“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” to Be Translated into Maori Language

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is one of the most translated books in history, and the list of languages in which it can be read is ever-growing. The next language in which you’ll be able to read Sorcerer’s Stone is Maori, spoken by the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Sorcerer’s Stone will be the first of 100 books to be translated into the Maori language as part of an initiative launched by Kotahi Rau Pukapuka Trust alongside numerous other New Zealand groups, The Spinoff reports.

Though usage of the Maori language has recently been on the rise, in the mid-20th century, it was thought to be dying out. Thanks to Maori language recovery programs, almost 200,000 people speak Maori today, though primarily in an academic setting. That’s part of why this initiative is so important; Leon Blake, the translator of Sorcerer’s Stone into Maori, points out that reading popular fiction books in the Maori language will broaden people’s understanding of the language in a conversational context.

Maori is not the only indigenous language in which Harry Potter can be read. Last year, Keao Nesmith translated Sorcerer’s Stone into Hawaiian, and the year before that, it was translated into Scots.

Monday, October 14, marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day in many parts of the United States.