Geek Syndicate Issue 5 | Page 31

Geek Syndicate
It’s an art rather than a science, of course. We have the benefit of knowing whether a series sold well in France, but that doesn’t necessarily translate directly to another country. Olivier, who has the last word on selections, seems to have the knack for picking them. As far as “quotas,” we’ve always tried to keep as broad a selection as we could: several age brackets, different genres, a balance of male and female protagonists, different styles. XIII is coming to an end this trimester, for example, and we’re bringing another modern adventure series with spy overtones to replace it in our line-up: Wayne Shelton, also by Jean Van Hamme. We try to keep a balance. Translation GS: I’ve always held a passion for language and the delicate webs of meaning it contains. The notion that somebody can take a manuscript and translate it into another language: contending all the while with cultural nuance, linguistic humour and variable modes of speech is both horrifying and exhilarating to me. How do you approach translation in terms of practical method and thought process? For you, what defines a ‘good’ translation? Jerome: A good translation is one you can’t tell is a translaImage © Cinebook, 2012

tend to do well in that country–Blake & Mortimer in Great Britain, for example.

ally, whatever word didn’t want to come on the first draft presents itself at that point. If not, maybe the day after... After that, the text goes to a first controller who looks for typos, obvious mistakes, forgotten lines, etc... then to a professional proofreader–an English major from the USA to balance my own Frenchness. She corrects my mistakes, sends suggestions or advice for review, and the text comes back to me. And back and forth until everyone’s happy. After which it is reviewed again by the controller, AND further proofread by Aldous and Goon Aldous: to view the text with fresh eyes and check for slang or common usage differences. Jerome: It’s a long, involved and very thorough process, very much a team effort. When Erica is the primary translator, I’m the proofreader, making sure that there’s always one native speaker of each language involved. It’s the one thing I’m most happy with about Cinebook: Olivier’s decision, right from the start, that the translation job would not be half-baked. Aldous: I don’t think it’s possible to check the work too often – whatever happens, some mistakes will inevitably slip through, but I like to think that our error-rate is very low. Some things don’t translate. How do you handle humour,
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tion. Seems obvious, I know! A good translation is one where