It was a really fun project and opened my eyes to new aspects of creative translation. Translating comics poses interesting challenges: not only do you have to capture the meaning of the original text, you also need to account for the interaction between words and images. Lines need to fit into speech bubbles; jokes and wordplays need to sing; sounds should be hearable; emotions should be feelable. What’s the right onomatopoeia (…is it a Zip! a Pff? a Bzz?..) Are the words dictating the images or are the images dictating the words? I enjoyed working these things out as a translator and was delighted to see my translation hand-lettered in the final edition by the artists themselves!

Scratches 2 is available at the Athenaeum Boekhandel.

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