Globality and Translations

[John Lustig]

I've had my Disney stories translated into different languages and I've 
also taken literal translations and re-scripted them--for Viz not 
Disney. So I've thought about this issue a bit over the years. Sometimes 
the literal translations don't make a lot of sense so you have to 
improvise. It's not always the fault of the original writer. It's not 
even necessarily the fault of the translator. Sometimes things just 
don't translate. Of course, the person re-scripting the story should try 
to respect the intent of the original writer. But I'd rather have a 
good, new joke put into one of my scripts than have the re-writer try to 
include a joke that just doesn't work in that culture.

On the other hand, sometimes stories stink to begin with. (Not mine, I 
hope, but I'll leave that judgment to others.) In the early days of 
Gladstone, the editor would often see great art for European stories; 
order the art from Egmont or one of the other licensees and then receive 
the translations only to see that the stories were less than wonderful. 
(Or so I've been told.) Since Gladstone couldn't afford not to use the 
art, the stories were rewritten.

Yes. The re-dialoguer should respect the original story--if it's 
good--and try to stick as closely to it as possible. (I work hard on all 
my stories. I don't want someone else mucking it up.) But if a story is 
bad then the person doing the re-writing has a responsibility to improve 
it...assuming he or she has the skill to do so. A gifted re-scripter 
will almost always stick to the original storyline if it's a good story. 
An untalented re-scripter is more likely to change every script--even a 
great one.

So I'm more concerned with whether I get a talented re-writer than 
whether he/she changes an occasional gag or inserts a new reference.
-- 

Best Wishes,

John Lustig

www.LastKissInc.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nafsk.se/pipermail/dcml/attachments/20090219/92f6d6d4/attachment.html>