New licenced theme: ASTERIX, from 2022

[tahra]

Thanks for the links - interesting stuff.

Very interesting article! Goes on to show, however, how it is almost always preferable, when possible, to read a text in its original language!

Most definitely!  I have some REALLY bad translations (stuff I didn't get my hands on in english yet)...  Of course, personally, (besides portuguese, of course, that I rarely read)  I am limited to english - and german for beginners (and even there, there's LOADS of stuff I don't get )

[Bolingbroke]

I’m basically covered in most literature (in the loosest sense of the word) I’m interested in, except German and Japanese. I basically taught myself Italian by watching TV as a child, and French many years later by reading comics. My daughter learned English on her own by watching TV too. She’s 6 and - due to the nature of our circumstances - already trilingual. Blows my mind how parents in general do not expose their children more to foreign languages, especially in their early years.

[tahra]

I’m basically covered in most literature (in the loosest sense of the word) I’m interested in, except German and Japanese. I basically taught myself Italian by watching TV as a child, and French many years later by reading comics. My daughter learned English on her own by watching TV too. She’s 6 and - due to the nature of our circumstances - already trilingual. Blows my mind how parents in general do not expose their children more to foreign languages, especially in their early years.

My french is not enough to read a book - I can mostly understand an article or something, but not enough for a book. Same with spanish (that I never learned, but it's close enough for portuguese people to understand - we were not plagued by the dubbed tv crime, thank the gods).

However, I have no illusions - then only language I can actually grasp jokes and puns with is english (besides portuguese, of course), and I am too old for that to change.

[Bolingbroke]

Ah it’s a shame if you really think that. So many good learning resources on youtube nowadays. If only we had had this kind of technology when we were younger.

I remember when I started learning Spanish in secondary school, you only had your teacher and your textbook and that’s it. Nowadays the smart can get much, much smarter than they ever could in the past.

[tahra]

Ah it’s a shame if you really think that. So many good learning resources on youtube nowadays. If only we had had this kind of technology when we were younger.

I remember when I started learning Spanish in secondary school, you only had your teacher and your textbook and that’s it. Nowadays the smart can get much, much smarter than they ever could in the past.

I'm being realistic   I don't really have the time for it either. Or the head, I think.

When I was in school, english was all over... and then, practice!  It is not so with german. And I'm older. One time, I couldn't remember the german for "fear". That I know since WAY before actually learning, from reading BRAVO and picking up 2 or 4 words... 

We call it pdi = peso da idade = weight of age 


(and we are OT  )

Seems the translators for Asterix had their job cut out for them. It's SO hard. One thing is to undertand what you are reading. Another is to put it in another language for someone else.. and yet another to do so in a coherent manner. Like in proper sentences!

I once translated a small text from english to portuguese in college, as a favor to a friend.. GODS. It takes forever, and it's very hard (and we aren't talking about jokes or double or triple meanings - she was in management studies...)

[Bolingbroke]

 

Yes, I’m sure.

I remember the first pun I ‘got’ while reading Asterix in the original. A character breaks free of his chains and proceeds to thump a couple of Roman soldiers, and Asterix quips - il est dechaine! I got it because it’s the same in Italian (scatenato). Nowadays I have gotten much better at getting this kind of play on words, but one has to be realistic - the more languages you learn, the weaker your grasp on them will be.

[GrahamB]

  - il est dechaine!

..which translates as 'he is mad!'

I remember reading Asterix when I was a teenager and wondering how the jokes had been translated from the original French.. now I know! Thanks for those links, Oliver! Sadly Anthea Bell is no longer alive.

I have asked for some Asterix books for Christmas on the strength of reading this topic. Sendervictorious and Appianglorious. Priceless!

[Bolingbroke]

Indeed it is, but it is also a play on the word chaines - chains, so it’s not simply a matter of translating it to ‘mad’!

Literary translation is such a maddening thing, I agree.

[Giorginetto]

these new sewts will make a fine addition to the roman/egyptina theme.. cant wait... i have the DS special 150+ gauls as well to add to them !!!! cant wait !!!!

[StJohn]

The first picture has appeared at Amclicks: houses, tree house, feast. No noses, apparently. Obelix is a non-Klicky