How to translate comics. The Marvel app will translate comics into Russian. How to make transfers

Comics is a special kind of art that combines literary and visual forms. In fact, this is a drawn story, which can be presented both in the form of a short story, and in the volume of a full-fledged novel in pictures. Comics embody any genre of literature and image styles. Even classic works of literature are found in comics.

In Western countries and the United States, comics became a mass product in the middle of the last century. Quickly gaining popularity, today they have already passed into the category of a separate cultural phenomenon, covering the whole world. Our country joined this layer of culture not so long ago, but many stories managed to get adaptation into Russian, and new ones are waiting for their turn.

Drawn narratives are very attractive and amateurs willingly take on their translation. However, despite the seeming simplicity of the case, lack of professionalism can become a serious obstacle here. Amateur translations can be believable in content, but mistakes made due to insufficient skills sometimes greatly distort the meaning.

Professional translation of comics is impossible without careful preliminary analysis and research of the context. Before starting work, a translator must have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe author, the history of the comic strip, the environment in which he appeared and developed. It is important to be sure to familiarize yourself with the entire story, even if only one issue of the series is to be translated. In addition, it is worthwhile to find and carefully study the options for existing translations of other parts of the series in order to take into account the well-established interpretations of titles, names, etc.

Features of the translation of comics

The main task of the translator is to interpret the original language to create the integrity of the comic's narrative and the visual component of the action.

Since there is not so much text in comics, in comparison with other literary works, a feature of its original creation is the concentration of the meaning and mood of the narrative. The use of special linguistic forms, idioms, slang, and jargon helps to convey the essence successfully. Therefore, the translator needs to have knowledge and techniques of colloquial speech that will preserve the expressiveness of the original story.

For a high-quality result, the translator does painstaking work, which includes analysis of the content, elaboration of the structure of the material, as well as textual performance identical to the original. The main feature of the comics - the dialogues transmitted by direct speech in the allotted area - creates one of the conditions that must be taken into account in the translation process. The text that is placed in the "bubble" in the translated form should retain the original number of characters, since if it is noticeably exceeded, the information will not fit into the selected area.

SME "Filin" - work competently

By contacting the "Filin" translation bureau, you can be guaranteed to count on professional performance with a decent result. Comic book translation services are one of the areas in which we have been actively engaged for several years. During this time, the company's specialists have acquired useful experience and skills, bringing to perfection the work with such material.

Our translators will complete a task of any degree of complexity promptly, competently, keeping the meaning of the original content. The translation made in SME "Owl" complies with the established rules and regulations related to the genre of comics. Proofreaders will monitor the absence of errors and inaccuracies in the text, and editors will control the style of presentation.

Here you will receive the result within the agreed period for a fee corresponding to the quality of the work done. For each project, the price is calculated based on the volume and complexity of the task, as well as the timing of its execution. For advice on all issues, you can always contact the company's managers by calling the specified phone numbers or ordering a call back.

So, all the good time of the day, Kant is with you again with a series of informative articles "The Magic World of Comics". Anticipating various kinds of stupid questions and idiotic jokes, I’ll say that I’m not trying to sound like a comic book guru (which I am not), but I’m quite able to talk about some banal things.

This time I will try, to the best of my strength and capabilities, to talk about such a phenomenon as the translation of comics (here the guys are indignant, they say that comics are not only translated, but also made out, so to say that we “translate” them is pure chauvinism , but we will not pay attention to their exclamations). Of course, I understand that not everyone who visits the Translation Base will be interested in the following stream of consciousness, but if you have decided to start translating (okay, okay, you can decide to draw up, but these are your problems) comics - then you are welcome. A set of common truths and little secrets of our idiotic hobby.

First, let's get into the basics. Comics are a completely independent medium, whose culture in our country no one has been engaged in (we do not take into account any unlucky would-be popularizers like Khikhus - they certainly do, but somehow it hurts unsuccessfully). It is for this reason, until relatively recently, that the ticket to the world of Western comics was (and still remains to some extent) the ability (well, or, in extreme cases, the desire) to read in the original language. They were translated, for the most part, either by the well-known Komiks publishing house (famous for its orientation towards a very young audience) and, in fact, by that very young public, who actively skipped Russian language lessons and read three books in their life at best (primer, second and blue). Thus, the canonical conflict “Translations is shit, only originals, only youth”, which is typical for movies, books, TV series, and notorious manga and anime, has become very acute for comics. All this I mean is that no matter how hard you try to do something good, there will always be dissatisfied people who will find something to complain about. So since you have decided to translate comics - treat this with a proper dose of self-irony.

Secondly, the question "Why do you translate comics, if they don't even say thank you for it, but only whine and beg to translate something else there?" Is often asked. In principle, this question can be generally considered rhetorical, and nothing to answer, but I will try. Translation of comics is exactly what a hobby. Quite dreary, requiring effort and time. And what is typical, it is absolutely not profitable. Well, feel free to laugh in the faces of those mercantile bastards who think only about the benefits of this kind of activity. Guys who work out the hardest tapping guitar solos for six hours a day, unlucky graphomaniacs who write about everything that comes to their minds, audiophiles trying to solder the coolest sound system with their own hands - they also spend a lot of notorious energy and time not for profit. Here. In short, we just love translating comics and love that someone reads our translations. I hope everyone who decided to do this realizes this. You are unlikely to get any benefit from this.

Third, to translate comics, you need to be realistic first. For some mysterious reason, people have just plunged into a new medium for them (there are usually only two options: “I watched cartoons about Spider-Man / X-Men ... What was there further in the comics? " or “The guys recommended reading Transmetropolitan. So it finally can fly away. What else is there like that? ") Decide that they will definitely, taking the bull by the horns, TRANSLATE THE WHOLE SPIDER-MAN in a couple of weeks ... which, of course, does not happen (I think there is no need to chew here ). A little later (if the person has not yet decided to score on everything), Pautinich's place is taken by some other long series, but still it rarely goes beyond number or two. So, if you are “impatient” to translate, spend a little time getting to know the medium himself. Read comics, good and different, and then, when you have at least roughly formed an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat you like, start. Otherwise, you will simply be disappointed and abandon this thankless task.

Okay, that's enough for a start. How he will find inspiration on me - I will continue.

In the West, comics, they are graphic novels, have long become a part of culture, while in Russia they have appeared relatively recently, but are gaining ground more and more. If earlier comics were associated with funny cartoons and superheroes among readers, now more and more comics are coming out on serious topics: from the problem of fathers and children to the Holocaust. Comics have also penetrated popular science literature: they tell the biographies of great people or explain scientific topics. Both publishers and readers gradually began to understand that a comic is just a form (text + graphics) with which you can express almost anything: from funny adventures to tragedy. Comics are no longer considered exclusively entertaining reading material for children and young people.

In Russia, there have even appeared publishers specializing only in comics, such as Jellyfish Jam and Bumkniga. The overwhelming majority of comics published in Russia are translated, because our country does not yet have an established school of graphic novels.

There is no well-established school of translators of comics into Russian. There are plenty of people who translate graphic novels - from amateurs on the Web to certified translators working with publishers. But, judging by the negative reviews on the Internet, many readers are unhappy with the quality of Russian translations of comics.

Note that publishers sometimes go to improve the translation. For example, when Azbuka Atticus decided to republish The Guardians by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, it not only acquired the rights to an already existing Russian translation (published by Amphora), but released a revised translation of that translator. Some inaccuracies of the first translation were taken into account.

The comic book may seem deceptively simple: there is not much text, and these are mostly replicas of characters, there are no long descriptive constructions, as in fiction. In addition, since the volume of the text itself is small, publishers usually pay little to translators. All this forms a frivolous attitude towards the translation of comics - as if it is easier and less responsible than the translation of "traditional" stories or novels.

However, the translation of comics has its own characteristics. Among them are:

the text and the image form a single whole, and the translator needs to make the translation so that he reveals the essence of what is being depicted, to be guided not only by the text, but also by the picture;
in comics there are many vivid characters, often with their own speech characteristics. The translator must convey this;
the lion's share of the text is made up of dialogues, while colloquial speech and slang are often used. Consequently, the translator must be well versed in these layers of the language;
comics often come out in series, and to translate just one comic, the translator needs to familiarize himself with other issues of the series;
there are well-established translation options for character names and other realities that should not be ignored. On the other hand, it makes sense to replace the established options with new ones if the previous translation was less accurate;
in comics there are many allusions, references to events, persons, phenomena. Only a broad-minded translator can grasp them;
a lot of interjections, onomatopoeia, which need to find adequate equivalents in the native language.

It is fair to say that translation of comics is a separate type of literary translation. Vasily Kistyakovsky, founder of the Jellyfish Jam comic book publishing house and translator of graphic novels, is sure that the translation of graphic novels is similar to translation not of prose, but of poetry. As in poetry, each word is strictly perfected by the author and stands in its place, so in a comic strip, each phrase is as capacious and clear as possible, and the translator needs to try pretty hard to make the translation as polished. It is precisely because many of those who undertake comic book translations do not understand the peculiarities of this type of translation and its complexities that the market is flooded with low-quality comic book translations, Kistyakovsky said. In his opinion, many comics in Russia are hopelessly spoiled by translation, and there are few real comic book translation professionals.

So, the demand for comic book translators is growing, but there are few professionals in the labor market. For a good-quality translator, this situation can be an opportunity to prove himself. Unfortunately, publishers are not always ready to pay appropriately for quality work. But the reader gradually becomes more discerning, picky about the translation, which can push publishers to appreciate the quality of the translation.

10 cool comics you don't have to wait for translation

Everyone loves Sarah Andersen's comics and many people love the horse Horace, but it can be boring to wait for new translations. No problem! the site has collected for you 12 regularly updated comics that you can run to watch immediately after publication, without waiting for the translation. Because they are written immediately in Russian!

Morning Cup of Comics

Vladimir Khaetsky is known not only for being the son of a famous Russian science fiction, but also for comics about his family life with screenwriter Anastasia Garbuz. By the way, he also conducts classes on creating comics. But that's not why we love him.

Cynic mansion

These comics are something like the Russian counterpart of Cyanide and Happyness: poorly drawn, disgustingly cynical and incredibly funny. Draws by his team of three artists known by the nicknames killallhumans, Pchelka and Magarych.

Milk. Stories in pictures

Vika Moloko is a St. Petersburg artist who works with Vladimir Khaetskiy. But they draw different comics. We have already done a selection of comics from Vicki before, but it is never a sin to repeat.

The overseers

An acutely relevant “civilian” comic strip, which, nevertheless, is nicely drawn and sometimes funny to the point of colic. The main characters of the comics are the personalized phenomena of Russian life: Censorship, Sberman, Captain Mail, Incredible Alc, Fashionable Punisher and Man-Bureaucrat.

Cat and mouse

“People are cool - they are like gods. And animals - they are atheists, you know ... ”- this is the motto of an uncomplicated at first glance, but sweet and addictive comic strip from the young Yakut artist Evgeny Fedotov. In this series of comic strips, it is mainly a spoiled and almost peaceful domestic cat, no less spoiled mice, animal death tired of life and the owners of the cat who act. We say “in this series” because before Fedotov had amazing comics “Yakutia for those who are not there”, but they are no longer updated.

Nastya's comics

Anastasia Lemova can be called the St. Petersburg version of Sarah Anderson, except that her comic strips are deliberately rougher. But these are still the difficulties of a big girl in a big city. I want to subscribe to every second comic strip.

Which will translate electronic versions of the publisher's comics into Russian and 11 more languages.

Marvel Global Comics iPad versionMarvel Global Comics iPad version

IPhone version of the Marvel Global Comics appIPhone version of the Marvel Global Comics app

Marvel Global Comics is a joint project of the publishing house and startup iVerse Media. The latter is responsible for the visual presentation system of electronic versions of comics and an innovative method of translating the text of drawn stories. In general, Marvel Global Comics resembles the popular application for reading and buying electronic versions of comics ComiXology: in it you can purchase new issues, maintain a library of comics already purchased, and also receive some publications for free (at the time of this writing, you could read the first issue of the Civic war"). At the same time, you can follow the comics coming out both in your native language (Russian, French, German, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Hindi) and in the original language. Of course, the list and number of issues in both tabs will differ.

Marvel Global Comics is currently only available on the App Store. The release of the application on other platforms should take place in the second half of 2014.

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