After the newest Harry-Potter novel was released in English, a team of German HP Fans started an impressive translation project. In less than 46 house after the first copy of J.K. Rowling’s newest novel had been sold on Friday an online fan community had all 24 chapters translated into German and the layout finished.
Prior to the project the organizers had found 189 fans who willing to work as laymen translators and build up a team of three to oversee the new magical terminology, published online in a database. Sunday night all works had been completed and the complete translation mailed to the participants. They are however, not allowed, to sell, publish, or distribute the work any further, since copyright for the official translation is held by the German Carlsen publishing house, which will release the official version in October 2005.
Nonetheless the online translation by the community of fans was an impressive and successful experiment, leading to over 600 daily sign ups on the community website. Meanwhile the translators are beginning to concentrate on a revised and more coherent translation of the work. The organisers of this project, however, have proven project management skills some professional agencies are lacking.
Sources: Harry-auf-Deutsch (Fan Community), Telepolis
