Yeah, I figured that. I just assumed that a language with a lot of vowels couldn’t really work if you only wrote the consonants.
I understand what you mean by the usage of Latin in cantations. Though I personally have not read the books, the Harry Potter series is merely a more salient example of the same tendency. I have heard that the children at the school for wizards perform their spells by speaking in Latin. For instance, someone said to me that one of the spells was “felix felicis.” Rowling, obviously a dilettante as concerns Latin, translates this set of words “luck of the luck.” Anyone who has even a basic understanding of th Latin tongue knows that felix is an adjective; hence, the phrase would be “lucky of the lucky.” As you have said, a perpetual line of wizardry has continued this practice of using Latin for their spells. Harry Potter is merely another example from pop culture; another finite sample of corruptive banal literature which captures and corrupts not only the minds of children but also a classical language.
I may be mistaken but I thought Rowling had a Classics degree. It could be that her liberty with Latin is justified by her creative freedom as an author of fantasy fiction.
CharlesH
Russian spells are usually cast (surprise!) in Russian. It is usually some folksy-sounding dialect, but definitely not the Old Church Slavonic. They have the form of rather long verses, scanned monotonously, sometimes very fast.
In modern cheap fantasy stories, though, roughly Scandinavish or Quenya-like enchantments may be found.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by corruptive, granted, its not Dostoevsky, but for a kids book but its rather clever (which can’t be said about the majority of kids books these days) I know she studied Latin, but I don’t know if that was her degree. (I think she had been a school teacher at one point) You could criticize her for bad Latin grammer in the occasional references, except that the books purpose is not to teach Latin. I think it is rather clever the way she includes Latin words, and mythological creatures, stories into a children’s book. Even many of the characters names are a Latin or mythological reference. Introducing kids to an area of study most will never learn these days I see as a positive thing.
The only problem is the myriad of other preferable material children could learn such mythological references from. Nathaniel Hawthorne, unarguably and infinitely greater writer than Rowling, translated Greek myths into an English format for children. These stories would be much more thorough and enlightening and also provide an entertaining option for children. Rowling, however, places a few tarnished kernels of gold in a pot of dross. She portrays witchcraft as an enjoyable pasttime which can lead to magical and mythical journeys; in reality, it is merely a pagan pathway to destruction. Another more preferable series would be the Chronicles of Narnia. It utilizes fantasy as a platform for a wonderful allegory. Why should children waste time reading books such as Harry Potter when they can read the actual myths which are more interesting when read independently. No one has ever accused Greek mythology as being dull.
Though she may not be an author for someone seeking knowledge of mythology, I think you should read a book of hers before coming to such strong conclusions about the rest of her work, vir. For example, in her 5th book, she writes about the effects of mass-media propaganda on an only partially informed nation (getting their partial information, of course, from the media). This is a commentary on the contemporary state of affairs; even the most intelligent become drawn into emotionally charged opinions before they really know what they’re talking about. The only part of the story they know (which is presented in the media as though it were the whole thing) is designed to promote a particular ideology (whether or not it’s a good one is not for me to say).
She shows this happening throughout her novel without overtly commenting on it, allowing the reader to draw their own inferences.
How is this a waste of time?
I wish to defend Harry Potter, but since I feel that it is outside the scope of this thread, I will start a new one.