American editor underestimates the intelligence of Harry Potter readers

When I got my first Harry Potter book (the Scholastic edition) I noticed that it used American spellings (things like "color" instead of "colour"). And the name of the book didn't match the movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).

Later at another bookstore I found the Canadian edition (from Raincoast books), and it had much prettier cover art so I bought the rest of my Potter books from there. And I was so unhappy about my American book that I ended up buying Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from Raincoast too.

It's not just the spelling that's Americanized in the Scholastic edition. A quaffle is compared to a soccer ball (not a football), a Beater's bat is like "a short baseball bat" (not a rounder's bat, whatever that is), and Hermione has a crying jag in "the "bathroom" (not the toilets). All that in about 4 pages.

Is this interference called for? There's no question for me personally - half the charm of the Potter stories is their Britishness (I'm pretty nerdy about my love of things English) and I can't help but feel that the American books are butchered. But they're more approachable for American kids. Does this dumb them down too much?

EDIT: I've changed the title to reflect what I see as the real issue. But this discussion has brought home the fact that many Americans see everything un-American as, at best, not the sort of thing impressionable kids should be exposed to.

i was never trying to insult anyone here personally. i was expressing my honest opinions. if it offended anyone i apologize. i did feel personally attacked simply because of opinions i expressed and tried numerous times to say something like "everyone has different opinions, no need to get upset", but unfortunetly it progressed WAY passed that into immature comments and immature rebuttals (i'm including myself in this statement, too). :)

so! what i'm trying to say (again!) is, i never wanted to get off topic, sorry it got pulled that way, and i respect and want to hear everyone's opinion, but that also includes respect for my own. so if that can happen, great! :)

Kathy, Nomo, isn't it HOT up there?  I'll join you if you have a pool...

"I see Dumb People" - Some strangers T-shirt.  lol

Having lived all over this country and been abroad a bit as well; I can safely say there are "dumb" people and dumb intelligent people everywhere. 

Marketing decisions to make a book more palatable to one group are another is not "dumbing" down, it is just a sound business practice.

Helllllo... the OTHER kind of "let it cool for twenty-four hours" - the kind where we abandon the thread and let it sit without responding.

~Charlotte, Volunteer Moderator who does not want to get caught in "friendly fire"

Because I was afk when much of this ado transpired, I just wanted to say a couple of things.  I think a debate about whether or not the translations were needed, a good idea, or whatever else is fine.  I did object to the context off the post, as others have said.  One thing about we Americans.  Yes, a lot of us even these days still love our country & as well we should, however it is not a blind love for most.  We don't lack the ability to be objective and one of the whole principles this country was founded on, was that dissent is welcome, as is debate.  People are also allowed to say whatever they want about the people here.  Yet another concept rather popular in America.  However, people also have the right to argue against it.  I think it's also important to do so because MANY people have opinions about us that truly are not based on fact.  You hear it enough, you end up repeating it as if it were truly something the person believes.  It happens in almost all places.  I'd say it's probabl human nature, more than anything else.  But it spreads like a virus & I think it's best for the other opinions to at least be represented, so that maybe, just maybe, some who might be spouting that sort of stuff now might realize they don't even believe it themselves, & others, especially younger people might not pick up on it in the first place.  There's a difference between people simply getting annoyed & perhaps insulted & the need to suddenly send everyone back to nursery school as if they literally can't handle a simple discussion.  I can't imagine anyone's life was so touched by this thread that they won't be able to carry on. 

Me?  Well I'm used to this kind of thing.  I've been ripped into by so called friends from various countries about everything from our brains to the ridiculousness of drinking a milkshake as a treat!  So, I mostly found it saddening to hear these wild generalizations about such things once again from people who represent countries that I grew up believing were quite like us & our  "friends." 

Part of the problem with this discussion is that many people believe that Harry Potter is a series of kid's books. They're not. As the series has progressed things have gotten more and more serious, and I'd call the 3rd book the last that was definitely a kid's book. The past couple have been downright grim - PG-13 material if you want the American movie rating (I'll stick with the Canadian 14A rating).

Of course, my intial reaction was to the first book (that of two different titles), which was a reasonable book to send to a kid's publishing house. And I've heard rumours (don't show my spelling of the word to any impressionable kids - better hide your Fleetwood Mac albums, too!) that the rest of the series is less heavily edited. But I think people who ignore the adult audience are missing the point (as are those who ignore the child readership).

Does this dumb them down too much?

I didn't read all the responses to the OP, but here is my take:

Ugh, so sad.  It would be like translating a book, say like the bible (hoffs in disgust), into something that simpletons can understand.  Now, what's next?  Will we be butchering the classics and Shakespeare?

fallingstars, you've heard of coles notes, right?  and there are many many dumbed-down versions of the bible.  (one of the most popular of these bibles is actually called the New American.)

The 5-minute shakespeare is pretty funny.

I realize that.  My mom goes to a "church", if you would like to call it that, which uses some "new" version of the bible.  If only sarcasm could be seen in the forum world. :-) 

Cole?s notes are like cliff's notes?  I've never used one of them in my life, BUT I am a big fat nerd that reads text books for fun, so what do I know?

oh, don't worry.  we can "see" your sarcasm.

yep, cole's are just like cliff's.  i've never used them either.  i rather like actual books.

You know, American literature can have some pretty odd cultural references. When I was a kid I remember reading Tom Sawyer: in the book, Huck Finn was living in an old hogshead. I always imagined it as a very large pig's skull.

Kids do cope with these things.

Hmmm...whatever happened to underlining a word you don't understand and looking it up later?  I STILL do this with some of the books I read.

yeah, i keep my dictionary pretty close at hand, too.

(flamel gets out his Little Oxford and looks up "jumper")

EDIT: here we go: knitted pullover; loose outer jacket of canvas etc worn by sailors; US pinafore dress

As much as I appreciate the spirit of the title change on this thread, this one doesn't seem to me to be much of an improvement.

But hey, flamel, since you're admitting that YOU don't understand  some of the British terms in the books (and are only now looking them up)....  what does that say of YOUR level of intelligence?

And I hasten to add that *I'm* not the one asserting that the changes were made based on someone's underestimation of the intelligence of Harry Potter readers, flamel; you are!

I think these are just as reasonable as the changes applied to American authors' works which are published for British readers, whether children or adult.

EDIT: I've changed the title to reflect what I see as the real issue. But this discussion has brought home the fact that many Americans see everything un-American as, at best, not the sort of thing impressionable kids should be exposed to.

Sorry if that's what it seemed like. I hope that's not the case.
I didn't read all the apparent debating going on, but I'm sure (well, hopeful) that that's not the case. I just think it is so people can understand what's going on without having to look it up (as it interupts the flow of the story and most people do not take the time to do that).

And I hope people haven't been saying what you are hinting at, because that would make no sense. A lot of what you find in America is "un-American", so it'd be kinda silly to think that.

When I was little, I think I might have been aware of a lot of the differences in the languages, but reading tends to give me a vivid picture of things in my head, like a movie (which it should) & the jumpers thing would have created the most hysterical image. 

That whole vest/tank top thing is one of the worst, btw.  Not from Harry Potter, but it has made a few conversations about clothes with English friends a bit confusing & amusing on both sides.

Wonderful.  Great help that edit note was!  Not at all inflammatory.  If you're afraid of impressionable kids seeing something, it should be that note, which comes from a "slight" position of authority, at least on here reiterating concepts about Americans which are overly generalized & untrue.

lol Perhaps the rest of the world really does think we're dumb if that statement wasn't supposed to be rude, as well.