Do you have experience with translation?

FritzC 2020-12-03 10:19:18 UTC #1

Hi!
I've been thinking for a while now, I'd like to translate my comics. Not immediately, but sometime down the line once the English versions are printed, I'd like to make at least a few translations, probably French and German for starters.

Did any of you ever have a comic translated? Do you know how much it costs to hire a translater?

Or have you thought about having your comics translated, if so, into which languages?

alextsarace 2020-12-03 10:30:59 UTC #2

I have my comic in two languages: Russian & English but I do the translation all by myself because I know both languages good enough to make it understandable

Unfortunately, no clue about hiring, never thought of it but maybe you could search for French/German fanfic translators, they could possibly be interested in your deal.

FritzC 2020-12-03 10:45:50 UTC #3

@alextsarace Oh yeah, being fluent in more languages definitely makes it easier haha. Unfortunately my mother language is Danish and we're only 5 mil people so that's a really small audience...

That's a good idea with looking up fanfic translators! Do you know if there's anywhere they have some kind of collective or community? I don't have that much in depth experience with fanfics

alextsarace 2020-12-03 10:49:42 UTC #4

maybe AO3 (Archive of Our Own)? I know that it's a place with lot of translations posted in many different languages. Otherwise, you can always start a thread here in collaboration section

honeyandcreambutter 2020-12-03 10:52:53 UTC #5

If you're looking to find a (somewhat) fairly priced translator, then try going to Fiverr to browse around! They usually charge per word count. The only downside is that you would probably need to do the typesetting yourself (unless you've managed to find yourself someone who can do both!)

Try writing everything in a script, calculate how many words there are per episode and look around based on your budget and pricing.

FritzC 2020-12-03 10:54:18 UTC #6

@honeyandcreambutter
I'd probably be handwriting it from a script, since my comic is hand lettered and I'd like to keep it that way for the aesthetic so that's a good option!

Thank you for adding this!

Edit: sorry I need to @ you guys but for some reason it won't post my replies as actual replies

honeyandcreambutter 2020-12-03 10:58:37 UTC #7

Ooo how interesting! Then I guess all you need to do is give the script to your translator in that case ^^ no need to find a typesetter yay!

Good luck!

mcarrowolga 2020-12-03 12:00:28 UTC #8

I used to translate my comic into Russian but the interest there was too low, so I stopped it. But my comic is a very niche thing, yours might be more successful.

You can get a translator for free. Lots of people get paid for translating webcomics (via Patreon, by their readers), so they won't charge you for the translation. If you're interested in translating your comics into Russian, check out acomics.ru . There are lots of translators there, maybe someone will get interested.

FritzC 2020-12-05 10:44:33 UTC #9

@molinar771
Yeah I see that! If your comic doesn't hit the target audience in the other language, it's basically just double work for no more profit, that's also why I won't translate into danish. I don't think it's a big enough language to really have a big audience.

Hmmm, Russian could be interesting, I'm not sure if my comic would sit well with a Russian speaking audience though, I don't know much about the Russian comic market! I'll definitely keep this in mind though thank you so much for your ideas and input!

Puck 2020-12-05 11:03:19 UTC #10

My brother is a translator and writer.
From english to german and vice versa.
It helps a lot that he knows comics and created comics himself.
You need someone who understands comics

mcarrowolga 2020-12-05 12:37:46 UTC #11

Here's a couple of Russian webcomic translators you can contact for starters:

Good luck!