Recently I got my hands on a printed copy of Visser. I figured it was the perfect chance to start a comparative reading between Visser and Vysserk, its French translation.
Context: I’ve known Animorphs since I was nine years old, and I read and reread them in French so many times I practically know them by heart. About two years ago, I decided to dive back into the series — and since I’d learned a bit of English in the meantime, why not rediscover them in their original language? Because, as the saying goes, traduttore, traditore ("to translate is to betray") and I quickly realized that there were a lot of betrayals in these translations.
Just to be clear, I’m not doing this comparison to brag or claim I could’ve done better than the translator. My English is far from good. But throughout the saga, the various translators made choices that left me genuinely confused — like the fact that cinnamon is never translated the same way from one book to the next, or that Aldrea cries over her parents’ deaths in Chroniques des Hork-Bajirs whereas in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles she doesn’t. (And Elfangor explicitly says in TAC that Andalites don’t cry, which left me a bit perplexed for a long time.)
Visser/Vysserk has always been my favorite title in the saga, so I don’t plan to just compare, I also want to dig a little deeper into its meaning.
I want to take a moment to talk about the book as an object. Because honestly, when I got the English edition, I was so jealous of how gorgeous it is! Hardcover binding, shiny dust jacket — and there’s even a little flipbook animation that was completely left out of the French edition. You can already feel the difference in how the series was treated on each side of the Atlantic.
The first obvious change is that Visser becomes Vysserk. There’s only one other universe-specific word that got translated: Yeerk becomes Yirk. Everything else (Hork-Bajir, Andalite, Taxxon, etc.) stays the same. Personally, I think that choice was about adapting the sound of the words for a French audience. For a French reader, Visser sounds exactly like viscère (“viscera”). And Yirk, well… double ee doesn’t exist in French. Plus, Yirk just sounds a bit more gross than Yeerk.
Alright then, let’s get reading!
Right from the very first page, I want to nitpick.
He laughed and shook his head
(was translated as)
Il a secoué la tête en riant.
The use of the gerund en riant (“while laughing”) sounds clunky in French, especially considering K.A. Applegate’s usual style. A literal translation would’ve worked perfectly fine. But okay, as I was saying, I’m nitpicking.
Already, in his early adolescence, the stamp of failure was on him.
I find this line incredibly harsh in English. In French, it’s been toned down — a lot:
À peine entré dans l’adolescence et déjà marqué par le destin.
(Barely into adolescence and already marked by destiny.)
The entire notion of failure is gone, even though it’s crucial — this is Visser One’s judgment on Marco. But beyond that, the line becomes almost ironic once you know what Marco’s “destiny” will be!
Je l'ai regardé une dernière fois, tandis que la voix dans ma tête continuait d'implorer : "Laissez-moi lui dire au revoir, au moins ! Le serrer dans mes bras une dernière fois, l'embrasser. Oh, mon Dieu, non, je vous en prie, ne faites pas ça !"
Alright. I’ve got a lot to say about this passage.
Here, Eva addresses Edriss using the formal “vous.” And… it just doesn’t make sense. It makes absolutely no sense.
In French, “vous” is used when you want to keep a certain distance from someone and/or show them respect. It’s also the default form when you don’t know the person.
In this context, using “vous” could only make sense if Eva and Edriss didn’t know each other — like, for example, if Edriss had just infested Eva. But we know from #10 that Eva has already been infested for about a year and a half by the time Edriss fakes her death. I’m guessing the translator didn’t know that, and the publisher didn’t give them the background info, because later on, Eva does address Edriss normally, with “tu”.
Another thing that bothers me about using vous in the prologue is that it somehow ends up humanizing Edriss. I actually think that’s consistent with the author’s intent, since the whole point of the book revolves around that small part of humanity Edriss possesses — or rather, once possessed.
On the other hand, it completely contradicts another major translation choice that does the exact opposite and totally dehumanizes her. (I’ll get back to that later — for now, we’re only in the prologue ^^.)
I didn’t use the engine, not even for getting out of the marina. Anyone could guide a powerboat. It took skill to sail.
Not a comment on the translation here, but I love the touch of pride we get from Edriss in this paragraph — and the next one, which is genuinely poetic. It’s an interesting character choice from Applegate: she gives Edriss a passion, and a distinctly human one at that.
In an hour or so, once I was out of sight of land, I would lower my sails and wait for a Bug fighter to come lift me off the deck. The engine backwash of the Bug fighter would capsize the boat.
Les remous du moteur feraient chavirer le voilier.
(The engine’s wake would capsize the sailboat.)
Well, here the meaning — and even the action — completely changes. The translator chose to drop the mention of the Bug fighter in the second sentence, and translated backwash as remous (“wake”) instead of souffle (“blast”). As a result, it sounds like the sailboat capsizes on its own, because of the wake created by its own engine in the water. That always seemed strange to me — how could a boat capsize by itself? Now I get it.
The husband, the son who belonged to the voice inside my head, they would think I had died.
Le mari et le fils de la voix à l'intérieur de ma tête la croiraient morte.
(The husband and son of the voice inside my head would believe her dead.)
Another change that shifts the meaning.
The verb to belong in English hits hard — it makes the sentence much stronger. It shows clearly that Edriss doesn’t consider Peter her husband and Marco her son. This emotional distance comes back in Chapter 32:
Eva’s husband, my second husband, so to speak, was there.
This also makes it clear that when she says “My husband” at the very beginning of the prologue, she’s playing a role. It’s not a slip or a moment of identity confusion on her part.
That’s it for the prologue. I’ll stop here for now, otherwise this post would get way too long.
