• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

J.K Rowling Unveils the magic school names for U.S.A, Brazil, Japan, and Africa

Status
Not open for further replies.

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
ok so while HP people are here

How does Wizard-Muggle marriage work? If they don't know about the wizarding world are you not breaking the statue of secrecy by marrying them? If you get divorced what then?

IIRC you're not allowed to tell them and definitely can't do magic infront of them
There is something in the back story of McGonogal about it, where her mum gave up magic for years to be with a muggle (i think)
Although that may have been a personal choice rather than a law thing
 

Sch1sm

Member
Hermione is boring. Harry as much as says so in Book 4 when he only hangs out with her for a couple of months.

Who does he really hang out with for more than a couple of months, though, considering the Tri-Wizard Tournament in all its stages?


E: School in Africa seems legit. Would attend. UK wizards would be pretty wrecked by them.
 
IIRC you're not allowed to tell them and definitely can't do magic infront of them
There is something in the back story of McGonogal about it, where her mum gave up magic for years to be with a muggle (i think)
Although that may have been a personal choice rather than a law thing
That seems severe... but why would they have to do that if we know that muggle parents of magic users are allowed to know about magic? (i.e. the Grangers go to Diagon Alley)
I imagine it's not too different from having a magic user come from a family of muggles.
What's the process for that as well?
wipe the memory of that guy /woman away of their fiancee being a witch/ wizard .

I mean we know there are spells that can do that .
That seems a bit immoral :p
Hermione is boring. Harry as much as says so in Book 4 when he only hangs out with her for a couple of months.
This post is honestly disgusting, please think about why you wrote this and why you have these opinions.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
ok so while HP people are here

How does Wizard-Muggle marriage work? If they don't know about the wizarding world are you not breaking the statue of secrecy by marrying them? If you get divorced what then?

There's some inconsistency. Apparently the wizard can tell their spouse only after they are married. But sometimes the wizard has to live as a muggle if they marry one, and sometimes not. That's where the inconsistency lies.

I would imagine Divorce would proceed as normal. I doubt the Ministry would even care about the divorced Muggle Spouse. Probably fall into the same category as the Dursleys or other families of Muggle Born students. They know, the assumption is they'll keep their mouth shut, and if they don't other muggles will just see them as nuts.
 

stupei

Member
Cho and Chang is also a Chinese surnames. It's also common with Asian titles to list the last name first. So JK Rowling probably mistook Cho to be a first name when she was writing the character. I really don't think this is as lazy as people try to make out. It's not like some struggling single mother living in and out of shelters and on welfare is going to be highly well learned in Asian culture. Especially given the era in which she wrote these books. When internet access was rare, and the ease to find things is not like it is today.

Pretty sure Cho doesn't make an appearance at all until book four, though. The more surprising thing is that no one at her publisher thought to double check the name of the girl Harry spends so much time mooning over.

This wouldn't even be something people complained about if Cho actually got to do anything other than being Harry's crush. Even once she joins Dumbledore's Army, it's her friend who ruins everything and so she basically disappears from the books again. Justin Finch-Fletchley might have more of an actual presence in the books in the end.
 

Ithil

Member
Pretty sure Cho doesn't make an appearance at all until book four, though. The more surprising thing is that no one at her publisher thought to double check the name of the girl Harry spends so much time mooning over.

This wouldn't even be something people complained about if Cho actually got to do anything other than being Harry's crush. Even once she joins Dumbledore's Army, it's her friend who ruins everything and so she basically disappears from the books again. Justin Finch-Fletchley might have more of an actual presence in the books in the end.

She's introduced in Book 3.
 
There's some inconsistency. Apparently the wizard can tell their spouse only after they are married. But sometimes the wizard has to live as a muggle if they marry one, and sometimes not. That's where the inconsistency lies.

I would imagine Divorce would proceed as normal. I doubt the Ministry would even care about the divorced Muggle Spouse. Probably fall into the same category as the Dursleys or other families of Muggle Born students. They know, the assumption is they'll keep their mouth shut, and if they don't other muggles will just see them as nuts.
Interesting. But I guess that makes sense about the divorced partner... although I imagine if they were particularly scorned or whatever they'd probably get brain wiped.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Pretty sure Cho doesn't make an appearance at all until book four, though. The more surprising thing is that no one at her publisher thought to double check the name of the girl Harry spends so much time mooning over.

This wouldn't even be something people complained about if Cho actually got to do anything other than being Harry's crush. Even once she joins Dumbledore's Army, it's her friend who ruins everything and so she basically disappears from the books again. Justin Finch-Fletchley might have more of an actual presence in the books in the end.

Cho showed up in book 3. Harry had to play against her in Quiddich.

Cho did give Harry the rebound Boyfriend treatment. I didn't think she was treated very unfairly.
 

stupei

Member
She's introduced in Book 3.

Shit, you're right.

Still, point being: she was not created while Rowling was struggling so severely economically. I don't think it's particularly classist to suggest an established author should maybe make sure their Asian character's name checks out, especially if they don't feel particularly well informed about Asian culture.

Wizards tend to have goofy names so Cho Chang being two last names isn't that big of a deal.

Nah, not that big a deal. I just maintain that two last names is worse than "wow, this school's name translates very literally," particularly given that very literal translations is a Harry Potter staple.

Cho showed up in book 3. Harry had to play against her in Quiddich.

Cho did give Harry the rebound Boyfriend treatment. I didn't think she was treated very unfairly.

You're saying that like she's a real person, though. She didn't make that choice to do something that would get her dismissed from the narrative. Rowling did.

That's kind of my point. Twice she gave Cho a good reason to disappear from the plot. It just kind of sucks that she is such a nothing presence and it makes the silly name an easy target.
 

injurai

Banned
Shit, you're right.

Still, point being: she was not created while Rowling was struggling so severely economically. I don't think it's particularly classist to suggest an established author should maybe make sure their Asian character's name checks out, especially if they don't feel particularly well informed about Asian culture.

You're saying that like she's a real person, though. She didn't make that choice to do something that would get her dismissed from the narrative. Rowling did.

That's kind of my point. Twice she gave Cho a good reason to disappear from the plot. It just kind of sucks that she is such a nothing presence and it makes the silly name an easy target.

So the success of HP invalidates Rowling's background? As soon as she found financial footing she should have been deeply scouring the web or other academic sources in order to create an impervious culturally sensitive lore? She's not a digital native; She wouldn't know where to find the right information. Nor would she have gained the premonition for everything to look out for. I've already made the point that it's perfectly reasonable for her to have at least expended some effort to craft an authentic name, yet could still have made an earnest mistake. Chang was a minor character, and certainly would not be allotted much of Rowling's mental budget. Especially when she had publishing contracts that she had to fulfill, the major plot details mattered more.

Additionally, the critics of Cho Chang's name couldn't even be bothered to research enough to know that the names are also Chinese. When you realize that, you realize how human it is to make err. Two surnames isn't even something I would expect a publisher to catch, but it seems that some surnames can be used as first names as well too.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Azkaban was 17 years ago. I don't think Cho Chang is a good name but it's not like you could just whip out your smartphone to look up Chinese names on Wikipedia.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
So is there anything stereotypical about the names of the two Indian girls in Harry's class?

I think every HP name is somewhat stereotypical, including the English ones. Brian Percival Wulfric is so Briton it sounds like it comes from the King Arthur saga

but yeah, not a big deal
 

Timbuktu

Member
Chinese translations of the books have had her name as 張秋, (Cho being 'Autumn') which by pinyin should be Zhāng Qiū. Not sure if that's cannon, but Chang Cho isn't too bad I guess. English can never get it completely right in any case, which is why a lot of people adopt a Christian name. On top of that she's obviously Glaswegian, so have to say it in that accent.
 

PSqueak

Banned
Brazil gets one and anglo-north america gets one, what about latin america?

I'd kinda buy that mexican kids are forced to learn english and sent to Ilvermorny (and canadians/franco canadians too), but what about the rest of latin america? where do they study?
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
All these pages in and no "That wizard came from the moon!" yet?

Unbelievable. Y'all slippin'.
 

PSqueak

Banned
I don't see how Brazil is out of the question. I mean Portuguese has to be easier to learn than English for them.

You understimate how ridiculously easy english is to learn, and Romance languages are ridiculously hard to, even if they're "kinda similar".

Specially french. fuck french.
 
Chinese translations of the books have had her name as 張秋, (Cho being 'Autumn') which by pinyin should be Zhāng Qiū. Not sure if that's cannon, but Chang Cho isn't too bad I guess. English can never get it completely right in any case, which is why a lot of people adopt a Christian name. On top of that she's obviously Glaswegian, so have to say it in that accent.

I knew it wasn't pinyin, but it even fell short of being Wade-Giles (Ch'iu Chang, if I'm not mistaken).

Oh well, the name served its purpose. Harry got that yellow fever for a while, there.
 

woodland

Member
You understimate how ridiculously easy english is to learn, and Romance languages are ridiculously hard to, even if they're "kinda similar".

Specially french. fuck french.

What lmao. French, Spanish, and Italian are the easiest languages to learn. English is much harder than them, this is like a known fact.
 
At Ilvermorny, instead of owls the students own bald eagles.

Unusually among the magic using peoples of the world, the mages of Livermorny learn how to use the Muggle weapons called 'guns' and they even take courses on creating magic-enchanted bullets for using these 'guns' on other mages.

Unsurprisingly, no one on Earth fucks with American witches and wizards.
 

Kieli

Member
Ilvermorny is #1 ranked on a number of worldwide publications.

The impact factor of the research the faculty publishes, the endowment, the amenities, history, and prestige all contribute to this venerable institution of higher magical learning.

Their alumni have consistently contributed incredible scholarship, humanitarian aid, and creative work to the global community.

Indeed, it has been said by John F. Kennedy that there is no greater distinction and honor that to be a Ilvermorny man.
 

Ecotic

Member
I wish the Japanese school was in some place old and majestic, like Kyoto or somewhere. I looked up that island, there's like no space on it at all. It's mostly mountain. How do people get food there? Walk around? It just seems horribly impractical. Magic can't solve everything. Even Hogwarts needed level ground for a castle and space for a Quidditch field and so on.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I still fuck with my boys back at Clortho High.

Best school of magic there ever was.

Fo Sho

uH6dVkV.gif

Uj4u6DG.gif

chtynxt.gif


clzVcdl.gif

6bm7eii.gif

jKZY5A4.gif

O6Zw7t8.gif
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I wish the Japanese school was in some place old and majestic, like Kyoto or somewhere. I looked up that island, there's like no space on it at all. It's mostly mountain. How do people get food there? Walk around? It just seems horribly impractical. Magic can't solve everything. Even Hogwarts needed level ground for a castle and space for a Quidditch field and so on.

You only see an inhospitable mountain because it's wrapped in illusions and charms to beguile muggle eyes.
 

Kieli

Member
One thing that really upsets me is that the Asian parents that force their children to become medical wizards or magical engineers.

Surely there is room for other wizardly occupations, no?
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
One thing that really upsets me is that the Asian parents that force their children to become medical wizards or magical engineers.

Surely there is room for other wizardly occupations, no?

Why are all the Aurora white wizards?
 

Luke_Wal

Member

As someone who's grown up in America (so my perspective might be skewed): every English or Spanish teacher I've ever had has always said that English has so many exceptions to every rule that it's incredibly difficult to learn. That being said, I find that Spanish is structured in a way that makes it really easy to learn. At least in English speaking countries, the point that woodland is making is definitely the prevalent one.
 

Philippo

Member
I was wondering, since i have 0 to non knowledge of the Potter universe, would Japanese and Africa's mages spell their incantations in Latin? Or their native languages?
 

Jintor

Member
One thing that really upsets me is that the Asian parents that force their children to become medical wizards or magical engineers.

Surely there is room for other wizardly occupations, no?

Wizard Cram School is a serious problem.

I wonder if they have Wizard Assistant Language Teachers lol.

I was wondering, since i have 0 to non knowledge of the Potter universe, would Japanese and Africa's mages spell their incantations in Latin? Or their native languages?

I think native languages, but I don't recall. I wonder what the translation convention is?
 

sphagnum

Banned
I was wondering, since i have 0 to non knowledge of the Potter universe, would Japanese and Africa's mages spell their incantations in Latin? Or their native languages?

I would assume if they want to carry over the Latin equivalent, the Japanese students would chant in old Chinese.
 
I was wondering, since i have 0 to non knowledge of the Potter universe, would Japanese and Africa's mages spell their incantations in Latin? Or their native languages?

The words are usually just for giving the spell 'form'. It's possible in the universe to cast spells without saying their incantation, meaning that...I dunno. MAGIC.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom