The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/1077738
FEATURES I PLAYED WITH THE LANGUAGE TO FIND THE RIGHT EQUIVALENT FOR 'MONSTREZ-VOUS', REFLECTING THE CHARACTER'S ALIENATION @Linguist_CIOL FeBruArY/MArCh The Linguist 15 the International Comics Festival of Algiers. Growing up in francophone Belgium, within an educational and cultural context close to that of France, I had never learnt about it in school; it took a few pages of a comic to connect me to an event that seems to have been forgotten. This major lack of historical knowledge in the collective memory of many european countries, especially post-colonial ones, creates misunderstandings that open the doors to racism and xenophobia. Comics from around the globe offer the opportunity to challenge the status quo through the stories of multi- layered and complex characters, and translation is key to shifting those perspectives. Approaching the text In order to translate comics, you need to understand how the medium works, so it is important to read a lot in a variety of genres. From superhero comics to autobiographical graphic novels, the way stories are told using words and images has endless possibilities, so each project requires a different approach. understanding stylistic choices, such as the shape, placement and size of panels, the style and tone of the art's line and the colour palette, are extremely beneficial to the translator. Panel attributes can be used to set the tone and establish the passage of time, while the attributes of word balloons can emphasise textual elements. Whenever possible, I have found a way to keep the bubble size similar in the translation, allowing only minor adjustments to the length of sentences. I have been lucky to work with artists who are happy to adjust the size of the bubbles when necessary. For some artists, the design of every single element on a page has been thought through and cannot be changed. In such cases, the translator is usually informed at the start of the assignment. As a translator, I find the stylistic elements of the artwork very helpful; the images are key to conveying the mood of the comic, and help me to choose the language that will best fit that mood. The work of the Algerian graphic novelist Nawel Louerrad is a good example. I came across her work at the International Comics Festival of Algiers, and was so moved by it that I introduced it to the editors of Words Without Borders, an online review of translated literature. My english version of her short comic Monstrez-vous was published as Demonsterate in their graphic issue of 2012. A play on the words montrer ('to show') and monstre ('monster'), the made-up verb Monstrez is repeatedly used in the comic to reflect both the main character's alienation and solitude, and the beauty in being different. It was essential to keep the idea of 'monster' in the title, and I played with the language to find the right equivalent. Nawel later told me, "You made it sound better in english," which is the most wonderful thing a translator can hear from an author. I was aided by Nawel's drawings, which so beautifully express the sense of alienation that the text becomes almost an accessory. The way she draws in thin lines and the colour palette she uses give a lot of fragility to the characters and the world of the comic. MAKING CHOICES A boy browses the selves at a comic-book shop in Malaysia (top); and (bottom) a selection of titles in Guadalajara, Spain translating comics Canan Marasligil IMAGeS © ShuTTerSToCk