Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Who translates made-up words from popular fiction into other languages?

This is, indeed, the translator's job. For example, here's Gili Bar-Hilel, talking about translating the Harry Potter books into Hebrew: Fantasy books are often full of imaginary words created...

posted 6y ago by Standback‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T20:06:05Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35522
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:37:46Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35522
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:37:46Z (over 4 years ago)
This is, indeed, the translator's job.

For example, here's [Gili Bar-Hilel](https://worldsf.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/translator-gili-bar-hillel-interviewed/), talking about translating the Harry Potter books into Hebrew:

> **Fantasy books are often full of imaginary words created by the author and I am curious how you go about translating such words. Do you rewrite them in Hebrew, make up your own words to replace them, or use some other method?**
> 
> GB: I play it by ear, depending on my understanding of the original. When an author is as playful and inventive as Rowling, I feel the translation should be playful and inventive as well, and I enjoy making up my own words. But sometimes invented words are just a brand name or something pseudo-scientific, and the Hebrew should follow that as well.

That being said, translators may be constrained by the translations of previous books in a series -- I've heard them complain about clumsy choices made by their predecessors...

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-04-25T18:53:06Z (about 6 years ago)
Original score: 3