Digital Editions: New English translations by Michael Farr

The official Tintin Facebook group posted this message yesterday:

Michael Farr is working on a new English translation of the TINTIN Albums which will be published via the TINTIN APP in the near future! The first album will be TINTIN IN THE CONGO.

This came as quite a surprise to me. I know Casterman (or Moulinsart) spearheaded a wave of new translations in recent years, including Spanish & Italian, to tie in closer to the original French texts with regard to names and suchlike, but it's the first time I've heard of a new English translation being proposed. I can't help but wonder if it's perhaps a rights issue with Egmont for digital distribution, but if so, does that mean we'll be saying goodbye to Snowy and hello to Milou?

This seems very odd, maybe it's to get us to buy all the Tintin albums again.

blistering_barnacles
There's no mention of the translation being issued as printed books, just the digital ones available through the Tintin app on iPad and iPhone. Again, my guess is the rights to the Lonsdale-Cooper/Turner translation are held by Egmont and Moulinsart want to produce an English digital version. I'm curious how Michael Farr has gone about it...

Given all the work he has done on Tintin already, Michael Farr strikes me as an excellent choice. I certainly hope that he does "tie in closer to the original French texts" as regards conversations, such as omitting Snowy's reference to Marlinspike in "Cigars". But I also hope that he won't do a word-by-word translation as Cinebook has a tendency to do.


Do rights issues go as far as names? I believe that Tintin's dog is referred to as "Snowy" in all the cartoon and film adaptations. Is there any evidence that Egmont was paid for that? Tintin might have to be renamed something like "Quiff"! based on his Dutch name "Kuifje".

And what about "Blistering barnacles" and "Thundering typhoons"? Wouldn't quite feel the same without those. A translation of the French version, "Thousand portholes" and "Thunder of Brest" does not sound quite right really.

My concern is that the new translations may have some of the maybe not so politically correct tirades take out. Will this be an issue when the new translations are done?.

Well, given the fact that the notoriously politically incorrect "Tintin in the Congo" is going to be the first one they're working on I wouldn't worry too much on that score.

Anyone know when these translations will be ready?.

Well, the official launch of the new digital edition and translation of Congo in English has been made!

You can read about this new digital edition on the official site's page, as well as hear Michael Farr discuss the hows and whys.

So, are the names changed into the Frenchier one? I have listened to the audio files, but I wasn't really sure. I also read from the Tintinologist's twitter feed that the names stays with the names from the Methuen era, so does that mean Snowy stays Snowy ? (Or does that mean Snowy becomes Milou though... *sniffs*).

In this case, as much as I like to stay faithful to the original source (like when reading classics), when reading Tintin I prefer the Turner and Londale-Cooper version so much more to the French version. I guess I am not too familiar with the subtler French nuances in Tintin, and I don't think I'll ever want to. Also I don't think the Milou-argument works well, especially when applied to English. In Indonesian Milou slightly changed into Milo and guess what, that's a chocolate drink brand :p, so from my own conceited opinion I say that the name "Snowy" gives a better formed identity.

Having a light-furred dog associated with a dark-coloured drink sounds like a nice irony to me.

One thing that I am hoping for is that they don't try to relocate Tintin to England. In the current English publications Tintin is implied to be a resident of England. In "Crystal Balls" we have towns like Palissy becoming Harlesford or La Rochelle becoming Bridgeport, which is at odds with the police being dressed as Belgian gendarmes or French town policemen, not to mention all the left hand drive cars.