Translating GKC: French

[Rasder]

So I'm rather surprised that no one's started to translate GKC into French yet. I certainly could not be considered skilled at French, so any input is welcomed. As you probably know, using Google translate for all the words are I don't know could end badly. Also right now all I have to do this with is a tablet, so I can't edit the French text in. As I said earlier, any input or feedback is much appreciated. I will start translation soon.

[Daedalus]

Jun 11, 2014 12:40:40 GMT Rasder said:

So I'm rather surprised that no one's started to translate GKC into French yet. I certainly could not be considered skilled at French, so any input is welcomed. As you probably know, using Google translate for all the words are I don't know could end badly. Also right now all I have to do this with is a tablet, so I can't edit the French text in. As I said earlier, any input or feedback is much appreciated. I will start translation soon.

Hello. I am largely managing the Spanish translation, and I wish you the best of luck. A few things: I use the website wordreference.com when I need to translate a word (it's great for Spanish, maybe it can help you with French as well). Second, do you know of anyone else is lined up to help you? I know Gulby speaks French, but I doubt she has time to help you. Posting in the main discussion board might get more people to see (people don't look at this side of th forum very much). Third, I have some friends who speak French, if you want me to ask them.

And have fun!

[Gulby]

I am translating GKC in french for a few years now, I'm currently translating chapter 24. I do it for my husband, but try to make it pro-quality. Unfortunately, following the crash of my previous computer, I lost all the Gimp files for the earlier chapters (before the 18 or 19, I guess), I just have the .png result, and some contain typos, so eventually, I'll redo them.

I'm not sure about sharing the results, because I asked Tom for his permission and he never answered, and I thought that I would just translate for my husband and wait until the whole story is finished to send the result of my translation to Tom, for whatever purpose he could use it.

Edit : And I couldn't agree more about Wordreference. ^^ I use it a lot ! And Urban dictionary, and for idioms, when I can't find it in Wordreference and the forumers get to slow to answer, I take a look on a site that do that but I can't recall the name for now. -__-'

[Rasder]

I'm also using WordReference. It's far better than anything else I can find. I haven't had a lot of free time lately, and along with my bad French skills, this would take ages using Google translate or something.

[Daedalus]

Jun 12, 2014 10:47:02 GMT Gulby said:

I'm not sure about sharing the results, because I asked Tom for his permission and he never answered, and I thought that I would just translate for my husband and wait until the whole story is finished to send the result of my translation to Tom, for whatever purpose he could use it.

Unless Tom Siddell contradicts us, I assume this fan project falls under his rules for fanart, so it's distributable as long as no money is made.

[The Anarch]

I wish I could help, but I doubt my extremely shaky command of high school level French would be of any use. At least I'd be able to read the translation and have a fair chance of understanding about half of what's being said!

[Gulby]

I need some help here, if someone could enlighten me...

I'm currently translating page 670, from chapter 26, and I wonder what "Stand your ground !" means exactly. Is that something like "Watch your step" ? Or "legitimate defense" ? I honestly have no clue, since all I find on internet is about a law. :/ (Or maybe it's a link to this law, precisely ?)

[cwood]

To stand one's ground means to defend oneself. Probably the most literal translation would be "défends-tu" although it sort of loses something in the translation.

I'm fairly bilingual, and can definitely help with translation if it's needed!

[Gulby]

Thank you ! So, "Défends-toi !" could fit, ok. And what about "Accroche-toi !" (=hang on) ?... Or "Sois ferme !" (=be strong) ?

[cwood]

"Sois ferme" would work really well!

[Gulby]

Ah, great ! :3 Thank you very much for your help !

[rearith]

Damn, I've been lurking on these forums for a long time, still took me a month to notice this thread. Well, with French being my native language, I should be able to help if you're stuck on something, proofreading and such. That, and I've never been stuck on complex meanings and idioms when reading GKC, so I figured my English is good enough.

Concerning that "Stand your ground !" translation, I agree it is quite finicky. Neither the literal nor the idiomatic way works, you just have to find something short with the same meaning. "Sois ferme !" is okay, "Ne te laisse pas déstabiliser !" is a bit more wordy but also a bit more near the original meaning. "Garde ton calme !" is another way to put it also.

EDIT ; Alright, i'll be keeping an eye on this thread then, do not hesitate to ask !

[Gulby]

Ah ! Thank you very much ! Merci beaucoup ! Finalement j'ai une amie qui m'a expliqué le coup de la loi, et j'ai choisi "Défends-toi !", mais ton "Ne te laisse pas déstabiliser" serait bien plus approprié si ça rentrait dans la bulle...

I'll stick with "Défends-toi" for now and I keep in mind your proposition for proof-reading ; I'll gladly ask you to read the "final" version, once I'll be far enough in the story to post my translations here.

[Ombre]

I'm so glad to see there's already (at least) one French translation at work Even if it must stay a fan work, I'd love to share the comic with some friends who don't read English well. If I can help, it will be with pleasure.

[l33tninja]

Jul 13, 2014 13:58:43 GMT Gulby said:

Ah ! Thank you very much ! Merci beaucoup ! Finalement j'ai une amie qui m'a expliqué le coup de la loi, et j'ai choisi "Défends-toi !", mais ton "Ne te laisse pas déstabiliser" serait bien plus approprié si ça rentrait dans la bulle...

I'll stick with "Défends-toi" for now and I keep in mind your proposition for proof-reading ; I'll gladly ask you to read the "final" version, once I'll be far enough in the story to post my translations here.

Gulby, let me know if you would like proofreading or other help. I am a native English speaker, but I am fluent in French (I grew up in Canada, lived in France for a couple of years, and have a minor degree in French from university).

I could probably best help with proofreading to verify that the translation agrees with the original English meaning. I would also recommend you have a native French speaker verify the same thing from the other direction, so to speak.

[Gulby]

*Finds the will and courage to get back to her translation*

...

*Opens her files and look at the chapter number*

Chapter 18.

*Sighs out loud and starts to work on it*

I'm getting back to work. I finally downloaded Linvingstone font (I worked with others back then). So it means I'll probably have to redo the previous chapters at some point. Anyway. YAY ME ! Motivation.

[Gulby]

Double post almost a year later, to say that I had finished chapter 18 but that's all. I'm getting back to work (again) and this time, to motivate myself, I've finally decided, encouraged by Keef's message on the general thread, to post it somewhere.

So, if you're interested in a french translation, there it is, up to chapter 11 or something but I'll add the chapters already done today, and try to quickly catch up to current page :

drive.google.com/open?id=1SfrzXNXs1lnW0tB50kljsH4elUix9A0a

Thanks ! (Reminder : the font I chose was the best I could work with before I came to this forum and realized I wasn't alone to translate my favorite webcomic. And I'm an amateur. Anyway...)

[Gulby]

... It's been five years, a pandemy in between, some stuff happening, and I don't have any computer now, apart from the one at work. Sooooo. I'm getting back to my translation, and will try to resume uploading the result on my Google Drive linked above.

What a mess my life has been.