Slang in US Disney comics

[Olaf Solstrand]

Quoting "Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr." <sigvald at duckburg.dk>:

> Hi all!
> 
> This week a 16 page mini-booklet is attached to the weeklies in
> Scandinavia.
> This mini-booklet contains 3 stories in English:
> 
> b) Was this a wise thing to do by Egmont? (Remember I have previously been
> told to avoid "colorful language" in DCML.)
> 

Well... now there's a difference between the DCML and the weeklies/monthlies... 
AND there's a difference between the language Donald uses and the language YOU 
have been using... ("sufferin' catfish" and "dipshit" are two VERY different 
words!) I feel that slang expressions in a comic adds colour and spice, and 
makes the story more interesting... Isn't it silly that both Goofy and the 
Beagle Boys talk exactly like Grandma and Rockerduck? They ARE from different 
groups of the society, so using slang expressions/dialects is in my opinion a 
good way to express that... Even though the Norwegian translators've never done 
that. Well, except for one story, of course - "Lost in Andes"...

So, I think "colourful language" and slang in stories is a GOOD thing. But, to 
answer your question: NO, I don't think this was a wise thing to do by Egmont. 
For two reasons.

1) They are calling this an English course - but only a few of the words are 
explained. Sure, "Busybodies" is printed in the magazine in Norwegian, so one 
could easily just compare them... But hey! The Norwegian translator has not 
translated everything word by word! The title "Busybodies" has 
become "Neighbour is neighbour worst", "the planet Neptune" has become "the 
Milky Way", "I'm a monkey's third cousin" has become "I'm a stool", in one 
occation "atom bomb" has become "spy equipment" and "Mata Hari" has 
become "woman person". Not to mention that the mountains of Bolivia are 
translated into the mountains of the non-existing Hutaheiti. And this was just 
a few examples... Can this booklet possibly be used to learn English? Only if 
you know a lot already, and wants to learn slang a la Van Horn. But this 
booklet will probably attract those interested in learning English with 
Donald... which they can't.

2) Egmont is publishing stories in the original American... Personally I think 
that is a good thing, but as a result of what I mentioned above: This is 
eventually not good for them. Norwegian magazines have always had terrible 
translations - their only advance was that we didn't know how lousy they were. 
Now, they're SHOWING US. If not "Busibodies" will, I feel sure that many after 
reading this will find their issue of "On Stolen Time" to figure out what was 
the Norwegian equivalent of "sufferin' catfish", "have you popped your cork" 
or "greenbacks" - and discover that there aren't any.

So basically, I think it's good to get to read this, but I think Egmont is 
hurting themselves by doing it and that it also should not be marketed as 
an "English course", but rather as a special pearl for those of us who wants to 
read stories in the original language every now and then.


Two questions about this booklet...
1) Donald says "take a gander!" The translation says "throw a look at", with a 
following paranthesis "(gander really means goose, and is the surname of both 
Gladstone and Gus in English)"... I know Gladstone's name is Gander, but is 
GUS' as well?

2) Donald says "Straighten out and fly right!" The translation says "Line from 
well-known song!" Aw, please help me out here... WHICH ONE?





Olaf the Blue