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[MetalGearK]

I've been enjoying some of the stuff in the Non-English section. I like the art, but in most cases have virtually no idea whats going on.
You can find fan translations of various games on different sites; so, how about beginning to translate some of these comics into English?
I'm sure there are many multilingual visitors to this site (I'm not one of them, unfortunately) that would be able to do so.
Of course it would go both ways also, adapting English language comics into other languages.
The end results could even be added to a new category on the site ('translations').
What does everyone think about this idea?

[paw broon]

I don't think we could find time for that with all the other stuff going on and the mechanical translations are pretty duff.  I recently costed a pro translation from Italian to English and the cost was prohibitive. But I got around the problem by learning to read some non-English languages.  Being retired, I have the time. The difference between being able to read, or get an idea what is going on, in a foreign language is miles away from doing a translation.
There are piles of translations of manga available on other sites but we cannot host them here. 

[MarkWarner]

I 100% agree

I think what would work is we have the comic as it is .. and beneath there is English (well let's start there) Just telling you the dialogue. Massive amount of work ... including a lot of coding my side .. but hey 
did EVERYONE see what Paw Broon said??? "Being retired, I have the time."

I will put it on the list as I think it is a REALLY cool idea ... meanwhile our retired admin with spare time ... we have some major work for you ... lol

[paw broon]

Aye, right.  I have the time to do lots of things.  It's just there are lots of things to do.  Gardening (we had our first courgettes and peas, plus a big harvest of courgette flowers - delicious coated in seasoned rice flour then fried in olive oil; shopping; cooking; trying to learn enough non- English to figure out some of the web sites I plunder; actually going out and meeting people; sitting in cafes - but only where they have good coffee; reading books; walking; occasional visits to the cinema; art galleries; slowly uploading stuff to CB+.
And I have a hospital appt. next week; a dentist appt. for an ooh nasty in 3 weeks; a long weekend in London - Tate and 30th Century Comics; our 40th anniversary in a couple of months and absolutely no idea about a suitable gift - and don't anyone say Black Terror#1 or something equally silly. 
That's why we are retired, to have all that free time!
What else was it you fancied having me do?
Oh, and 2 big weekend collector fairs in Glasgow in a month.  So me and Vince, Russell, Wee John and mebbee Colin from comicsuk will meet up for patter, Chinese food, coffee and buying of the odd comic.

[narfstar]

These have been termed scanilations. There are many available for non PD books  I do not know who the people are that have the time and ability. I thought about presenting this as to the Spanish teachers as a possible project for upper level students or extra credit.

[misappear]

I've read quite a few Spanish comics, and tried to figure out how to present a translation.  I began one project with blanking out word balloons and trying to insert English dialogue, but that was arduous.  I was thinking maybe of writing out the dialogue in script form, panel by panel, and suggesting an addition to the end of the scan.  The problem with this, though, is in the logistics of bouncing back and forth if you're reading online, or perhaps requiring a print out if you download.  (perhaps a translation-print out section or link with the title ?)

An excellent title for this experiment would be the Bill Kraker comic, recently posted, which isn't dialogue heavy.  Like Stephen said, though, it's a matter of time. 

I'm currently teaching first and second year Spanish, and I don't believe my kids have the requisite skills to handle this stuff.  A lot of the pubs are from the 1950's. There are a lot of idioms used in these comics which are not commonly used today.  I will present this idea to the Spanish 3-4 teacher, as soon as they hire one. 

[MarkWarner]

I am wondering if a page by page text translation ... or maybe just a precis of what is going on that appears under the page ... sort of a bit like subtitles ... just a thought.

[jimmm kelly]

I guess everyone has to decide for themselves how big a project they want to take on--but it seems like biting off more than you can chew--best to do it in bite size pieces.

Starting out by writing a synopsis of each story would be a start. But speaking from experience even this is a daunting task.

In addition to that, I would advise writing a transcript in the original language for each story. The good thing about text online is you can highlight it, copy it and put it into a search engine. I just recently spent time reading a German thesis paper by my friend in Austria. I could copy small portions of the text into my favourite online translator site--although even that only helped without 60% of the text. But from that and my understanding of German I could get the gist of the work (and thankfully my friend's paper was strong on data, with charts and diagrams).

Since the text in a comic book word balloon or caption is not computer readable text, there's no way to copy that into a translator in one easy motion. You have to painstakingly copy all the words (with the proper accents) before putting that into the translator. So a transcript would resolve that problem.

[narfstar]

Some crazy narf just did a scanilation. I took the first story the origin of Captain Jupiter and translated. It is now ready to download in the El Capitan Jupiter section of the Spanish books. You all better enjoy this because it was a lot of work!

[MarkWarner]

Good job! How long did that take??

As for

biting off more than you can chew

it certainly is. Just pondering .... but it's got to be done at some point and a leisurely one a week or so will at least give summat at the end of the year. And will speed up once know the best way. My main concern would be to nail it first time ... well at least get all the text in a text file and securely looked after. Would be gutting to do it all twice!

[narfstar]

I did it in bits and pieces but I would say a couple hours. It was a first time and a trial. I am sure that I would improve the quality if not the time factor next time. It is much easier to translate a comic book than a text story. I am sure everyone knows that a word for word translation would be pretty bad. With a comic, and having a read just a few over my lifetime, I have an idea of what is going on and can translate the meaning not just the words. Some were a little hard to understand which way the meaning was going. I may try to finish the issue. I did the Spanish/English together on purpose. I would love to learn Spanish and I am sure there are others who would like to improve theirs. By having the two together you can do your own mental comparison and hopefully learn from it. While some might see my actions as wasting time on a comic book I see it as a more fun way to learn Spanish.

[narfstar]

I did the second Captain Jupiter story. I did it a different way to make it look better. Let me know which you like best. These do not seem to be getting downloaded much for all the work they are. I hope people are reading them.

[paw broon]

Gie's a brek, please.  I'm up tae ma oxters in comics.  Sorry. I'm trying to say that I read it on the reader but haven't got round to downloading yet.  I will.  Now I have to go and compare it to the next one. It seems like a lot of work.

[jimmm kelly]

Hm, mebbe i should try translatin' that 'Merican stuff into good ol' Canajan English, eh? Ev'ry one knows them folks from the States don't know how t' talk right.

[paw broon]

"Ev'ry one knows them folks from the States don't know how t' talk right. "
Oh yes!
The 2nd test between England and Australia just finished (yes, I know we're Scottish and shouldn't be enjoying all that English twaddle, but it's a tad better than soccer.  Unlike baseball, cricket is a game for real men!  Alright, I love baseball as well, I admit it) and we've been listening to Australians commentating and commenting - great accents, and Glen McGrath turns out to be a nice bloke. Who'd a thunk it?

[narfstar]

It is a whole lot of work. Typing it into Google translate is the easy part. Then I have to take the translation and translate it into what makes sense to the story. Not always easy. Then I have to figure out how to put it on the page and make it as unobtrusive as possible. IT IS A LOT OF WORK. The idea of doing a translated page would be so much easier but I do not think it would be as affective.

[mr_goldenage]

Well I think you do a great job. Keep up the good work. Too bad you can't do Italian yet.

RB

[narfstar]

Thanks Richard. I do want to finish the last story in CJ #1