Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis.
Which makes it “Officially Academic” now. Kewl.
Harrius Potter is now in Latin
Published by Nancy E. Shaffer
NANCY E. SHAFFER has been an experimental psychologist (M.A., Cognitive Psychology, Rice University), a philosopher (Ph.D., History and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Davis), and software developer. She taught history and philosophy of science at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec and the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her philosophical work has appeared in the journal Philosophy of Science and her pop-culture philosophy website, All Things Philosophical on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series. Dis/inhbition is her first novel. She currently resides in Tempe, Arizona. View all posts by Nancy E. Shaffer
Author Nancy E. Shaffer 
um, what’s the motivation behind translating a book into Latin? I can understand reading something in Latin that was originally written in Latin. But I think it’s beneficial to read books in their original language regardless of what language that is. How would reading HP in Latin affect a person’s understanding/appreciation?
From the comments…
on the amazon.co.uk page, I gather someone thought it would be fun to translate it into Latin, and people who are trying to learn Latin find it fun to cut their baby teeth on an entertaining book like HPPS.
It helps, I think, to learn Latin from a book you are already familiar with in English.
What I can’t figure is why people outside of academia want to learn Latin anymore.
Re: From the comments…
There are many who learn it at school, at least here in Britain. Latin is traditionally considered an essential requirement for the well educated mind, which is the primary motivation, I think.
Less elevated reasons are all the great things you can read in the original (says I who had to struggle through unsatisfactory translations of Horace, wishing I could read Latin). It’s probably a great way to understand how the English language (and other European languages) work, and if you go on to do history at university, it’s invaluable. Oh, and law too. I don’t know what the situation is in America, but in Britain I had friends who had to do Roman Law. I imagine being able to read Latin would have come in handy.
It’s been out of the curriculum for a couple of generations
My Mom took it in school when she was growing up in Canada in the ’40’s.
I don’t know where in the US it may still be required. Perhaps some of the older Catholic schools might still require it.
As for the US in general, this is a country where a second language isn’t required in general, even if it’s straightforwardly useful, like Spanish.
When it comes to ancient languages
I think I’d rather learn Greek, or Hebrew. I’d be much more interested in reading stuff written originally in those languages.