I was unsure for a while on how I wanted to portray characters speaking in another language while keeping the meaning clear to the readers. I've seen other comics use brackets, different typefaces, and differently-colored text, but I wanted to see if I could find a method that felt a bit more immersive. I like the way this end result looks, but I'm really hoping that it isn't too hard to read lmao.
Big thanks to my mom for proofreading my Japanese/Elvish for me-- my conversational skills are a little unpolished, so being able to fall back on asking a native speaker was really helpful. She also helped add some fun dialectual quirks to some of the "untranslated" dialogue.
PS I figured it would be fun to add an "untranslated" page as a bonus here in the comments:
I really like the translation sitting on top of the Elvanese like that. I also really like that the untranslated text is being shown too. It's just cool to have both.
Yeah, Medli fuckin nailed it with that trick. I saw it and immediately knew what it meant, and had no trouble reading it. A+ innovation right there.
I really like how you did the language, its so cool! It kinda reminds me of undertale comics (for Gaster, some would have the translation over the wingdings similar to how its done here)
Many fine spellcasters in the area are trying to meet you.
Please clikc HEREEEEE.
The language over the natural text is done so very nicely!
That's actually a very creative solution to showing the translation, and it doesn't interfere with reading at all. The Elvanese is noticeable, but just background.
As others have said, this is a good and unique way of showing the translation from Elvish into English. Kudos!
That's a really unique style and still easy to read, nicely done !! :)
I was just going to let it go since so many others have said it, but since we can't upvote, you'll just have to put up with some more fanboy gushing. The way you did the translation bubbles is the best I've seen. It makes me think of those movies that were filmed using the native tongue, like Bruce Lee movies, then they were dubbed over in English. You can see that the actor's lips don't match the audio, and it adds to the immersion. Doing it this way makes it seem like you can almost hear the Elvish behind the English. Giving us the original Elvish speech bubbles was definitely a bonus. Thanks, Medli.
I hate being the dissenting voice on the translation bubbles, but while I like it conceptually you might want to go with a darker shade of blue and recede the background text just a touch more? I'm not sure what my eyes are doing with this other than "I can read it but I have to stare at it a little too long."
Even a more distinctive font might help.
(But then, I'm pretty sensitive to legibility in text, so.)
Apologies if this is my first comment, lmao, I love this comic and always look forward to it~
I was going to say pretty much the same thing. I like the method, it's not that hard to read for me, but the blue is extremely saturated and kind of jarring against the black & white page. Personally I wouldn't mind if the saturation was turned down a ways, and perhaps the background elvish greyed out just a tiny bit more so that it remained legible. I do appreciate the untranslated version being available too though.
I do like the overlay idea, but I think it's a bit too bright and jarring as well. To experiment with it I took a screen shot and played the saturation. At 0% Saturation (greyscale) I had no problem reading it, so I think if the text was just black it would have done fine.
Also following the previous "magic is color" system I assumed someone was casting a spell or speaking through magical translation before I read it.
I have no problem reading / looking at the color, but it very much made me think magic was happening. I ended up interpreting this as magical translation, i.e. there was magic translating the Elvish to common for Al's benefit, which makes no sense at all when Hechoton is speaking, so I thought it wasn't Hechoton, which didn't make much sense either.
So, my 2 cents of questionable wisdom:
Color means magic in this comic and it can't have another meaning inside the speech bubbles. Text spills out of speech bubbles too often, not to mention that the graphics and typography of speech bubbles generally depicts the way something is being said - IME in comics in general (this point may be wrong, while I've read many comics I doubt that I've actually read a statistically good sample size).
Information that is truly detached from what is actually happening in-universe, i.e. notes for the reader, is generally put into footnotes either inside the bubbles or in the gutters. But that is not very practical for translation. Brackets seem to be the standard solution, I've seen color used but it is also used for other things (such as off-screen character identification, extra sweet or extra threatening tone of voice). And I've never before seen colored text in a grayscale comic, probably because it looks out of place - precisely why using it to depict magic is genius, awesome and very impactful!
If the overlay solution looks good and readable in straight grayscale, as Frozensoil tested and found to be true, then I say go for that!
Color means magic in this comic ....
so, I read then that Elvanese spoken laguage itself IS embebbed with magic
That could make sense, but then it should be the Elvish and not the translation that gets the color, right?
That would probably be quite a bit harder to read, to my eyes. I must say I don't know. But logically, if the Elvish is magic then the Elvish should be in color, if the translation is magic then the translation should be in color, if neither is magic then neither should be in color. If consistency that avoids confusing readers is valued.
Another thing to consider is if there will ever be a part of the story where a lot of Elvish is spoken. Then it is more important that the solution is easy to read, easy on the eyes. And it might reduce the impact of the moment if any other magic happens... which may be very appropriate, also may not be, in either case makes it less impactful for a while.
I ramble. It's an interesting thing to think about!
Loving the translation idea, and I think it works particularly well for this comic specifically because of how you've already established your use of color.
Got a feeling we are going to be introduced to "octopus" here soon
Certanly, it would be easier to just pay the gold, isn't it?
this is an excellent way of showing they’re speaking in another language, it’s very clever!
It's nice to be able to read the elvish words now that we all know it's Japanese! My Japanese is not good but did Hechoton get a Kansai dialect? :D
He did :)
Initially I only gave him a little bit of a Kansai dialect since that's what my mom speaks with-- she and I have a similar relationship with Japanese as Al and Hech have with Elvish. When I sent her my initial draft though, she dialed the Kansai levels up dramatically because she liked it as sort of a hidden character trait lmao
It’s it the fear a watery death he’s afraid of, it’s the fear of waking up in an underwater temple level
Ive always loved the sparing use of color and it is such a nice way of adding to the translation
The mortifying ordeal of asking your parent for help...
Also the Elvish with English superimposed over it like that is really cool! I like it!
> The mortifying ordeal of asking your parent for help...
I really don't get it. Doesn't he have 40 gold? Why is this supposed to be a difficulty?
Maybe it's the "If you can even get IN" part and not the 40 gold. Or maybe there is something wrong or dangerous about Al giving that treatment to one of his coworkers? I don't quite understand this just yet, but I think we'll understand soon enough.
I think it might be something about Al personally not having that much liquid cash himself, and not wanting to rely on his father's money?
Similar as others: The overlay of "Elvish" and English is perfect, but I would reduce the saturation of the blue a bit - same brightness as in the normal speech bubbles, and enough blue saturation to easily distinguish, but not more. The grey of the "Elvish" is just right in my eyes.
... considering black English over grey "Elvish": From that I would have the impression that it's the normal language spoken by the characters (as in other speech bubbles), but with an (possibly otherworldly) accent --- some people have used that before.
So I skim read the alt text and saw "What's a little ponytail doom" and my brain goes "Al is going to lose his hair!!"
Then read it again and went "ah ..watery doom. That's. Wait. Still bad. Nope nope nope nope."
so wait.. they can use the magic language as a normal one? i thought it was standalone for magic.
It's the language used to "construct magic", but also a language that people speak, according to the first q&a.
I think this blue is a bit loud. And underneath it, the Elvish is nigh-unreadable so I'm glad for the untranslated version to be available. I can't read it yet but I just may have to pick up a Japanese grammar and get me enough of a grounding to see what's going on.
I'm guessing Hechoton is too busy/important to go himself. Wonder if Kat will end up going
Okay but how funny would it be if this is a swerve and Kat has a separate adventure this chapter?
So we keep alternating between Kat and Al: Kat has her own thing going, maybe a chill slice-of-life-ish day where she works, relaxes and generally has a good time, and meanwhile Al is desperately trying to keep whatever Mage he managed to recruit last-minute and everyone else alive in the ship?
Al may get Kat to check on the guy in the barracks, but you won't get her on board the ship. Everyone knows Kat's hate water. (rim shot)
To fit the tone of the comic I predict the following scenario:
Al brings Kat Kat into the barracks with a med-bag containing potions and/or spell components.
Kat goes to the patient and sets the bag down. She looks to Al for an encouraging gesture and steels herself for the task. She opens the bag, pulls out her supplies and says "OK, let's get crackin!"
Dead silence falls and she looks up to see everyone staring at her. In a wide shot we see Kat saying 'Did I say something wrong?' along with Al doing a face palm and another person holding the newspaper headline from two comics ago.
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