English Recordings

Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold in the first 24 hours. The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11 million units in the first twenty-four hours of release. The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each Harry Potter book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults. Besides meeting online through blogs, podcasts, and fansites, Harry Potter super-fans can also meet at Harry Potter symposia. The word Muggle has spread beyond its Harry Potter origins, becoming one of few pop culture words to land in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Harry Potter fandom has embraced podcasts as a regular, often weekly, insight to the latest discussion in the fandom. Both MuggleCast and PotterCast[80] have reached the top spot of iTunes podcast rankings and have been polled one of the top 50 favourite podcasts.

In December 2005, Rowling stated on her web site, "2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series." Updates then followed in her online diary chronicling the progress of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with the release date of 21 July 2007. The book itself was finished on 11 January 2007 in the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, where she scrawled a message on the back of a bust of Hermes. It read: "J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007."
Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990". In June 2006, Rowling, on an appearance on the British talk show Richard & Judy, announced that the chapter had been modified as one character "got a reprieve" and two others who previously survived the story had in fact been killed. On 28 March 2007, the cover art for the Bloomsbury Adult and Child versions and the Scholastic version were released.

The series has been translated into 67 languages, placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history. The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as Ukrainian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Welsh, Afrikaans, Latvian and Vietnamese. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even Ancient Greek,[64] making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD.
Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on Harry Potter, such as Viktor Golyshev, who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The Turkish translation of books two to seven was undertaken by Sevin Okyay, a popular literary critic and cultural commentator.[66] For reasons of secrecy, translation can only start when the books are released in English; thus there is a lag of several months before the translations are available. This has led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries. Such was the clamour to read the fifth book that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the bestseller list in France.
The United States editions of the Harry Potter novels have required the adaptation of the texts into American English, as many words and concepts used by the characters in the novels may have not been understood by a young American audience.

I can't believe that I have been focusing on English almost every day for over a year now - I mainly focus on listening.
Before that time, my English was very bad and I wasn't able to understand anything. Then I found a new approach to studying and I finally started to enjoy learning English. I had the advantage of being in England for one year, the reason this was an advantage was because I was able to immerse myself in English and I rejected Czech indeed since I really wanted to think in English and not to translate everything in my mind. Now, after one year of hard studying, I must say that my English has improved a lot – my listening comprehension is good, my own expression is not too bad and my reading comprehension is also quite good. I decided to see how far I have come and signed up for the “First Certificate in English” exam. I am quite curious about that. If I do well in the exam, I will get a certificate which I can mention in my CV and it will be to my advantage, because not so many mechanical engineers can speak English fluently.I hope that YOU will keep your fingers crossed for me.

My home town is called Litvínov. It is a small town in the Ústí nad Labem Region, in the norwest part of the Czech Republic.
Roughly 30 thousand people live there. The largest oil refinery in the Czech Republic is located there. I have lived there for over 21 years continually, then I went to study at another University, in a different town, so ever since I've been living in another town, but it will always be my home town. I still return back to my home town, because my family live there. Litvinov is home to the HC Litvinov ice hockey club, the club are in the Extraliga,one of the leagues in our country. A lot of famous ice hockey players have played in the team. Litvinov has a large crime rate due to the large amount of gipsies that live there. As for entertainment, people can go to the cinema or to the theater to have fun . Unfortunately, there is a large unemployment rate - perhaps more than 20%. There are not very many industrial companies, so it is not very wise for me to stay there. Litvinov is surrounded by the Ore Mountains which have formed a natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic.

Dialogue 3

A) Tell me about your wife. What’s she like?
B) She’s a warm person.
A) How isshe warm? Can you give me some examples?
B) Yes. She loves her children and spends time with them.
A) Is she also a patient person?
B) Yes. She stays calm when the kids are naughty.

3)
A) Tell me about your husband. What’s he like?
B) He's a warm person.
A) How is he warm? Can you give me some examples?
B) Yes. He loves his children and spends time with them.
A) Is he also a patient person?
B) Yes. He stays calm when the kids are naughty.

Dialogue 2

A) Tell me about your boyfriend. What’s he like?
B) He’s a very serious person.
A) How is he serious? Can you give me some examples?
B) Yes. He doesn't joke or laugh much.
A) Is he also a nice person?
B) Yes. That’s why he has many friends.

Dialogue 1

A) Do you have any brothers or sisters?
B) Yes. I have 1 brother.
A) What’s he like?
B) He’s a very polite person.
A) How is he polite? Can you give me some examples?
B) Yes. He always says ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’
A) Is he also a calm person?
B) Yes. He never shouts.

---An entry in English(2010.11.21.Sunday)-------------
• Wow..I didn't write any English entry since Friday.
• Now it's Sunday, so (therefore) I think I`d better write an entry in English(=an English entry) today.
• Just a moment ago I rewrote a Chinese entry and recorded it in Korean audio for my Korean-learning friends(= friends who are learning Korean..)=> (친구와 누룽지)http://lang-8.com/117072/journals/701596
• So from now I will write entry in English. /(So now I will begin my English entry for today.)
• Today~~? Yes, This afternoon I went to a fitness center with a friend.
• She is a very a good friend of mine
• She was originally a student of my Chinese hobby class but we became good friends afterwards.

( =. She was originally a student of mine in a Chinese hobby class, but afterwards we became good friends.)
• I find her cool (• . She's very cool. I like her, and I'm sure she likes me. ( Surely, she likes me.)
• . Haha ~~You don’t believe it? You ask me ‘is it real?’ (You question (doubt) if it is real? ) ~~^____^~~~ Yes! Haha ~~ Yes surely it`s real!~~^____^~~~ She also likes me.

• She likes sports very much, especially golf. I like swimming.
• We can exercise at there both, together. After lunch, we met at the fitness center and had a good time together. When we're swimming I felt so refreshed.
• I would go swimming every weekend if I could/can.
I keep my body and mind healthy by exercising with a good friend.
(• I can feel both my body and mind have grown healthier when we are exercising with a good friend.)

---An entry in Korean (2010.11.21.일요일)-
------------------------------
Korean Audio==> http://audioboo.fm/boos/222141-2010-11-21.mp3

와~~ 금요일부터 영어 일기를 안 썼다. 오늘은 일요일이다.
그래서 오늘은 영어 일기를 쓰는 게 좋겠다고 생각한다. 방금 전 중국어 일기를 썼고, 한국어 공부를 하는 분들을 위해 한국어로 녹음도 했다. 좋아! 이제 영어 일기를 써야겠다.

오늘~~? 그래, 오늘 오후에 친구와 헬스센터에 갔습니다.
그녀는 저의 아주 좋은 친구입니다. 원래는 내 중국어 취미반 학생이었는데, 뒤에 친구가 되었습니다. 나는 그녀가 정말 멋지다고 생각합니다. 나는 그녀를 좋아합니다. 물론 그녀도 나를 좋아합니다. 하하~~ 못 믿겠다고요? 그게 사실이냐고요? 네~ 물론이지요! 사실이에요, 그녀도 나를 좋아합니다~ 하하하!

그녀는 운동을 매우 좋아합니다, 특히 골프를요! 그러나 나는 수영을 좋아합니다. 우리는 그곳에서 두 가지를 모두 다 연습할 수 있습니다. 점심을 먹은 뒤 나는 그녀와 그곳에서 만나서 즐거운 시간을 보냈습니다. 수영을 할 때 나는 정말 기분이 좋아짐을 느낍니다. 이제 앞으로 가능한 매주말 마다 가려고 합니다. 좋은 친구와 운동을 같이 하면 몸도 마음도 건강해 짐을 느낄 수 있습니다