French vs English: MK: 12 Signatures
Part 3! Read part 1 and part 2
The translation differences, a more general look.
First of all, we need to discuss actually speech bubbles. Not all bubbles were changed to fit the French text, but some were.
Changed.
These changes were kind of rare and only happened if the text was important and really couldn’t fit inside no matter how hard I tried. And trust me, I tried a lot. Changing sentences so it would have the same meaning but still be smaller of fit different. I came on clutch. Often.
This translates to the same thing, but here’s a good example of Stella using more Quebec slang and speaking with a joual accent.
Some characters who spoke with English slang had to have it removed or changed.
“OMG! Really!” Instead of:
All chapters have the same names. Certain names are in English, and others are in French. The thank you note at the beginning of the book, and the origin of the comic pages at the end are both bilingual, as organizing and setting things in different folders is just a hassle.
Certain characters had a name change, except for Burgundy who ironically had the name of a color as her name and so it would have translated kind of easily... except...I thought “Bourgogne” sounded ugly.
Andrew became André, a much more traditional French name.
Edwin became Edward. ‘Édouard’ would have been the better French spelling, but in in this context, Edwin is actually anglophone, so have it be spelled the English way, but be more pronounceable to French speakers is the ideal here. Sure, Edwin might be a bit iffy on pronunciation but try Riverley K in French. My own name sounds hideous. I should have changed my own name instead!
Dimitri is a pretty name in French, but unfortunately, DIMITRIUS is just a terrible sound in French. Luckily, it’s long and nobody calls him by his full name.
Speaking of Edwin being an anglophone tho, his ENTIRE CHAPTER is different and much funnier.
In the English version, Edwin was a hard ass. Respectful, super Canadian, and polite, but still firm in not wanting to sign the contract, all until... ya know the plot twist. (Read my comic!!!)
But if French, he’s all that and extremely bad at talking in French. Added dialog of him saying as much and apologizing is the icing on top.
“ I’m happy that you came, but she has passed away. I worry that nobody can sign these papers. pardon my French.”
Notice how he says ‘je worry’. worry is an English word, he’s not saying it right. he should be saying ‘Je suis inquiet’ (I am worried) but even that isn’t right. I payed a lot of attention to my own French mistakes, and my biggest errors were using English grammar structure or sayings and applying them into French, which would create broken syntaxe and bad grammar. Language is complex, but I’ll keep it simple for the sake of this post not taking ages.
Other types of errors/fun details:
Clearly, he just said an entire sentence in English. That's not French!
“That’s illegal. we are met now. You know me not.”
He fails spectacularly to the point of this phrase barely making sense.
More anglicismes (using English words in another Language). Using ‘caller’ instead of ‘téléphoner’ (the verb, to call) and of course, using smart instead of intelligent or rusé.
“The money was (was?) - has been stolen.” I know this translation is wrong in English. Saying has is right for the context, but in French, Edwin questioned his own grammar and got it right!
There are so many other mistakes he makes, but most of it is grammar related. He only used masculine ‘déterminant’ like Le and Un. In French, nouns have gender, and so there’s La and Une he’s not using. He also gets conjugation mixd up, using ‘est’ and ‘a’ incorrectly. This is basic stuff that’s very hard for new learners, but even then, Edwin is from Ontario, where English is still taught in school. Edwin is a himbo tho.
Other small edits: ..or lack there of.
In chapter 8, Donovan’s hotel room is the name in either language. Mainly because I edited these directly on the image file itself. The hotel was actually my grand parent’s old folks home hallway. Their hotel room was the basement at my aunt’s house. I needed to edit out their address and names.
In French, Stella references her ‘info-man’, which is a popular comedy in Québec.
Certain sounds, like a gasp is not translated. Mainly cause I don’t know what a French gasp is...
Dimitri’s slang for ‘get high’ was translated to ‘défoncer’ but actually that means something much more intense. Basically Dimitri said “I’m gonna go get shitfaced.”
Beatrice also speaks in slight joual. Also, that’s my bedroom.
I don’t know why her swearing in French was censored....
“But Dimitri, it’s us the victims. he has abandoned us and our mothers too. Most of these kids don’t have dads and never received a #@$! black cent!”
The world that would named the most sense in her sentence would have been “maudite”.
thank you for reading about the translation process for the comic! I’m working on writing more articles.
