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Posts: 68 · Joined: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 68

I was wondering something. If a wisard is German, and he wants to say the spell, does he have to say, "Accio!" or can he say the German word for it? Thats been confusing me for a while...
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Posts: 6660 · Joined: Nov 29, 2006 Posts: 6660

Good Question...I never thought about that myself.
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Posts: 25 · Joined: Dec 1, 2007 Location: Hogwarts Posts: 25

I think the spells are the same in any language, they are based in latin. In GoF, the foreign wizard used the same spells.
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Posts: 28271 · Posted: December 2, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

I agree with Meg. Most of the spells are Latin-based. And most languages, the European ones, anyway, have Latin roots.

What about, like, the Asian countries, though? Ya know, the languages that aren't Latin-based? Do you think the spells are still the same, or do they have their own spells?
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Posts: 37 · Joined: Dec 3, 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 37

I think maybe they just create their own spell? I can't image there is only one spell to summon things. there must be quite a few and they have different outcomes slightly or difficulty levels? I don't know. that's just a speculation but that's how i'd see it working. also, probably wizard started from a small community and migrated and stuff like that so...newer spells might have different names and incanations and things like that but spells that have been around a long time as i imagine Accio has been haven't changed and they are common everywhere
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Posts: 219 · Joined: Jun 16, 2007 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 219

They all have Latin bases, so it would be the same in any language.

Posts: 28271 · Posted: December 4, 2007 11:28 pm Post subject:

Posts: 68 · Joined: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 68

And, theres always the question of accents. Alohomora doesn't work for ron unless he says it just right, and that doesn't happen very quick. It has too be precise, and you can't say it exactly right with an accent.
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Posts: 28374 · Posted: December 9, 2007 11:55 am Post subject:

Posts: 877 · Posted: December 9, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

wow.. miss this forum.. a lot! Very Happy

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Posts: 28374 · Posted: December 9, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

^ ya havent been here in a while.
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Posts: 296 · Joined: Oct 9, 2007 Posts: 296

I hadn't thought of this either. It is interesting though, since it makes a difference how you pronounce the spell in English. It seems that differences in dialects and accents would definitely alter what the spell does. Good question!

Posts: 28374 · Posted: December 11, 2007 3:24 am Post subject:

yeah... like the germans, for instance... the W is pronounced as V.. so for instance... will, "Vingardium leviosa" be as efficient as saying "wingardium leviosa"?
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Posts: 923 · Joined: Oct 21, 2007 Location: australia Posts: 923

^^ good point. cause in GoF victor and fleur's spells were often said with a slight change in the pronouncation. (sorry bout spelling) but they still got the same result.

and with the asian and arabic countries saying the spells. maybe the actuall spells are just translated into their laungage. like the same way, we can translate our names into a different laugage. its still our name just spoken in a different way
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Posts: 28374 · Posted: December 12, 2007 9:08 am Post subject:

hmm.. then why didnt the british wizards say "fire" instead of "incendio"?
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Posts: 89 · Joined: Sep 8, 2007 Location: simi valley, CA Posts: 89

probably just to make i more interesting...idk i speak spanish and its pretty easy(duh) to say...

Posts: 195 · Joined: Oct 19, 2007 Location: Hogwarts Posts: 195

i think that its the same concept as in the inheritence trilogy where they use the ancient language to discribe the nature of things. I believe that all of the spells are latin or latin-based. However, the question comes to mind regarding countries like china and japan, where there languages aren't latin based, then i believe that there would be a different series of spells available to those worlds of magic.
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Posts: 28374 · Posted: December 14, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject:

i also thought of the ancient language. what better muggle language could be regarded as the ancient language than latin? latin which influenced so many european languages and the languages of the entire american continent.

of course latin may not have influenced all countries, in particular asian and maybe african countries, so i cant explain the spells in those countries.
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Posts: 877 · Posted: December 15, 2007 5:13 am Post subject:

^ i know! haha.. harry potter and the half blood prince's sneak peak is soo cute cute.. hehe can't wait.
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Posts: 89 · Joined: Sep 8, 2007 Location: simi valley, CA Posts: 89

^wat do u mean by sneak peek?
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Posts: 3287 · Posted: December 16, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject:

sneek peek as in a little film clip trailer showing a movie coming out
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Posts: 89 · Joined: Sep 8, 2007 Location: simi valley, CA Posts: 89

well i know wat it means but wat i meant was they already have a sneak peek out for half-blood prince?
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NAME: jennfer
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Posts: 877 · Posted: December 20, 2007 6:40 am Post subject:

what i saw wasnt really a trailer.. its just about.. the new quidditch wardrobes.. the building for the orphanage.. it was really cool... matthew is all grown up now! haha
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Posts: 89 · Joined: Sep 8, 2007 Location: simi valley, CA Posts: 89

oh were did u see dat?.... i want to see
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Posts: 583 · Joined: Dec 12, 2007 Location: Hogsmeade Posts: 583

You know, I never thought about that before, but I would agree. The spells are mainly Latin based, so I agree with Meg too,
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