So, my question earlier was, would they use the poor translation from the UK Disney Literature Classics printing, or would they create a new and similarly poor translation? And the answer is: neither! They created a *much worse* translation! Unlike in the other Dark Horse Disney classics so far, there is no translator listed anywhere that I can find. Did they just run it through GoogleTranslate? Witness:
Scrooge to Crachitt, p. 8: What? Do you know how much firewood costs? I will yell at you if you even touch it!
p. 13 Scrooge: I guess you want a day off tomorrow!
Crachitt: If it doesn't disturb you too much, sir...
Scrooge: Disturbing, yes! If I take it out of your salary, then I am not overcharged, right?
p. 24, Marley's ghost: Tonight, I'm here to warn you that you still have hope of escaping my fate!
p. 26, random wailing remorseful formerly-rich ghost: Why? Why not help that poor thing? (there's no "poor thing" present--this is remorse about the wasted opportunities of the ghost's life, as in "why didn't I help people when I had the chance?")
p. 29, Scrooge's former girlfriend: Wiser? No! You've made yourself a slave of interests...of making money! Therefore, I think it's time to give you back your freedom!
Scrooge: Did I ever ask you for it, maybe?
Girlfriend: Not in so many words! Never!
Scrooge: Then how?
Girlfriend: By changing your temper, your love, your hopes: now, you're hoping to conquer me? No, never!
p. 66, Fred seating Scrooge at his table: Here, Uncle! At the post of honor!
This is a new low in English translation of a Disney comic. I'm not that upset that I paid money for it, because my plan is to write in GeoX's Dickensian dialogue, but I feel bad for anyone else who paid $11 for this schlock.
So, my question earlier was, would they use the poor translation from the UK Disney Literature Classics printing, or would they create a new and similarly poor translation? And the answer is: neither! They created a *much worse* translation! Unlike in the other Dark Horse Disney classics so far, there is no translator listed anywhere that I can find. Did they just run it through GoogleTranslate? Witness:
Scrooge to Crachitt, p. 8: What? Do you know how much firewood costs? I will yell at you if you even touch it!
p. 13 Scrooge: I guess you want a day off tomorrow!
Crachitt: If it doesn't disturb you too much, sir...
Scrooge: Disturbing, yes! If I take it out of your salary, then I am not overcharged, right?
p. 24, Marley's ghost: Tonight, I'm here to warn you that you still have hope of escaping my fate!
p. 26, random wailing remorseful formerly-rich ghost: Why? Why not help that poor thing? (there's no "poor thing" present--this is remorse about the wasted opportunities of the ghost's life, as in "why didn't I help people when I had the chance?")
p. 29, Scrooge's former girlfriend: Wiser? No! You've made yourself a slave of interests...of making money! Therefore, I think it's time to give you back your freedom!
Scrooge: Did I ever ask you for it, maybe?
Girlfriend: Not in so many words! Never!
Scrooge: Then how?
Girlfriend: By changing your temper, your love, your hopes: now, you're hoping to conquer me? No, never!
p. 66, Fred seating Scrooge at his table: Here, Uncle! At the post of honor!
This is a new low in English translation of a Disney comic. I'm not that upset that I paid money for it, because my plan is to write in GeoX's Dickensian dialogue, but I feel bad for anyone else who paid $11 for this schlock.
I just received my copy yesterday. I am not terribly disappointed. Certainly, the dialogue is NOT even remotely colloquial speech. But, it is completely understandable. Clearly, it was NOT just run through Google Translate, because there are no errors related to using a different dictionary definition from the first listed, and there are no errors of translating idiomatic phrases literally, and there are no word ordering errors made from leaving words in the order of the original language, when they should be moved to the new language's most common word order. I have no trouble reading and understanding the dialogue. It probably is less enjoyable to me than would be my reading it in Southern Manitoban early 1950s jargon. But, it's not a dealbreaker. I just look at the pictures and don't even have to read the dialogue, anyway. I read the Dickens book many, many times as a child. I've seen the British 1935 film version many, many times, as well as the US 1938 version, the fantastic British 1953 version starring Alastair Sim - all 3 hundreds of times. I've read The Classics Illustrated, and other human character comic book versions many times, as well as seen the musical film, and filmed and live plays of "Scrooge". I know ALL the words that would go together with any picture/comic panel. It's like watching a hockey game without turning on the sound, and not hearing the play-by-play announcer. I can hear the dialogue in my mind, anyway.
I suppose that there was an editor, who may not be highly fluent in English, assigned the responsibility of the translation, who used a translating programme, and then just "fixed" the machine-generated errors. Not the best scenario. But, if high-level professional translators were hired to perform that task, the comic books that now cost $11 US, would probably have to cost $13 or $14.
I suppose that there was an editor, who may not be highly fluent in English, assigned the responsibility of the translation, who used a translating programme, and then just "fixed" the machine-generated errors. Not the best scenario. But, if high-level professional translators were hired to perform that task, the comic books that now cost $11 US, would probably have to cost $13 or $14.
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But wouldn’t that extra money be worth it to get a book that would be worth reading more than once and then filed away or even thrown into the trash? If professional translators could make a comic better, wouldn’t that be a GOOD thing? Comics are often thought of as disposable entertainment, but the best of them have been remembered and reprinted many times over the years. Part of why these comics were embraced by readers is that somebody actually cared enough to make a quality product rather than churning out forgettable garbage. If Carl Barks didn’t care, we wouldn’t still be rereading his stories many years after his death. If Don Rosa didn’t care, he wouldn’t have an international fan base and a self-curated collection of his works. Will anyone be rereading the works of this unknown translator at Dark Horse even a week after this book is released? Probably not. People are actively warning others away from this book! The Disney brand is being tarnished by some penny-pinching editor. So was that worth not paying a professional translator so they can save a few bucks? I would say no.
I suppose that there was an editor, who may not be highly fluent in English, assigned the responsibility of the translation, who used a translating programme, and then just "fixed" the machine-generated errors. Not the best scenario. But, if high-level professional translators were hired to perform that task, the comic books that now cost $11 US, would probably have to cost $13 or $14.
[/div][/quote]
But wouldn’t that extra money be worth it to get a book that would be worth reading more than once and then filed away or even thrown into the trash? If professional translators could make a comic better, wouldn’t that be a GOOD thing? Comics are often thought of as disposable entertainment, but the best of them have been remembered and reprinted many times over the years. Part of why these comics were embraced by readers is that somebody actually cared enough to make a quality product rather than churning out forgettable garbage. If Carl Barks didn’t care, we wouldn’t still be rereading his stories many years after his death. If Don Rosa didn’t care, he wouldn’t have an international fan base and a self-curated collection of his works. Will anyone be rereading the works of this unknown translator at Dark Horse even a week after this book is released? Probably not. People are actively warning others away from this book! The Disney brand is being tarnished by some penny-pinching editor. So was that worth not paying a professional translator so you can save a few bucks? I would say no.
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You won't get an argument from me. I can read the book, so it doesn't bother me so much. But I also write stories and draw storyboards as a guide for my story finishers. I want the readers to read what I intended them to read. So I want the best translations possible.
What's particularly irritating about this book is that, as GeoX notes, you could easily use Dickens' original text for much of the dialogue. It is in the public domain, after all. That very public domain which Corporate Disney is chipping away at, as the Mouse gets older....
Huh, sounds like you'll have to use a lot of white-out. (Or alternately, maybe paste in new pieces of paper with the rewritten dialogue?)
Yeah, I'm thinking contact paper, cut to the size of the balloons. I don't really care how classy this looks, I just want to read decent dialogue along with the art.