Strategy and Style in English and French Translations of Japanese Comic Books

This article explores translation strategies in English and French versions of Japanese comic books, comparing English and French dialogue text regarding local color, atmospherics, and characterization. Section 1 describes Japanese comic books. Section 2 examines translation strategies. Sections 3 and 4 discuss local color and character locus (translation of culture-specific items and of non-standard dialect and foreigner talk). Section 5 discusses the translation of register (situations of language use) . Section 6 highlights comic book character role (the soldier, schoolgirl, and vamp) . Section 7 discusses atmospherics (jargonization) . Section 8 concludes that American translators used naturalizing strategies, both culturally (name changes and insertion of references to American culture) and linguistically (stereotypical use of dialects and use of heavily marked register). Strategies used in the French versions are less naturalizing than those used in the American versions. Culturally, they are more foreignizing in conserving names and culture-specific items. Linguistically, in some translations, transfers and calques from the English version are used, and as a result, the dialogue reads like a translation, but not from the Japanese original. Other French translations reveal linguistic neutralization with regard to dialect and register. This results in a destylization that reduces the expressive impact of the original dialogue. (Contains 49 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Strategy and Style in English and French Translations of Japanese Comic Books