Forums: Index > The Wizengamot > Canonicity of official translations
The question of the canonicity of official translations came up in a discussion today. My understanding is that it's always been an unwritten rule that official translations fall under the umbrella of canon sources. When Order of the Phoenix was being translated into Portuguese, the translators asked J. K. Rowling about Professor Sinistra's gender (since it wasn't clear from the English text), and she told them that Sinistra is a woman. So we know that translators sometimes work with her. I didn't want to modify HPW:Canon without first bringing this up for discussion/approval. ★ Starstuff (Owl me!) 21:30, March 11, 2016 (UTC)
- Personally I disagree. Translation mistakes happen everytime and everywhere. The case you mentionned is special, because we got the confirmation that JKR herself gave her word about Sinistra. But today case (Shikoba Wolfe's gender) is different. We're assuming she is a woman because of the German translation of Pottermore. In any case, we have the confirmation or even a word about JKR giving them this info. As far as we know, it could be something that the translator did by himself, so not official cos not approved by JKR. To me, using a translation without being sure that JKR approved it is as speculative as any other unconfirmed information. And we should avoid it because we're supposed to work the original version :) Lady Junky 22:12, March 11, 2016 (UTC)