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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?

Another suggestion: use a heavily stylised phonetic language. The most extreme example of this I've seen is in a novel rather than a comic, Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban. The entire book is writt...

posted 7y ago by Bob Tway‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:09:31Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26892
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Bob Tway‭ · 2019-12-08T06:09:31Z (almost 5 years ago)
Another suggestion: use a heavily stylised phonetic language.

The most extreme example of this I've seen is in a novel rather than a comic, Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban. The entire book is written in a debased form of phonetic English invented by the author. It's readable by anyone that can speak English, but it's a hard slog. It feels very alien at first.

An example.

> "Its some kynd of thing it aint us but yet its in us. Its looking out thru our eye hoals. May be you dont take no noatis of it only some times. Say you get woak up suddn in the middl of the nite. 1 minim youre a sleap and the nex youre on your feet with a spear in your han."

At times, things are given extremely unfamiliar names or translations that the reader needs to puzzle out. Again, most people will be able to work this stuff out, but it's a stretch.

> "Spare the mending and tryl narrer"

Experimenting and trial and error

> "the yellerboy stoan and the chard coal"

the sulphur and the charcoal

Riddley Walker is quite a famous book, partly because of its inventive approach to language: searching online should reveal many further relevant examples and discussions.

Attempting something similar would likely be a fair amount of work, but the effort may pay off with you able to exactly what you want. Have a language that seems alien to an English speaker yet which is comprehensible and flexible enough for you to convey a rich variety of meanings.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-02-23T15:10:35Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 1