Tintin Forums

About a week and a half ago, Casterman published was I think is supposed the first of a series of adaptations of Tintin in Canadian French (or Québécois). Re-titled Colocs en stock, it's an adaptation of Coke en stock (or The Red Sea Sharks, as it is known in English).

After reading a review, and hearing another on television, I popped into a bookstore over the week-end, to make up my mind whether or not I wanted to get it. After looking at a few of the panels, I have to agree with the reviews - I can't read that garbage.

The blurb on the back says that Canadian French has some local expressions that survived only in Canada, and this is an attempt to bring that flavor to Tintin. But the results are awful - it'd be like if Batman started talking with a Cockney accent, saying things like "Guv".

I could have understood the adaptation if they had changed a few expressions.

For example, as a kid, I did not understand the title, "Coke en stock". In Canada, we don't use the word "coke" for fuel. To us, it means a soft drink, nothing else.
Also, it really confused me to see a phone number in the format 12.34.56. For me, phone numbers were always 123-4567, and I could not understand what all those periods were.

However, all the dialogues were re-written. And, rather than respecting Hergé's literate style, they went for a conversational, slang style. So, whereas I could accept Haddock saying that the end of the movie is "arrangé avec le gars des vues" (lit. "arranged by the guy who does the movies", used to say something stretches credibility, esp. something shown on tv)there was no reason to change his view of the film from "pas fameux" to "pas viargeux" as the original is clearly understandable to any French speaker from any country.

Worse was Tintin saying "S'cusez" to the General, rather than "Pardon". Tintin is much too polite to sink to that level of familiarity.

Likewise, having the Captain, in the last frame of the first page, say to the General "Coudonc", rather than "Dites donc", and calling him a "mitaine pas de pouce" (a thumb-less mitt) just does not convey the amount of anger his face is showing.

All in all, the whole thing read like a badly dubbed movie, and reminded me of the letter Hergé got from a fan complaining that the Captain's voice was not the same in the movies as in the books.

For those of you who want everything, or might want it because it is sure to be a curiosity one day, you can order if from a Montreal book store by following this link:
[Moderator Note: Broken link removed 20/04/2023]

But you might expect that, if, say, your copy of The Dark Knight Returns had a sticker on the front saying "Cockney Version!"...?

I appreciate that the result might not be to your taste, but these editions in regional dialects will inevitably emphasise the linguistic differences over fidelity to how the characters might otherwise talk. Surely their primary function is to act as a showcase for the language of an area, and to allow those who speak the dialect to enjoy the stories as they themselves speak?

Just out of interest, what do Candians call coke the fuel, if not "coke"? It's a specific thing (it is to coal what charcoal is to wood) used in furnaces and ships' boilers for example, so there has to be a name for it.

Ha, I thought 'coke' referred to the soft drink also. Later I found it was a code word for opium. Is this true?

It's often used to mean "cocaine" (both Coca-Cola* and cocaine are manufactured using the coca leaf), so I think that that would just lead to confusion in the low dives and drugged-out basements where the dope-fiends congregate, if it was also a code word for opium too...?

* You don't need to worry, by the way. While Coca-Cola did have some cocaine in it when first sold, it has used only invo;ved "spent" coca leaves (leaves from which the cocaine has already been extracted) in the manufacturing process for over a century.

Oops, sorry, you're right.
I remember in Grade 7 our class visited the the local 'Australian' Coca-Cola factory and someone asked the guide if they used to have cocaine in the mix (originally).

The guide was a bit flustered and declined to comment. Hilarious.

It seems to have been something of an embarrassment to them over the years, yes.

Partially this might have been because, whilst they said that there was no longer cocaine in it, they never divulged their precise formula for the drink, especially their secret ingredient, the grandly named "Merchandise 7X". The only way to categorically say there was no cocaine in it would be to divulge the make-up of their secret.

Actually, there will be traces of cocaine at the atomic level in Coke (as opposed to "coke", the fuel), as there will be vanishingly small traces of it, even in spent coca leaves.

But we are wandering waaaay off topic - so let us return to the normal programming at this point...! :-)

Hi Jock, and thank you for your comments. It allows me to better formulate my opinion.


I think a better analogy would be if the Dark Knight DVD had a sticker saying "British Version". It would be jarring enough to have an American icon speaking in a British accent. It would be even worse that it was the wrong British accent for the character.


Well, as our favorite twin detectives would say, in the original, "C'est mon opinion, et je la partage" (It's my opinion, and I share it (with myself)) ;-)


My reaction of the result comes from two factor. The first is grammatical, the second cultural.

I'm sure you remember studying levels of languages in English classes. There's formal, standard and colloquial, as well as written and conversational. Those distinctions apply even in Canadian French. It is possible to use local expressions that would be considered standard without resorting to our local slang.

For example, a policeman can be referred to, in English, as an officer, a cop or a pig. In French, "an officer" becomes "un agent", both in Canada and Europe, "a cop" becomes "un flic" in Europe or "une police" in Canada, and "a pig" becomes "un beux" or more usually "les beux" (the bulls) in Canada (not sure about Europe). When I read the few pages of "Colocs en stock", it was as if they systematically replaced one level of language by another - as if "l'agent" was replaced by "les beux" even when not appropriate in that instance.

In the example I quoted, when Tintin apologizes to the General, I objected to his saying "S'cusez". The verb "excuser" is, I agree had to say, which is why most of us drop the first couple of sounds - just like in English, where contractions are perfectly acceptable in conversation, but frowned upon in text. But "S'cusez" is something the friendly waiter might say at the local dinner when he forgot an order of fries. But Tintin, an educated man of the world, in this instance is slightly embarrassed to realize he inadvertently mocked the general's accent. As he is polite to an old friend, he would more probably say "S'cusez-moi", which, still conversational, is somewhat more formal, and more polite. It does sound more Canadian than the "Pardon" found in the original, yet is closer to Tintin's character.

As I said, my second reason for disliking the result has to do with cultural reasons.

Before the 1960's French Canadians were still highly under-educated. French Canadian slang, referred to as "joual" was seen as a poor man's language, and a source of shame. Theater from that time period is filled with character speaking standard French, as prescribed by the Académie, even though it wasn't really realistic.

Then, in the early 60's playwright Michel Tremblay wrote a play where the characters spoke joual. A source of scandal at first, it became a source of national pride, and pretty soon, every one spoke and wrote all joual, all the time. However, as education was reformed and became more democratic, people started talking at a more standard level of language. Even though there a still a minority of people (known as linguistic ayatollah's) who systematically correct every little mistake, even in spontaneous conversation, and another minority (usually television demagogues) who still use all joual all the time, both minorities are considered annoying by the majority, who accepts joual when appropriate, but expect a more standard level of language when also appropriate. For example, I have no problems using the word "tiguidou" with my buddies to confirm the time and place where we're meeting, but would not dream of using it with a business contact when making sure the details of the contract are correct.

To get back to Tintin, "Coloc en stock" feels like, instead to approaching it by saying, "Let's adapt Tintin as if Hergé was a French Canadian", the approach was "Let's adapt Tintin as is Michel Tremblay had written it". The result, all joual all the time, fells like someone's idea of the French we speak in Canada is 30 years behind the time.

Worse, the expressions chosen are often the wrong ones at the wrong time.

When the Captain yells at the General, in the original, he starts with "Dites-donc", a strong enough expression that corresponds with the fury shown in the drawing. In the Canadian version, he starts with "Coudon" - which is the equivalent of "by the way", as in "coudon, jock123, did you finish that report you were working on?". It might, at best, indicate mild impatience ("coudon, jock123, did you finish your report that was due yesterday?"). A stonger, Canadian expression would have been either "aylle" or "aylle-là, vous"

The whole thing, from what I read, felt like a European's idea of Canadian French.


Honestly, I don't know. I don't know if that type of fuel is commonly used over here. I've heard the term "charbon de bois" ("wooden coal") but I really don't know if it's the same thing. Perhaps someone working on a ship would know for sure.

There is a very interesting feature on the controversy that this translation has caused in The National Post.
It seems that our cigee is not alone on having found fault with it, and I am not alone in being surprised at the reaction.
The translation was prepared by a Québécoise, so problems with the accuracy of appropriateness of some of the translation haven't arisen because it was done by someone Belgian or French sitting with a dictionary or a phrase-book, cobbling together any old thing carelessly, and there seems no doubt that it was issued in good faith, but unlike any other regional translation so far (according to Étienne Pollet, who is in charge of these at Moulinsart), it appears to have hit the ground with a mighty "Thud!".
My surprise (as previously expressed in the thread above) is as someone who comes from a region of Britain (North East Scotland) who's dialect (Doric) is so strong and different from Standard English that it possibly has more in common with the English of Chaucer and strong elements of French, Norse, Dutch and German than it does with modern English; when you couple that vocabulary to the accent it can quickly become impenetrable.
When people render works into Doric, it really is seen as a tribute. The average Québécoise doesn't seem to have taken that position, which I find interesting.
It could be that a sociology lecturer (rather than a linguist, or an actual writer who uses the dialect) isn't the best choice to do a book like this. I'd be useless doing anything in Doric, because although I grew up there, my mum and dad didn't come from that area, and we didn't speak it at home, plus it wasn't encouraged in schools at the time, so I only picked up a smattering of it; I then moved away and haven't lived there since I was eighteen.

Anyway, I doubt that they will be rushing out a follow up, so perhaps if you want a copy, you should get it now!