Since more than 11 million copies were sold worldwide within 24 hours after the English version was released, the local publisher said 700,000 copies have already been printed. On Friday night, 999 copies will be sold to the public.

“I was anxious for the next volume,” said Teng Nai-wen, a student at Taipei First Senior High School, who actively collects memorabilia related to Harry Potter. She was rewarded for participating in the event with an exclusive Chinese version of Potter’s latest adventures. “I will start reading it tonight,” she said while holding it tightly.

Teng, however, admitted that she hadn’t read the English version of the book, released last June. “Some of the English vocabulary was too difficult,” she added.

According to Lin Chin-hua, one of the four translators of the seventh volume, English-teaching methods in Taiwan are to blame for difficulties encountered by teenagers in understanding the English version of Harry Potter’s adventures.

“J.K. Rowling’s style is not that difficult,” she said, noting that “The books are meant for children.”

Lin also mentioned that some people could not wait for the official Chinese translation to be released, and used “hasty” Internet translations instead. The quality of those translations is very poor, because translators intentionally skipped difficult words and sentences, she said.

The publisher cited police sources to explain that websites offering these “online translations” of J. K. Rowling’s works are mostly located in China, not Taiwan.

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