Customer Reviews
language study heaven 
2006-02-25
I need to learn French really well for school, but reading scholarly articles and dull books gets boring after a while. A friend recommended I check out the Harry Potter books in another language and enjoy reading something that helps build my vocabulary, particularly in more common communication patterns, and offers a fun way of getting used to medium grammar. And she was right! What a fabulous idea! I love Harry Potter, need to speed up my reading in French, and see new things about both the language and the plots that I wouldn't have otherwise seen.
I do have a few cautions, however. The wizarding/witchcraft vocabulary that abounds in the books will be of little obvious value in the real world. But looking them up in the first quarter or half of the first book will get rather frustrating unless you know the books forward and backward and don't need to look them up. But the vocab is surprisingly varied and difficult and will help anyone not fluent in French. The vocabulary is, on the other hand, generally pretty straightforward. So anyone with a semester of college study or a year of high school study will be fine. Even this may not be necessary, but I find my patience tested in looking up vocab all the time, and I've taken 5 semesters of French and have read much more for research.
Still, anyone looking for a fun and challenging way to practice their French should look into buying them in another language.
Good, but others make it seem too easy. 2005-11-27
I'm an upper-level high school French student--close to a 302 or 303 course equivilancy level for college. While I agree that this book is fun to read, it doesn't change the fact that it's very difficult. Sure, without difficulty I could skim through and get the gist, just reading for French structures, however I read for vocabulary. To just read the first chapter one must spend hours checking vocabulary if they don't have a very high command of French. For example, on page 7 the verb pianoter is used, which figuratively means "to drum one's fingers." Perhaps I'm mistaken, but this isn't really beginner level vocabulary. If a person doesn't have to look that up, then they either have an vast knowledge of French vocabulary or they skimmed over the page.
I don't mean to preach, but truly I don't want to give the notion that it's easy. Have a dictionary before buying. If you're like me, you probably read it in English first, so if I'm not mistaken you aren't reading it soley for the story. It's a great place to pick up vocabulary, and turns normal English structures into a nightmarish maze of French ones lol, but you emerge the better for it. So, if you're up to the challenge, it's an excellent way to test yourself and improve your French.
Just be sure you don't think it'll be as simple as reading it in English.
Great way to improve your French 2004-12-03
I took French years ago but like many US citizens, I rarely had the opportunity to actually use even what little I knew. Remembering the old saw that "If you don't use it, you lose it," I tried from time to time to improve my reading skills by taking up a book that I knew I had enjoyed in English. Although still difficult to find, books in French are becoming more common than they used to be and less expensive too. I found this one with little difficulty on Amazon, and have added other books in the language from the site to my wish list.
I was so successful in reading and understanding the simple French of Harry Potter, that I was almost at my normal reading speed. Although there were sentances and phrases that did not always make sense to me, I found that if I pronounced the French words in my mind rather than trying to translate the material into English, I often understood much better. I also found that the next time I ran across a new or difficult word that I had found in one context, I recognized its meaning much more quickly in another. Just as in learning to read English as a young person, I find that reading persistantly is the key to developing a vocabularly.
Though I don't ever expect to be a fluent French speaker and will probably never sit down and write my reviews in any language but English, I really, really, really enjoyed having an opportunity to re-read Harry Potter, this time in French. I recommend the series to parents of children learning to read French and adults who wish to improve their language skills.
For all ages 2004-07-16
I would recommend Harry Potter a l'ecole des sorciers for everyone. I chose to read this book for French class as a summer reading. It isn't hard and I learned more French words as a result. It is very exciting. The cover was nicely done too.
A la rencontre de Harry Potter 2004-02-28
(Pardonnez l'orthographe et les accents manquant)
Ce livre est super pour nous faire rencontrer Harry Potter. Comme adulte, je le trouve tres facile a lire, mais comme parent j'apprecie que mes enfants se trouvent resolue a ecoute l'histoire au complet! On en a lu deux chapitre le jour, et ca seulement a cause que ma voix manquait si j'en lisais plus!
Bien ecrit, avec un complot mouvementez, J. K. Rowlings nous apporte facilement de chapitre en chapitre et d'aventure a aventure. Elle nous intrigue avec ses descriptions et nous nous retrouvons a en vouloir savoir de plus en plus.
Personellement, j'ai lu se livre en une journee, et puis les trois livres suivant en moins d'une semaine! Je ne peux attendre a me retrouve avec le tome 5 de Harry Potter.
Je le conseille fortement aux enfants et aux parents.
Traduction lourde et incomplète 2007-07-30
Pour le prof qui voudrait aborder les difficultés de traduction, celle-ci et parmi les exemples-rêves...noms fantasques à go go, fabrications de sport avec tout un vocabulaire particulier. Le traducteur a décidé de fabriquer du côté français un vocabulaire qui n'existait pas avant que Rowling l'eût inventé du côté anglais. Il n'empêche que les inventions françaises ne soient peu réussi, et, à mon avis, peu nécessaire. Pourquoi changer, par exemple, le nom de l'école?
Si ce n'est fâcheux que de changer les noms des personnages principaux tel Snape, il ne l'est pas moins que d'éliminer des phrases entières du texte originel. Il suffit de lire la traduction côte à côte avec le texte anglais de voir la license excessive qu'a prise ce traducteur.
This is a great way to learn French (I use it in my classes), and to teach the pitfalls that translation can fall into. The translation is awkward, and at times incomplete, dropping whole sentences from the English. If you're teaching interpretation, this is a great discussion piece.
Horrible Quality, but a great read. 
2007-02-11
I'm in the equivalent of 3rd year french (advanced conversational) and found this to be a WONDERFUL read, it read pretty easily, especially since i've read it in english.
HOWEVER... the book is HORRIBLE quality. The pages come out if you so much as look at them funny. I am NOT hard on books, but just in the first reading, 10 pages pulled out. I HIGHLY recommend finding a different edition.
Great Practice! 
2007-01-11
I must confess I cheat a little when reading this because I have read the English version so many times I've practically memorized it.
I have taken five years of French classes (high school plus college), can speak at a conversationally fluent level and found this book not too much trouble.
It was great for practicing "real" French, not the sanitized version you learn in classes. I also laughed at "Hufflepuff" being translated to "Poufsouffle"!
H P a l'ecole des sorciers 2006-11-11
I found this book to be a great way of keeping up with my french language, as I rarely ever use it but I want to be able to. The first chapter was difficult for me just because i haven't read in french for awhile, but the further into it I go, the easier it gets. It helps that i've read the english version, because it saves me having to look up the french vocabulary that I don't recognize. I think it's a good book for keeping up with your french, and the translation from english is excellent.
Good in French, too 2006-03-12
Having just finished a degree in English Literature, I've been avoiding any remotely serious reading like the plague. I've also been a fan of Harry Potter since one of my friends sat me down and told me I wasn't allowed to make snotty remarks about Harry Potter fans unless I at least tried to read one of the books. So when I decided that my post-graduation project would be to dust off my French skills, reading the French translations of Harry Potter seemed the way to go.
I was actually pretty surprised at how much I was able to understand. The grammar and sentence structure is relatively simple, and the wry voice and wit of Rowling still shows through. There was definitely a lot of vocabulary that I had to look up, but there was also a lot of vocabulary that I could pick up from the context: in particular, hibou, voler and cicatrice (owl, fly or steal, and scar). Granted, my familiarity with the series provided a bit of that context, so I would consider this to be between reading a book you have no familiarity with and reading a dual language book with the English on the facing page.
My main complaint with the translation is that some of the names were changed. I'm in book 2 right now, and I still have a hard time accepting Professor Rogue as Professor Snape. Neville Londubat is not quite as bad, but I think there could have been a better way to convey that Snape's name has certain connotations in terms of the character's personality.
Overall, I've been thoroughly enjoying reading in French, which I could not say when slogging through some of The Classics in class. The more I read on, the more I realize that I'm not translating to English in my head but thinking in French. Highly recommended.
