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Q&A How to handle translation of a language in a comic, while preserving a sense that the language is significant?

You have two choices that I can see, and which one you use will likely be dependent on the amount of foreign-language copy you have versus the amount of space you have in the panel to display it: ...

posted 7y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:43Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26871
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:09:23Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26871
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T06:09:23Z (almost 5 years ago)
You have two choices that I can see, and which one you use will likely be dependent on the amount of foreign-language copy you have versus the amount of space you have in the panel to display it:

1) Write the foreign language in the speech balloon with asterisks. The asterisks refer to a footnote at the bottom of the panel translating the text. I think this will be clunky and a little annoying, so unless there's some reason to display the foreign language in all the balloons, I don't recommend it.

2) Indicate in context or with an asterisk that the characters are speaking Foreign Language, and _within the balloon,_ the text is surrounded by «guillemets».

This has in fact been covered in a comment to a different question on this site:

[How does one present spoken dialogue as a secondary language to signed speech?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/4815/how-does-one-present-spoken-dialogue-as-a-secondary-language-to-signed-speech)

> This is a common punctuation for dialogue in a secondary language in comic books, usually with an asterisk to denote the language. – Joel Shea

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-02-22T15:21:52Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 6