DCML digest Issue 42

[Don Rosa]

> From: Olaf Solstrand <olaf at andebyonline.com>
> Subject: Dukburg
> in most cases where I've seen our friends from Duckburg,
> they have been
> talking Norwegian. In other cases, they have been talking
> English. In many
> cases, the cases where they have been talking Norwegian and the
> cases where
> they were talking English turned out to be the exact same case,
> depending on
> where in the world the publication is printed. And I'm sure
> you've seen many of
> the same stories in... German, I guess. So, Duckburg uses the language of
> Fantasy. They use all different languages at once, depending on
> who's listening.

I'm a big movie fan.
Some of my favorite movies are about ancient Rome or the Spanish invasion of
Mexico or a thousand other instances where the characters are filmed
speaking English even though the actual language spoken was something quite
different. And when these movies were changed for foreign viewers, they were
either dubbed into that language or left in English with subtitles. Does
that mean that they actually spoke a "the language of fantasy" in Rome or
Spain? Or does it mean they spoke English? No, it just means that the
stories must appear in the language of the country where they appear or they
will not make any sense to very many people. It's "artistic license". Or
it's a translation.
And of course you can guess what my firm opinion is on this. Duckburg is in
the United states because that's where it was in the original version which
is imitated in many countries. They speak English in Duckburg. But foreign
editions naturally translate that to their tongue, just as they should.
And when an American publisher lost his mind and thought he could publish
Asterix books here (thinking this benighted culture would go for such
quality) he published those comics in English. But neither that nor the fact
they were originally published in (modern) French means they spoke either of
those languages in ancient Gaul.

> Or English, I guess.

Ah. Yes, you knew it all along.
And I won't ever suppose that either Asterix or Tintin really speak the
English as in those editions in my library.