Translation notes 11-15 | HANDPLATES
8 ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION- In the seventh, gaster says „Boże daj mi cierpliwość …”which means „God give me patience” which, for these who don’t know, just seems like a little saying. But, if you have some insight, you know that the rest of the saying is „Because if you give me strength, I’ll kill” which is very gaster of him.
11. Okay. 11 comic. hoo this is a lot in one day, anyways. I think that from now on gaster will use masculine versions for them no matter what. Since he did describe them as „two little skeletons” and skeleton is masculine. Possibly in later issues he’ll be switching in between them to show his inner turmoil? We’ll cross that bridge once we get there. ALSO, we got translated baby talk! I generally used some slang to base the words off of, since, you know, it’s usually just easier to say versions of proper words. Example Baby Papyrus said: No cry, See, One okay, One No-mal. And so I translated it into: Ne Płac, pac, je oke, je dobsz. Which roughly says: Dnt Cry, l-k , u oke, u gut. For once I’m glad I have a little brother, so I can better translate the baby talk.Anyways, other fun things…I again translated little as tiny, because it just felt right. Calling them „tiny skeletons” feels way more dad, and I need that sort of softness in my life.
12. UGHHHHH WHY WAS IT SOOO LONG??? Anyways, it was kind of tedious, but I think it was worth it, I find it to be one of the best like…calm before the storm comics? I actually forgot about the first time of the comic, so I was like, whew, finished, and then noticed that no, I was not finished. So yeah, that was f u n. I don’t know what to say about this one…it was long, not too many too interesting translation stuffs…
13. Okay, who, this was shorter, and much more pleasant. I changed some translations, to make life easier.like when asgore says „this is my duty, as a king. But my duty is also to my people, and my friends” and I changed it to basically „that’s my duty as a king, but my duty is also to serve my people, to serve my friends ” because it felt R I G H T. I sometimes wonder if it’s okay that I change the text im translating like this. But it feels correct to change it, because making a 1:1 translation isn’t my point here, it’s giving the polish audience the experience of hand plates in their native language. Oh, I also changed the last line to „I promise” because I didn’t want to make it like this…loooooooong and hard to read sentence, it’s the end of a comic part, it has to HIT.
14. Made sure the last sentence hit again, instead of saying „I WILL NOT FAIL” Gaster basically says „I will not disappoint” which I feel like fits him more…and the I don’t have a good 1:1 translation for the polish so it’s a win win! I changed the bit where papyrus asks about Gasters hands from
„WHY DON’T MY HANDS LOOK LIKE YOURS?
You and subject 1 don’t look alike, do you?
Guess not”
to
„Papyrus: Dlaczego moja ręka nie wygląda jak twoja?
Gaster: Ty i Obiekt 1 nie wyglądacie tak samo, więc dlaczego mamy my?
Papyrus: W sumie…”
which roughly translates to
„Why isn’t my hand like yours?
You and subject 1 don’t look the same, so why would we?
makes sense…” the last word can’t be perfectly translated. Basically it means like an „actually you’re right” or „W sumie czemu nie” means „Sure why not” but „W sumie” also means in total or in all. So it also would fit in a „all in all” translation. Gaster feels colder when it’s put that way, which he definitely would be at this point.
15. I specifically translated „it is done” to „I did it” to show how gaster takes responsibility for what he’s done. I turned the „their limited worldview […] out of the pieces?” Part into a very specific building/ruins metaphor, since earlier I translated „a mutual scaffolding” into „a mutual foundation” so now it can be tied together, as if the building they build with Gaster’s aid got torn to shred by his cruelty. I changed the way that sans tries to comfort Papyrus, instead of saying „we’re okay” he says „We’re in this together”. It ties better with their codependency and also sounds better. I also translated „oh jeez” into „boziu” which is very similar, like they mean the same thing, but they’re used differently in the cultures. Boziu is most often used by older people, often referencing baby jesus, but it also sounds very childish, like a little kid would pick it up from their grandparents. This feels especially nostalgic to me, since I’m at my grandma’s as of writing this and she says that a lot.
Since I’ve hit the 15 mark, I’ll try to get to 20 if possible, but if not, I’ll try and get started on editing the pages to be translated. Hopefully I can provide the best hand plates experience to the polish side of the fandom…if it even exists. If it doesn’t then I know that hand plates can stand on it’s own regardless! Again, thanks to the amazing @zarla-s for giving me permission to translate this wonderful work!
as a more personal note, I hope that as my translations go on, I’ll be able to maybe get a job as a translator? It sounds very cool in concept and as you might have noticed, I really enjoy it…well, let’s just hope my translations can pack enough of a punch so that it has at least half the force of the source material!
