The best way to show a different Language.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Thu May 20, 2004 10:33 pm

Right now I'm working on my SPX submission and I've got a couple of decisions to make. One of those being: "How do I show someone speaking a different language than the rest of the cast?"

The character in question is speaking Arabic while the rest are speaking in English.
I could just use Arabic characters in the font but I want the reader to know what the person is saying. I could use subtitles but I don't want to have what's in the word balloons interpreted by a translating linguistic expert and thrown back at because I worded something wrong.
My next thought was to use an Arabic based font that was still readable in English then put a footnote at the bottom of the panel telling the reader that the person is speaking in a different language. I could also use different fonts without the footnote and hope that the reader can figure it out.

Is there another way of going about this?
Do any of you have any sugestions, ideas, or thought?

Doc MacDougal · Post by **Doc MacDougal** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:10 pm

William G · Post by **William G** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:25 am

It worked for Stan Lee.

WWSLD?

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Fri May 21, 2004 2:58 am

or a Arabic-looking English font WITH the brackets.... ANYTHING that sets it off in an easy to understand and visually cool way is good.

Tim Mallos · Post by **Tim Mallos** » Fri May 21, 2004 11:07 am

Foot notes have always pulled me out of the story and hit me over the head with the fact that I'm reading a comic.

Could another character, via dialog, let us know someone is speaking in arabic?

In addition to differences in the character's font....

Tim

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Fri May 21, 2004 11:18 am

Tim Mallos wrote:Could another character, via dialog, let us know someone is speaking in arabic?

Yeah, that's cool too.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:23 pm

Tim Mallos wrote:Foot notes have always pulled me out of the story and hit me over the head with the fact that I'm reading a comic.

Another reason I didn't want to use footnotes.

Tim Mallos wrote:Could another character, via dialog, let us know someone is speaking in arabic?

Already planned, but it's not talked about until a couple of pages later. I didn't know if that would be enough.

Doc MacDougal wrote:<You could always use the classic angle brackets. A bit creaky, but still serviceable.>

I think that might be the way to go.

Thanks

Doc MacDougal · Post by **Doc MacDougal** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:42 pm

Tim Mallos wrote:Foot notes have always pulled me out of the story and hit me over the head with the fact that I'm reading a comic.

You don't want to know that you're reading a comic?

Tim Mallos · Post by **Tim Mallos** » Fri May 21, 2004 12:51 pm

If I'm reading a story for enjoyment I don't want to be distracted by the mechanics.

Like, confusing panel layout really kills the buzz.

I know there are two flashes of light in the corner of a film at the theater that signal the reel change at the movies, but I don't notice it in most films. I certainly don't want it pointed out.

You can almost hear your idea of my voice talking right now, but iF i Ma ke it hrader Two reed y Ou become conscious that you are reading, and are distracted from the message.

Unless it's used as a clever device to make a point

The whole asterix, look for the note at the bottom of the facing page yada yada is just lazy storytelling, in my opinion. Or cheesy marketing for past issues

Tim

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:09 pm

Tim Mallos wrote:If I'm reading a story for enjoyment I don't want to be distracted by the mechanics.

Me too.

Like, confusing panel layout really kills the buzz.

"Buzz" was my highschool nickname!! What a shock it was to read your comment!!

The whole asterix, look for the note at the bottom of the facing page yada yada is just lazy storytelling, in my opinion. Or cheesy marketing for past issues

I agree. But the devil's advocate in me says, what if you use it for some new, cutting edge, weird, artistic reason?... Though that kind of talk is just a hold over from the "what are comics" days.... Forgive me...

kaos_de_moria · Post by **kaos_de_moria** » Sat May 22, 2004 9:32 am

you can ask patrick farley (e-sheep) if he used an existing font for his spider title design. if yes, this really looks like arabic and then you could use that

kaos

Tim Tylor · Post by **Tim Tylor** » Sat May 22, 2004 11:24 am

Angle-brackets sound right to me too. I think it depends on context, and whether you'd be expecting the person to be speaking a different language from the others. In a scene of captured American WWII airmen, say, two guards could be <chatting together> and you'd know the brackets meant German speech.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Sat May 22, 2004 12:45 pm

I found a font that I'm going to use over at DaFont. They have a pretty good selection of Arabic fonts. I think Greg pointed the site out a few months ago on his blog.

kaos_de_moria · Post by **kaos_de_moria** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:13 am

just don't take Mohammed from that website. it looks more like hebrew to me than arabic.

moritz

PS the first font is a bit difficult to rad, but it is the closest to real arabic.

Eric F Myers · Post by **Eric F Myers** » Tue May 25, 2004 12:59 pm

I'm going with the Arab Dances font. I tried them all and I think it looks and reads the best at 10pt.

gazorenzoku · Post by **gazorenzoku** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:22 pm

wow... that's the dorkiest name for a font i've ever heard. glad it looks cool though!!

Doc MacDougal · Post by **Doc MacDougal** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:57 pm

Not as bad as "Arabolical" on the same site, though...

Rip Tanion · Post by **Rip Tanion** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:51 pm

I'd have to go with angle brackets over a foreign looking font. To me at least, if I see a a balloon with English words in a Arabesque font, I'd tend to think the character is speaking English with an Arab accent, rather than speaking an Arabic language. Walt Kelly used to do this a lot in Pogo; like having a character speaking in a high-falootin' manner lettered in Old English typeface.

Of course, if you combined BOTH brackets AND the Arabesque font, that might convey the fact he's not speaking English, but Arabic.

Tim Tylor · Post by **Tim Tylor** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:22 am

gazorenzoku wrote:
The whole asterix, look for the note at the bottom of the facing page yada yada is just lazy storytelling, in my opinion. Or cheesy marketing for past issues
I agree. But the devil's advocate in me says, what if you use it for some new, cutting edge, weird, artistic reason?... Though that kind of talk is just a hold over from the "what are comics" days.... Forgive me...

June 1st's Digger used it, but things there had just gone ubernasty and comic relief was called for.

Veleno · Post by **Veleno** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:14 pm

There's also some things you could do with the color of the word ballons, such as have them be different colors for different languages, or have watermarks in the background of whatever language it's supposed to be. I'd post and example of what I mean, but I'm not able to access the internet on my home computer at the moment.

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:59 pm

While Doc MacDougal made a good point that most print comics use the text in the 'less than' 'more than' symbols <>, let us look over the other options too.

efm wrote:I could just use Arabic characters in the font but I want the reader to know what the person is saying. I could use subtitles but I don't want to have what's in the word balloons interpreted by a translating linguistic expert and thrown back at because I worded something wrong.

I tend to like this version the best. When watching Japanese animation, I like subtitles so I can hear the original voice actors and dialog. In dubs, they tend to change the dialog too much. While subtitles are not always exact (I have personally found cases where it differed for the original dialog) we understand there has to be some level of translation. a lot of words can be translated in different meaning, however since you are the original writer and translator, you are the only one who says if it is close to the original intent or not, so do not worry about linguistic experts.

efm wrote:My next thought was to use an Arabic based font that was still readable in English then put a footnote at the bottom of the panel telling the reader that the person is speaking in a different language. I could also use different fonts without the footnote and hope that the reader can figure it out.

The problem with that is that different fonts can also be viewed as different accents not necessary different languages. I would be careful of using an Arabic looking font because you want a font that is not cluttered and easy to read.

Footnotes in comics have never bothered me as long as it has good information that helps tell the story. In prose, text put in parentheses does not stop the flow of the story (not very much at least). I think people are too uptight about footnotes. It is not lazy storytelling, because sometimes it is hard to put complex ideas into a picture without using text. Try doing a wordless comic without any dialog, naration or footnotes ...

Doc MacDougal · Post by **Doc MacDougal** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:28 pm

losttoy wrote:It is not lazy storytelling, because sometimes it is hard to put complex ideas into a picture without using text. Try doing a wordless comic without any dialog, naration or footnotes ...

Psst! If anyone's interested in experimenting with this, you couldn't pick a better time than the upcoming Strip Fight round. There's a game boy advance up for grabs, to boot.

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The best way to show a different Language.

The best way to show a different Language.

Re: The best way to show a different Language.

Re: The best way to show a different Language.