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Post by keef on Nov 3, 2015 20:41:30 GMT
The purpose of this thread is to support teams and individuals translating Gunnerkrigg Court. There are some difficulties every new translator will run into, to name a few: Ale and Wenches, the font Tom normally uses for GKC does not have the diacritical marks necessary for many languages. An alternative mentioned here is Livingstone, like Ale and Wenches it has no capitals, but it has all the diacritics (even an eszett). Korba suggested amongst others Roman Uncial Modern, which has capitals, but is slightly more difficult to read. (Also see judgedeadd 's advice in the second post) Most languages are less compact than English. So do you make the font smaller, the bubbles larger? Do you leave out words you don't think are important? Should you translate names? The yep, yeah, uh, huh an oh? Zimmy's brummie accent? Red's whatever accent? Probably the most difficult choice one has to make in translating is how literal a translation should be. Too literal is unreadable, and it is not the idea to drive people away, but to interest them. On the other hand it is Tom Siddell's comic not yours, so you have to stay as close to the meaning of sentences as possible. Do you have to finish the translation of the comic's archive, before you start translating the new pages? (Why should you? Why would you do that to your readers?  ) ( I chose to translate every new page, even if it slows down the translation of the older chapters a bit.) (one tip, don't start at the beginning. Get a feel for Annie's way of talking first, by translating chapter two and three, then take on those strange blocks of text from chapter one... I wish someone had given me that advice) Earlier threads: Translating Gunnerkrigg Court by @korba (also contains most of the discussion about the German translation) and Gunnerkrigg Court in Other Languages by Asuka . Index of TranslationsI took the liberty of reusing Korba's index, adding some: Complete (up-to-date) translations[/a] [li] RUSSIAN -- Alpha, DukeBG -- hosted at AComics.ru Updates Mon/Wed/Fri.[/li] [/ul] Works in progress
[/a] [li] GERMAN -- @korba , hnau -- New discussion thread. - Chapter 1-17 translated, Chapter 1 almost finished.[/li] [li] HUNGARIAN -- DesTyn -- Discussion thread At least 15 chapters done?[/li] [li] JAPANESE -- Covalent -- Discussion thread Also in Asuka's old thread Japanese translation is discussed [/li] [li] SPANISH -- Daedalus , birds , jda , KartoffelnMcNugget , CoyoteReborn arzeik Neon_Knight -- Discussion thread - 23 Chapters translated - 4 Chapters complete.[/li] [li] SWEDISH -- Fuin has at least translated the first chapter. [/li] [/ul] [/spoiler] Hosting
Apart from the Russian and Polish project ( both alive and kicking), little of the now existing translations can actually be read anywhere. That's a shame, there are probably a lot of people who have heard about GKC, but just don't understand enough English (yet) to read it. Even a partial translation could ignite the love for this comic. Maybe we can find ways to make the translations more accessible, preferably with a growing number of fans as a result. And for the teams translating, hopefully more people who want to get involved.
At the moment I "host" my translation in my Google drive. Clumsy and almost unusable from mobile devices, but at least available to everyone. But I would really like a better way. Most Chapters are now available as Google Photo albums. As I mentioned in the Dutch thread, I'm interested in a technique nowadays called " overtooning", where speech bubbles are projected over the original comic. I've used it for a while to read manwha, and it works like magic. I was quite surprised to find it mentioned in Asuka's thread as early as 2010. Speaking of comics translations' technical side: How do you think, is it a good idea to use a transparent PNG? I mean, it may be placed on top, so that it changes only speech bubbles, and the rest of an image is the original one. Little to no size, easily changeable once set up and doesn't really involve copying and/or redistribution of anything but what's needed (translated script). The obvious advantage: no need for external hosting, people read the comic on www.gunnerkrigg.com/ and with one click they can switch between English and the translation. Anyone interested in making something like that for GKC? Clean Pages
If you now feel the urge to start translating, a lot of pages are available with clean speech bubbles. The Spanish team's and mine can be found here, DesTyn 's chapter 16 and 17 here. |
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Post by judgedeadd on Nov 4, 2015 11:19:45 GMT
Ale and Wenches, the font Tom normally uses for GKC does not have the diacritical marks necessary for many languages. I solved it in the most direct way possible - I opened Ale and Wenches in a font editor, and added the necessary Polish characters myself. (The author's free font license doesn't seem to forbid that). The original comic's font size is 12, and I sometimes end up having to size it down to 11.5 or 11. Very rarely I need to go down a bit further, to 10.8 or 10.7. I also break words at end of lines if there's no other choice, but I don't like doing that, it doesn't look that good. (Edit: also, try reducing the line spacing if the text doesn't fit in bubbles.) I translate the names that have a clear meaning. I have Zimmy just speaking in slang, like a typical deliquent teenage girl. Red's accent in my translation is a very superficial imitation of the Silesian dialect, and I think I succeed at making her sound really funny. I do stay close to the meaning of sentences, but if possible I try to make the translation sound like something a genuine Polish person would say. It's too easy to make a translation look stilted if you don't try to adjust the flow of sentences to your target language. This page contains convenient downloads of individual chapters in .cbr format (though not yet all are available for download.) (Incidentally, I am considering the idea of starting my own website which would allow reading the Polish translation comic more conveniently (and while I'm at it I might sit down and remake the entire translation from the start.)) |
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Post by keef on Nov 4, 2015 22:14:18 GMT
Ale and Wenches, the font Tom normally uses for GKC does not have the diacritical marks necessary for many languages. I solved it in the most direct way possible - I opened Ale and Wenches in a font editor, and added the necessary Polish characters myself. (The author's free font license doesn't seem to forbid that). Ah, I assumed people in the old thread, who stated: " the font's licence forbids it" knew what they were talking about. But you are right, not a word about it. I already downloaded a font editor, now to find out how it works... If necessary I just make the speech bubbles larger, for the moment that seems to do the trick. That's right, and I'm afraid I've not yet found the right tone. That's why I really could use someone proofreading. Apart from spelling mistakes and so on, just someone saying: that's a weird sentence! Another possibility, I might do the same for the first chapters, for fast archive binging. Good luck with that! By the way... did you save the pages with empty speech bubbles somewhere? |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Nov 5, 2015 1:47:58 GMT
I do stay close to the meaning of sentences, but if possible I try to make the translation sound like something a genuine Polish person would say. It's too easy to make a translation look stilted if you don't try to adjust the flow of sentences to your target language. That's right, and I'm afraid I've not yet found the right tone. That's why I really could use someone proofreading. Apart from spelling mistakes and so on, just someone saying: that's a weird sentence! One of the greatest strengths of the internet is you can always find people who will tell you you are wrong. Proofreaders gather at sites and other places where writing is posted and critiqued online [for free] or possibly I should say they do for English speakers and I assume that they do for every other language also. If a good one with many native speakers doesn't have a forum the best tactic might be placing links instead of an uploaded doc somewhere they can post comments and get a discussion going. It would also be an excellent way to promote the comic, I think. [edit] ^This thing I suggest would be temporary for working on the translation. [/edit] |
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Post by Gulby on Nov 5, 2015 15:05:24 GMT
I will soon gather the clean pages I do have (and if needed, resume the cleaning !), but just to make sure : we are talking of .png pages with empty bubbles, right ? Not the .XCF files with the original image included ?...
And for the transparent .png translations, that seems to be an excellent solution !!! That would still create income for Tom because people would visit his site but it would allow everyone (well, more people at least !) to read it !
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Post by keef on Nov 6, 2015 0:58:27 GMT
I will soon gather the clean pages I do have (and if needed, resume the cleaning !), but just to make sure : we are talking of .png pages with empty bubbles, right ? Not the .XCF files with the original image included ?... Whatever is easier for you. Possibly most people will prefer the .xcf. (If that is so, the Spanish team have those up to chapter 4. I could upload those to my "clean" folder too) I gave up on Gimp, but I still have it installed ( and I use it if everything else fails). I simply took the jpg files and cleaned the speech bubbles, didn't use layers. After chapter one I realized it might be a good plan to copy the cleaned pages before typing in the Dutch text... I agree, but I don't know how hard it is to make it work. I only used it, no idea how to set it up. |
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Post by Gulby on Nov 6, 2015 21:48:56 GMT
What do you use to upload the pages ?... Where can I put the clean pages .xcf ?... Are you interested by my (poor and amateur) translation in french ?...
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Post by keef on Nov 6, 2015 23:17:39 GMT
What do you use to upload the pages ?... Where can I put the clean pages .xcf ?... Are you interested by my (poor and amateur) translation in french ?... You could make a Google or Dropbox account under a pseudonym. Make some folders and share them with the world. If you look at my Google Drive, you'll see what I mean. EDIT: Or I make a: GC-Français folder in my drive, and you can share your translation from there /EDIT For the moment (until august 2016) Google Drive can also be used to share images. I use that to show every new translated page from the current chapter. I don't want to push you, but I certainly think you should share your translation. If you worry about quality, learn Dutch and read mine...  (and if people do have serious complaints, ask them to help translating)  I would really love it, if you and the others started translating every new page shortly after it is published. To me it is usually 10 - 20 minutes work. After I have finished cleaning I first drop the clean page here, so anyone can use it. Then I type the Dutch text in a word processor (spell check), then copy it in the speech bubbles (or if it is an easy page, type straight into the bubbles). Then drop the image in the chapter's folder in my Google Drive. Change the link in the my first post in the Dutch thread...https://googledrive.com/host/folder/number.jpg (as long as it is the same folder, just rename the file) et voilà ! |
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Post by keef on Dec 12, 2015 15:42:49 GMT
Anyone know what font page 661 (Bonus page about Robot Handling) is? Almost Times New Roman, but not quite.  I assume 662 "Another year" is Tom's handwriting. Same for this page "A fine strike, fille" |
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Post by Gulby on Dec 28, 2015 23:45:38 GMT
I think I used Times New Roman on this page but I can't be sure. Will check tomorrow. Currently on my phone, in my bed, too lazy and too tired to get back to my computer to verify. Edit : @ keef, I just checked and I have to explain that, before I saw this all sub-forum about translation, I had already started to translate GKC for my husband, and I had to chose a font that would do the trick. The one I found back then was "Goodfish". I translated most of the chapters I did with it. And for this page 661, that's the one I used. It's practical because it's a slim font, so while french is less compact than english, it still fit (most of the time) in the bubbles. Well. I used Goodfish. I think I'll have to re-do all my translations with the proper font and some corrections. Someday. Ah. T_T |
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Post by keef on Jan 14, 2016 10:55:32 GMT
Well. I used Goodfish. I think I'll have to re-do all my translations with the proper font and some corrections. Someday. Ah. T_T Well, time enough when you are retired... I'll probably settle for Times New for 661; nobody will notice anyway. |
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Post by keef on Jan 24, 2016 16:00:49 GMT
I decided to share the chapters as Google photo albums. Easier to read, and I can use the captions for Tom's comments and a link to the original (and at the last page of a chapter a link to the next). Edit: It seems that Google photo albums are no longer viewable for people without a google account. I'm not going to use Tom's work to promote Google. That's quite a lot of hours work down the drain.  Albums seem to work again. |
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Post by keef on Mar 6, 2016 15:30:16 GMT
Another font question, the fonts here:  The sfx are possibly handwritten, but in that case, a font that looks like Tom's handwriting would be welcome. There is a fonts page on the wikia, is someone willing to expand that?
edit: It seems Tom doesn't like Spirit Medium's lower case g's in chapter headers.  Last Time he used it was in  But he does still use them in bonus pages. |
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Post by judgedeadd on May 1, 2016 6:17:09 GMT
I've decided to end the Polish translation project, and it is no longer active (unless someone else takes up the mantle.)
All pages translated so far are still available at FabrykaKomiksu.pl.
Goodbye.
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Post by keef on May 2, 2016 12:35:55 GMT
I've decided to end the Polish translation project, and it is no longer active (unless someone else takes up the mantle.) All pages translated so far are still available at FabrykaKomiksu.pl. Goodbye. Very sad to hear this. Thanks for all your help, and I sincerely hope to see you back here! |
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Post by Daedalus on May 2, 2016 18:03:58 GMT
I've decided to end the Polish translation project, and it is no longer active (unless someone else takes up the mantle.) All pages translated so far are still available at FabrykaKomiksu.pl. Goodbye. Oh no! What happened?  |
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Post by keef on Nov 24, 2016 18:24:08 GMT
We sorta emulate Tom's lettering in that we'd have to know his software and settings to match it exactly. I find that with colour #202020, 8 points and bold, the result is close in Paint Shop Pro. However, I think Tom's is somewhere between 8 and 9 points, and his bold is some kind of double-bold? In the Dutch translation I use black, 9 points, not bold ( but I guess your settings might be closer.) If Tom uses bold in the comic, I simply type the word twice. Bold takes up a lot of space in Ale and Wenches, and especially in the beginning of GKC Tom made the bubbles a bit cramped. I manually add an extra pixel of line spacing with 8 points. With 9 you get the proper vertical spacing, but it takes more horizontal space and looks too skinny if not bolded. I suppose Tom makes these in a completely different format and scales them down for web publication (or they wouldn't look good in print). (from the " I saw an opportunity" thread) |
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Post by Neon_Knight on Jan 7, 2017 15:16:46 GMT
DISCLAIMER: This reply is mostly based on the Spanish translation and there will be things which will definitely be different in other languages.
Well, it was a good read.
Ale and Wenches: My solution was to use that font plus manually insert the characters in the pages. It's a nasty workaround, though, in spite of how good the pages look, and it's a bit difficult to maintain for quick edits, but it's what we have. I should try Livingstone, though.
Clean pages: Using GIMP, I start with the original page, then I try to keep the cleaned bubbles with the original colors in another layer. Then add the text. The XCF is saved before the export in case I need to do modifications.
Texts, balloons and translations: Meaning and size, both matters. A good translation keeps the original meaning without having to mess with the original artist's work. It's possible to tell the same thing with different words and expressions without losing the meaning. Because of all of this, the text's size must be kept as close as possible to the original so extra modifications aren't required.
Names: The original names must be kept. Tom named them, after all.
Archive: Yes, translating the previous pages IS a must. Readers need to catch up knowing all of the previous facts which makes the comic so entertaining and engaging in the first place.
Hosting: We use Google Docs for it. It would be a good idea to have a translation system similar to those .po files used in website translation (i18n), though. You have the lines and their size, then you use that as a base to create your translation. Never heard of overtooning, though! It sounds awesome, and seems to be pretty close to what I wished.
I don't know if something else's missing, tho.
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Post by keef on Jan 9, 2017 10:38:45 GMT
Ale and Wenches: My solution was to use that font plus manually insert the characters in the pages. It's a nasty workaround, though, in spite of how good the pages look, and it's a bit difficult to maintain for quick edits, but it's what we have. I should try Livingstone, though. If someone could make a version of A&W with the most common diacritical marks, that would be awesome. I tried a couple of font editors, but the results were not impressive. |
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Post by Neon_Knight on Jan 11, 2017 18:58:52 GMT
Yeah, and those who do a good job are shareware or trialware. Speaking of which... how did you tackle Chapter 10/23 title pages? Did you directly create something atop the existing text? Did you create a "neutral" page just for those chapters? |
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Post by keef on Jan 12, 2017 0:23:59 GMT
Yeah, and those who do a good job are shareware or trialware. Speaking of which... how did you tackle Chapter 10/23 title pages? Did you directly create something atop the existing text? Did you create a "neutral" page just for those chapters? I didn't change anything to those pages. I would not be capable of the enormous amount of redrawing needed to add in the new text, even if I did know all the fonts Tom was using. I just added a bit to the bottom or top of the pages and used the same, or a similar font for the translation. Same goes for 54 and the second page of 58 I'm afraid. You can find all Dutch translations linked in the OP of the Dutch thread. Thirty-seven chapters and Traveller so far. At the moment I'm translating 26. At first I didn't translate chapter titles at all ( I just added the Dutch to the bottom of the page), nor sound effects and things like that, but whenever I feel like it I go back to the older chapters and try to improve them a bit. |
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fanofts
Junior Member
Watching gunnerkrigg.fandom.com
Posts: 64 
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Post by fanofts on Feb 21, 2017 17:34:46 GMT
I've always been interested in seeing the comic in other languages, but I'm flummoxed as to where the translations are meant to be.
Where are you guys storing the translations?
Either there are no accessible links, or they fail to load, or the proboards viglink script interferes.
So far all I see are the Polish and the Russian (the only up to date one?) translations. Is the German only in imgur images?
The google docs I see mentioned, I cannot find the link.
EDIT to add I found the Dutch google link https drive DOT google DOT com/drive/folders/0B4IlFBA5IQ4iOUJQeHk0R2p5UXc (DOT used to workaround viglink issue)
but this one reports a dropbox error: http www DOT dropbox DOT com/sh/ermkufwuuf8g9xn/AAAZuq3rb5esrT8M5iQMlNePa%3Fdl%3D0
Could some of this information be placed prominently at the top somewhere? Mirrored in a pastebin that updates maybe to avoid viglink mangling?
Also, are there textual transcripts (no pictures) available in any language?
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Post by keef on Feb 24, 2017 9:21:34 GMT
I've always been interested in seeing the comic in other languages, but I'm flummoxed as to where the translations are meant to be. Where are you guys storing the translations? The Dutch translation is accessible from the OP of the Dutch thread, the others are not (publicly) available at the moment. You can always ask at their threads, maybe they'll grant you access to their translations. Only the Russian translation is complete. Forty chapters and Traveller have been translated to Dutch, and I translate every new page the day it is published. As for the viglink menace, see Gotolei 's solution here. I tested all the links in the OP of this thread, couldn't find anything wrong. I deleted the link to my Google drive though, as it is not the best way to take a look at my translations. |
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fanofts
Junior Member
Watching gunnerkrigg.fandom.com
Posts: 64
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Post by fanofts on Feb 24, 2017 22:00:58 GMT
The Dutch translation is accessible from the OP of the Dutch thread, the others are not (publicly) available at the moment. You can always ask at their threads, maybe they'll grant you access to their translations. ... As for the viglink menace, see Gotolei 's solution here. I've never learnt Dutch but it surprises me how easy I can follow it using my German! I guess it helps that I already know what they are talking about. And I should have clarified that Gotolei's solution does not work with my preferred browser Chrome so I have to keep launching Firefox, where it does work. |
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maud
New Member
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Post by maud on Aug 24, 2017 21:45:44 GMT
Hello,
Do you know where we can find the french translation of GKC ?
I am a native French speaker and I would like to contribute if they need volunteers.
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Post by keef on Aug 25, 2017 9:13:54 GMT
Hello, Do you know where we can find the french translation of GKC ? I am a native French speaker and I would like to contribute if they need volunteers. Hello Maud, welcome to the forums! Gulby is as far as I know the only one working on the French translation. I don't know how active she is at the moment. You could send her a PM to find out. I personally would be very happy if someone picked up the Dutch translation of a couple of chapters. (Edit: You could also bump up the French thread) |
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maud
New Member
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Post by maud on Jan 12, 2018 16:03:14 GMT
Hello,
I'm sorry for not having thank you earlier for your answer : I have not seen it (wrong parameters on my profil).
Thank you for the informations and the welcome.
I will contact Gulby to have more information on the french translation.
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Post by Gulby on Feb 28, 2019 14:14:08 GMT
Hi there, I'm trying to get back to the translation but life has been a bit rough for me the last couple of years and I'm trying not to drawn... Anyway, I downloaded all the chapters I was missing, and will try to resume my translation, currently in pause at chapter 19. I'm still not confident at all to publish it publicly somewhere (and don't trust Google very much but hey, not really any other option...), but I'll try to figure out how to do it on my Google Drive (since I have one by default from my Google Account).
Aw. I don't want to be severly jugded. Please be considerate. xD Anyway, thanks to everyone that contribute to make this comic known in more countries ! And hourray for Tom Siddell and his amazing storytelling skills !
Edit : I already have some stuff on my Google Drive, that I don't want to make public. Is there a way to create a file that can be seen by people with the link, but when they are on the file, they can't go to the root and see all the rest ? Sorry for being a noob sometimes.
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Post by keef on Feb 28, 2019 18:57:25 GMT
Hi there, I'm trying to get back to the translation but life has been a bit rough for me the last couple of years and I'm trying not to drawn... Anyway, I downloaded all the chapters I was missing, and will try to resume my translation, currently in pause at chapter 19. I'm still not confident at all to publish it publicly somewhere (and don't trust Google very much but hey, not really any other option...), but I'll try to figure out how to do it on my Google Drive (since I have one by default from my Google Account). I used the drive at first, but it is not made for showing pictures. It can, but the interface is clumsy. Google photos works better (although almost everything Google makes has some quirks, limiting its usability.) The short answer: If you create albums on Google Photos, only what is in the albums will be shared and only to the extend you want.
As you can see, I "share" my album with anyone, but don't accept comments or contributions to the album (people can do that on this forum). Simply publish the link to the album in the French translation thread, and Bob's your uncle.
( It might be a good idea to make an extra Google account (like f.gunnerkrigg@gmail.com ) specifically for this translation. I prefer not to use my primary Google account on websites.) You'll notice that most comments about translation are quite helpful. |
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Post by Gulby on Feb 28, 2019 21:54:58 GMT
Thank you very much ! I'll do that, then. Create an album on Google Photo (first, find Google Photo) and share the link here. Thanks a lot ! :3
Edit : I'm loosing my temper (and sanity...) here, trying to upload the images in the reading order. It's numeroted as in the comic, so it shouldn't be a problem, except I can't find an option to filter them by name to have them in the good order. Now I'm trying to place each and every one at its rightful place by click and drag, but it takes time, and some pictures are missing. I tried to re-upload them but while it's says it transferred ok, I can't find them... AAARGHHHH.
2nd Edit : I find it waaaaaaaay easier for me to use Google Drive instead of Google Photos, as I can organize it in chapters, add comments anyway, and have them in the reading ordre without stress. xD Sorry if it is maybe not as easy as Google Photos to read it.
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Speaking of comics translations' technical side:
) ( I chose to translate every new page, even if it slows down the translation of the older chapters a bit.)
(and if people do have serious complaints, ask them to help translating) 
