# Translating the language of comics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [March 28, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864 "2022-03-28T23:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/61 "2022-03-30T11:34:54Z")
We’re still talking about Asterix translations? Whenever Asterix comes up as a sub-topic, it always gets traction. Can someone help me a bit with the French in the scene from _Asterix in Switzerland_ that @DPRK [posted in Post 22](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/22)? Although I don’t know much French, I can sort of figure out some of what they are saying. But I need help with: - Obélix devrait avancer à genoux. - … le chef se penche sur nos problèmes! (Is this some kind of French pun or idiom I’m not understanding?) I got that Obelix is serving a half-pint, but the English adds the “mild and bitter” part. In the French, does the chief not say that he is a mild man but he feels bitter? ETA: Okay, upon a second look, I see that the chief doesn’t say “I’m a mild man but this makes be feel bitter” in the French. Would that not have worked well if Uderzo and Goscinny had included that in the original? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/62 "2022-03-30T13:13:08Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > We’re still talking about Asterix translations? Whenever Asterix comes up as a sub-topic, it always gets traction. Everybody loves Asterix ! (Plus, it’s a good case study, having been translated so many times.) > [@terentii](#): > > I’m sure it wasn’t. What does the Latin translation of the book say? Makes me think of the pirate who only speaks in Classical Latin quotes. How does he talk in the Latin translations? And, to the extent there are foreign-language Asterix editions complete with footnotes/endnotes, are they consistently included (surely they would need to be; why would a random Chinese guy recognize excerpts from Julius Caesar any more than from Victor Hugo?) Anyway… [rather than trying to post individual pages, just click [here](https://archive.org/details/asterix-apud-helvetios-sermone-latino.-lingua-latina/page/6/mode/2up)] this particular Latin translation has > [@](#): > > **Abraracourcix:** Solum ? At omnis princeps a duobus militibus portetur oportet… semiprinceps mihi videor, si… > > […] > > **Panoramix:** At… quid Obélix agit ? > > **Astérix:** Semiprincipi servit. No beer ☹ > [@Senegoid](#): > > Obélix devrait avancer à genoux “Obelix should get on his knees!” [i.e., supplicants bend the knee] > [@Senegoid](#): > > … le chef se penche sur nos problèmes! (Is this some kind of French pun or idiom I’m not understanding?) The chief is looking into [literally, leaning over] our problems > [@Senegoid](#): > > ETA: Okay, upon a second look, I see that the chief doesn’t say “I’m a mild man but this makes be feel bitter” in the French. Would that not have worked well if Uderzo and Goscinny had included that in the original? In French, a person can be bitter, and beer can be bitter (and there is even an aperitif called “amer bière”), but “amère” by itself does not mean a kind of drink (AFAIK) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/63 "2022-03-30T13:26:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I have read (I think) all of the English translations of Tintin, and it’s pretty clear to me that they were leaving it very ambiguous what the “home” location of Tintin, Haddock, etc. were. It’s not made clear at all that they are Belgian and living in Belgium. All their dialogue is written as if, in fact, they are really English. At least early on, Tintin himself is described as working for the “Petit Vingtième”. As for the other guys, though, is Haddock even Belgian? It is revealed that his ancestor worked for Louis XIV, though that does not necessarily prove he is French. The Professor is supposed to be Swiss. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/64 "2022-03-30T14:40:04Z")
Marlinspike Hall is definitely in Belgium, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/65 "2022-03-30T14:53:24Z")
I don’t think that’s made absolutely explicit in the English comics. In fact, I believe that its address is given at least once as being in England. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/66 "2022-03-30T15:12:31Z")
Yeah, but all the _art_ indicates Belgium. [Including the uniforms of the local constabulary, the side of the road they drive on, the licence plates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlinspike_Hall#Location)… The English address given once was apparently just a translation error/overzealousness. And there is no Marlishire, England in any case. An English person should at least realize that the local police are not English bobbies (as did this South African kid). Americans, maybe not, but I don’t know if the books are a thing in the US ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/67 "2022-03-30T15:19:19Z")
I am in the U.S. I read them all. As a kid, I wouldn’t have recognized any of these indications as the setting of Marlinspike _not_ being in England. For children’s comics, I think it’s too much to ask to recognize a setting just from non-textual visual clues. I mean, unless it’s like the Eiffel Tower or something glaringly obvious and universally recognizable. And I think that Haddock was also getting misdirected phone calls for “Cutts the Butcher” and “Boots the Chemist.” That suggested to me that it had to be set in England. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/68 "2022-03-30T15:29:00Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > As a kid, I wouldn’t have recognized any of these indications as the setting of Marlinspike _not_ being in England. I definitely knew the difference between bobbies and gendarmes at that point. At least in terms of headwear. I’d have more likely said Marlinspike was French than Belgian, at the time, though, as I knew gendarmes mostly from _French_ TV (and Pink Panther films). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/69 "2022-03-30T15:40:23Z")
It’s another unintended side-effect of the translation. Originally, Moulinsart ↔Sart-Moulin, which Belgians might know. But Marlinspike Hall? A nautical reference where there wasn’t one, and Belgium is out of the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/70 "2022-03-30T17:48:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > An English person should at least realize that the local police are not English bobbies (as did this South African kid). Americans, maybe not, but I don’t know if the books are a thing in the US They are, and we didn’t. Or at least, I didn’t. I definitely assumed the books were set in the UK somewhere when I was a kid. Everyone spoke English, and it clearly wasn’t in the US, so where else could it possibly be set? Hell, to this day, I still have a subconscious assumption that British police detectives dress like someone in a Rene Magritte painting. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/71 "2022-03-30T18:12:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Hell, to this day, I still have a subconscious assumption that British police detectives dress like someone in a Rene Magritte painting. Yep… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/72 "2022-03-30T18:22:42Z")
If you look at the last page of _Tintin in the Soviet Union,_ you can see him come back to Brussels to a huge public reception in front of the Royal Palace. I guess later, they just assumed the readers knew who he was? I’m looking at _The Pharaoh’s Cigars_, and he starts on board a ship and spends the entire adventure in various countries abroad. What is bizarre is that if you look at, e.g., the detectives Dupond/t, in some (all?) English editions they “translated” their names as Thom(p)son! I guess otherwise someone might make the mistake of thinking they were Belgian? I wonder how people feel about Hercule Poirot… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/73 "2022-03-30T18:38:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I am in the U.S. I read them all. As a kid, I wouldn’t have recognized any of these indications as the setting of Marlinspike _not_ being in England. As a kid, I knew where they were set: Europe! If pinned down, I’d have added “A small village in Europe.” (Which would include Eastern Europe, the entire UK and Scandinavia). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/74 "2022-03-30T18:46:11Z")
Part of it, I think, is that Tintin books usually involved a lot of international travel, and were pretty densely plotted. As a young kid, I often wasn’t really following the plot terribly well, so it wouldn’t always have been clear to me which parts of a book were meant to be “at home,” and which were “abroad.” Despite knowing what a British policeman was supposed to look like, seeing Tintin interact with a gendarme instead of a Bobby wouldn’t necessarily have clued me in to it not being in the UK, because I could have easily missed the part where he was supposed to still be in his home country. > [@DPRK](#): > > What is bizarre is that if you look at, e.g., the detectives Dupond/t, in some (all?) English editions they “translated” their names as Thom(p)son! I’d guess at least part of that is that an English speaker might not get that Dupond and Dupont are meant to be pronounced the same, whereas Thompson and Thomson would be more obvious. But, also, I think they were deliberately trying to obfuscate where the action was set for international audiences. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/75 "2022-03-30T19:04:13Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But, also, I think they were deliberately trying to obfuscate where the action was set for international audiences. How often does the adventure take place at home, rather than in Tibet, the Congo, India, North or South America, or wherever? Tintin and Alph-Art is one. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/76 "2022-03-30T20:04:10Z")
> [@digs](#): > > As a kid, I knew where they were set: Europe! If pinned down, I’d have added “A small village in Europe.” Yep, it’s like Busytown and Lego City to me. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/77 "2022-03-30T20:06:50Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > How often does the adventure take place at home, rather than in Tibet, the Congo, India, North or South America, or wherever? Tintin and Alph-Art is one. Almost all of _The Castafiore Emerald_ takes place at Marlinspike Hall, with a bit in the surrounding countryside. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/78 "2022-03-30T20:16:14Z")
IIRC, _Secret of the Unicorn_ also take places almost entirely in Belgium, as does _The Seven Crystal Balls_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/79 "2022-03-30T21:25:06Z")
Thinking about it, I remember reading _The Castafiore Emerald_ as a kid, and being confused how the Roma got their wagons across the English Channel. Also, my dad (who introduced me to Tintin) absolutely loved Bianca Castafiore, and thought she was completely hilarious. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m pretty sure it’s because she was almost a perfect caricature of his sister-in-law, in terms of looks, attitude, and most particularly, volume. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864/80 "2022-03-30T21:28:50Z")
if I remember the HBO kids series one of the detectives was Thompson I remember when they reran them on nickelodeon they couldn’t run certain episodes because there were shooting or fighting … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-the-language-of-comics/961864.md?page=5)