation,' Ildar Sagdatshin thinks.
We sent a request to The Blair Partnership and asked whether the agency was going to cooperate with the Tatar Publishing House. They replied a day after. Unfortunately, the answer was laconic. They said that information was confidential.
'We hope the rightsholder won't be strict about us'
If the Tatar Publishing House and The Blair Partnership come to an agreement, Sagdatshin thinks the publication will take about two months. A corrector, editor will read it, then it will be sent for printing. The very translation is the longest and most difficult process after the publication of the translated book. This work, as a rule, takes about two months. But that won't happen to the translation into Tatar – the text has been already made.
Aidar Shaikhin who is a student of the Institute of Social and Philosophical Sciences and Mass Communications of KFU and editor of Giylem popular-scientific resource is the translator who, initially, did not think about a publication of his text.
'The translation was supposed to be amateur. The official translation into Russian will appear in November. It is Maria Spivak's translation. There were several amateur translations in August. The translation into Tatar was meant to become a part of such amateur translations. The text has not been published yet, though the translation ended on 1 September,' Shaikhin tells.
Initially, the translator talked to The Blair Partnership, but he did not manage to come to an agreement with the rightsholder – an ordinary student simply doesn't have enough money and possibilities to publish a book. However, the Tatar Publishing House interested in the translation and started negotiations with London.
'Here it is important to understand that such a book in Tatar won't make a fortune. We hope the rightsholder will understand it and won't be strict about us. If they ask for a high interest rate or prepayment, it will be problematic because the Tatar Publishing House publishes this book for its own money, not at the state expense,' thinks Aidar Shaikhin.
'We did not talk to writers. And it seems we won't do it'
The first part of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is already available on potter.tatar, which was created by Aidar Shaikhin on 31 July. It should be noted that writer Joanne Rowling's birthday is on 31 July.
'The premier of the play also took place on 31 July 2016. The text of the play appeared too. This is why I created the site at that night. Actually, the site is simple, but its goal is a consolidation of efforts of different translators of Harry Potter: we gather translators there, place done translations and materials about Harry Potter. We also have a community on Vkontakte — there are many such publics on the Internet. But it is the only community, site in Tatar,' Shaikhin explains.
Having interested in it, we also read the first part of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We did not do any detailed analysis, of course. But, in general, the translation was quite good. For instance, Maria Spivak, who translated Harry Potter into Russian, was criticised many times. And there was a petition to oust her on change.org. So it would be curious to compare the Russian and Tatar translations with the original book. Very Shaikhin thinks the best translations are made by amateurs, and volunteers who know and love the world of Harry Potter are the best translators.
'I want our translations, which are amateur at the moment, be sincere. This is why we did not talk to writers. And it seems we won't do it even if we reach a professional level. One thing is to be a writer, of course. It is a quality. But at the same time one should love, know and understand the world of Harry Potter. Moreover, the majority of mistakes of translators in Russian editions were made because they did not feel the spirit of the book as it should be,' Aidar Shaikhin thinks.
He hopes to publish a translation of the first part of the Potter story — Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by May 2017. In addition, Aidar Shaikhin translates not only books about Potter. He also is the editor of Giylem popular-scientific resource where popular texts, videos, music, infographics in Tatar are published.
'We have two big goals — popularisation of science and development of the scientific Tatar language. Today the Tatar language is rarely used in science. In Humanities, Tatar scientists have to write their theses in Russian. It turns out the Internet is the only source of popular-scientific information in Tatar,' tells Aidar Shaikhin.
'There are three candidacies for the title of the 'cursed child'
In conclusion, we asked Aidar Shaikhin to give us several spoilers. So in the first published part of the Tatar translation we will know that 19 years after the events described in the seventh book, it is rumoured that Lord Voldemort comes back. Harry Potter's son Albus Potter becomes the main character of the play. Despite all expectations, he goes to Slytherin. And unlike his father, he can't play Quidditch at all. Not only the Potters have the problem of 'fathers and sons'. It is told, actually, the son of Draco Malfoy Scorpius Malfoy is the son of Voldemort.
The name of the book is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. There are three candidacies for the title of the 'cursed child'. Harry Potter's son carries the burden of his father — his father is famous, his son a bit different from him. It is told Draco Malfoy's son is the son of Voldemort. There is a third child. Probably he is the cursed child, the antagonist of the play.
Aidar Shaikhin spilt the beans and told who this third child was. But probably the reader will find the truth on his or her own and read the play completely. This is why we will leave it beneath the veil. We will just add that Harry Potter, his family and friends will travel in time and see how Voldemort killed his parents. This episode will help to solve the problem of fathers and sons that becomes one of the central issues in the play.