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Article published In: Languages in Contrast
Vol. 20:1 (2020) ► pp.141–165

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On the translation of Manner-of-motion in comics

Evidence from an inter- and intratypological corpus-based study

ORCiD logo with link | Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain)
Published online: 10 September 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.19007.mol
Abstract
This paper focuses on the translation of Manner-of-motion in comics, a genre in which information is conveyed in both verbal and visual language. The study draws on Slobin’s Thinking-for-translating hypothesis, according to which translators tend to distance themselves from the source text in order to conform to the rhetorical style of the target language. Special attention is devoted to the role of visual language within this framework, with the ultimate aim of identifying translation techniques adapted to the issue of translating Manner-of-motion in comics, in both inter- and intratypological translation scenarios. This paper analyses a corpus that includes a selection from the Belgian comic series Les aventures de Tintin and its translation into two satellite-framed languages (English and German) and two verb-framed languages (Spanish and Catalan). Overall, the results highlight the key role of visual language in the translation of Manner-of-motion in comics, since this can compensate for alterations in the verbal code of target texts, by comparison with originals, and thus minimize the consequences of Thinking-for-translating. Moreover, the (limited) space in the balloons and the respective stylistic conventions of comic books in each language are shown to constrain translation to some extent.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1The study of the translation of Manner-of-motion from a cognitive perspective
    • 2.2Motion in comics: The study of visual language
  • 3.The study: Materials and method
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Taxonomy of translation techniques
    • 4.2Quantitative results
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Secondary references
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