Comic for Monday, Nov 30, 2015

Commentary

Posted November 30, 2015 at 3:16 am

A lot of people underestimate how difficult translating stories from other languages can be. For example, just take this comic. The entire joke of the first two panels hinges on two words sounding like one another, and one of those words being a body part.

What happens when the joke has to be told in another language, and there's no longer two words that fit that joke? Suddenly, whoever's translating it is left with the dilemma of how to present this moment in a way that preserves both the comedy and basic meaning while keeping everything reasonably accessible to the average reader. It's not as simple as just word replacement.

Granted, all of that is a bit tangential, but the first panel really did make me think of issues with translation, and I was originally thinking of writing "I probably find this more funny than I should", but nuts to that. I find it funny. I'm not gonna apologize or make excuses for it  I like what I like. It just is. SUNGLASSES. Maybe you don't find it funny, and you shouldn't apologize or make excuses for that, either.

Seriously though cut manga and anime translators some slack that there's some hard work

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