Harry Potter in Chinese 🧙🏻‍♂️ How to Talk About Your Favourite Wizard

Harry Potter in Chinese 🧙🏻‍♂️ Your Favourite Wizard + His Friends (and Foes) 

For many of us born in the 80s, 90s, or even 00s Harry Potter was essential childhood reading.

The books have since been translated into more than 74 languages. That’s including Harry Potter in Chinese, in both simplified and traditional characters.

So we thought, why not learn how to talk about Harry Potter in Chinese?

It’ll spice up your Chinese studies, give you a head start if you’re thinking about reading any of the Harry Potter books in Chinese, and mean that you can talk about your favourite books, characters and spells in detail with your Chinese friends.

And there is a lot of fun, new, magical vocabulary to be learned …

Chapter 1 – Harry Potter Chinese Name

Chapter 2 – Harry Potter Characters in Chinese

Chapter 3 – Harry Potter Spells in Chinese

Chapter 4 – More Essential Harry Potter Vocab in Chinese

Harry Potter Chinese Names – Quiz

Harry Potter Chinese Name

Harry Potter’s name in Chinese is a literal translation of the name’s sounds:

Harry Potter Chinese Name:

• Characters – 哈利･波特
• Pinyin: hālì bōtè

Usually the name ‘Harry’ is written as 哈理 in Chinese.

In Harry Potter’s case the ‘li’ sound is made using this character ‘利’ instead.

Harry Potter Characters in Chinese

Here are some of our other favourite characters from the Harry Potter series translated into Chinese.

The majority of the names are also translated into Chinese based on the sounds of their names. So you can talk to your friends all about the story of Harry Potter in Chinese:

• Ron Weasley in Chinese: 罗恩･韦斯莱 luōēn wéisīlái
• Hermione Granger in Chinese:  赫敏･格兰杰 hèmǐn gélánjié
• Neville Longbottom in Chinese: 纳威･隆巴顿 nàwēi lóngbādùn
• Draco Malfoy in Chinese: 德拉科･马尔福 délākē mǎ’ěrfú
• Professor McGonagall in Chinese: 麦格教授 màigé jiàoshòu
• Dumbledore in Chinese: 邓布利多 dèngbùlìduō
• Snape in Chinese: 斯内普 sīnèipǔ
• Sirius Black in Chinese: 小天狼星･布莱克 xiǎotiānlángxīng bùláikè

The translation for Sirius is a little different to the other translations. Instead of translating the whole name based on the sounds, ‘Sirius’ is translated as 小天狼星 (Xiǎotiānlángxīng).

This literally means ‘small heaven wolf star’, after the star Sirius or ‘the dog star’, the brightest in the night sky.

It’s very fitting for the character, as Sirius Black’s patronus in the Harry Potter books is a big black dog.

Harry Potter Spells in Chinese

Whoever was tasked with the job of translating the spells from Harry Potter probably had a really great time.

Some of the spells are again literally translated just to make the spell sounds, but some of them also carry the meaning or function of the spell in the translation too.

The general word for spell in Chinese is: 咒 zhòu, or 咒语 zhòuyǔ is more like ‘spell words’ or incantation.

You can say cast a spell: 施咒 shīzhòu (literally ‘implement/ carry out spell’). Or you can also chant an incantation: 念咒 niànzhòu (‘read spell’)

Now to some of the more specific Harry Potter Spells in Chinese…

• Alohomora – 阿拉霍洞开！ (ālāhuò dòngkāi!)  – This is the spell used to open and unlock locked doors and windows etc. The first half of the Chinese translation is based on sound; 阿拉霍 (Ālāhuò) sounds like Aloho. And the second half is based on the purpose of the spell; 洞开 dòngkāi means to be wide open.

• Expecto Patronum – 呼神护卫！(hūshén hùwèi!) – Cast this spell to conjure your patronus (a silver, animal-shaped guardian). The Chinese for this incantation literally means call (呼 Hū) a god or spirit (神shén) as a bodyguard or for protection (护卫 hùwèi).

• Wingardium Leviosa – 羽加迪姆 勒维奥萨！ (yǔjiādímǔ lēiwéiàosà!) This is the incantation for the Levitation Spell. Here the Chinese is simply meant to sound as close to the original as possible.

• Expelliarmus – 除你武器！(chú nǐ wǔqì!) The disarmament spell! The Chinese here literally means remove or eliminate (除 Chú) your (你 nǐ) weapon (武器 -wǔqì).

• Lumos – 荧光闪烁！(yíngguāng shǎnshuò!) This is a very useful spell, it turns the end of your wand into a flashlight, who needs a smart phone? In Chinese 荧光 (Yíngguāng) means fluorescence, and 闪烁 (shǎnshuò) is flickering or twinkling.

• Petrificus Totalus – 统统石化！(tǒngtǒng shíhuà!) The Full Body Bind Curse paralyses your opponent. 统统(Tǒngtǒng) means entirely/completely, and 石化 (shíhuà) is a technical term in Chinese for petrification (the process by which organic material becomes a fossil). If we break the word down more literally it means ‘turn to (化) stone (石)’.

• Accio – ….飞来！(… fēi lái!) This is the Summoning Charm. Literally 飞来 (fēi lái) means to fly over.

• Silencio – 无声无息！(wúshēng wúxī!) This one, you can probably guess, is the Silencing Charm. 

DID YOU KNOW – 无声无息 is a 4 character Chinese idiom meaning silent or noiseless: without (无) sound (声) without (无) breath (息).

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More Essential Harry Potter Vocab in Chinese

Of course there is so much more vocabulary from the Harry Potter series!

You can discover them yourself by reading the book in Chinese, OR just have a look at the following lists.

We’ve put a list together of some of the things we think are essential:

Harry Potter Pets in Chinese: 

• Hedwig – 海德薇 hǎidéwēi
• Fluffy – 路威 lùwēi
• Crookshanks – 克鲁克山 kèlǔkèshān
• Scabbers – 斑斑 bānbān

Hogwarts and Houses in Chinese: 

• Gryffindor  – 格兰芬多 gélánfēnduō
• Slytherin – 斯莱特林 sīláitèlín
• Ravenclaw – 拉文克劳 lāwénkèláo
• Hufflepuff – 赫奇帕奇 hèqípàqí

Magical Places in Chinese:

• Hogwarts – 霍戈罗茨 huògéwòcí
• Durmstrang – 杜姆斯特朗 dù mǔ sī tè lǎng
• Beauxbatons – 布斯巴顿 bù sī bādùn
• Gringotts – 古灵阁 gǔ líng gé
• Azkaban – 阿兹卡班 ā zī kǎ bān
• Ministry of Magic – 魔法部 mó fǎ bù
• Diagon Alley – 对角巷 duì jiǎo xiàng
• Knockturn Alley – 翻倒巷 fān dào xiàng
• The Shrieking Sack – 尖叫棚屋 jiān jiào péng wū
• Honeydukes – 蜜蜂公爵 mìfēng gōngjué

More Magical Things in Chinese: 

• Broomstick – 扫帚 sàozhǒu
• Cauldron – 大釜 dà fǔ
• Sorting Hat – 分院帽 fēn yuàn mào
• Marauders’ Map – 活点地图 huó diǎn dìtú
• Invisibility Cloak – 隐形衣  yǐn xíng yī
• Knight Bus – 骑士公共汽车 qíshì gōnggòng qìchē
• Pensieve – 冥想盆 míngxiǎng pén
• Portkey – 门钥匙 mén yàoshi
• Floo Powder – 飞路粉 fēi lù fěn
• Horcrux – 魂器  hún qì 
• Time Turner – 时间转换器 shíjiān zhuǎnhuàn qì
• Magic Wand – 魔杖 mózhàng

If there’s anything that we’ve missed off that you think we should really add to the list, and that you’d like to know the Chinese for, leave us a comment below!

Harry Potter Chinese Names – Quiz

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Harry Potter in Chinese – FAQ’s

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