TranslateSingapore 2017

COMICS AND TRANSLATION:
IT’S NOT JUST IN THE BUBBLE

Date: 22 – 24 Sep, 2017
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (Students and senior citizens)
$38 Forum Pass (The Pass gives you access to all the panel discussions;
discount to comics translation workshops and film screening)





TranslateSingapore takes a close look at the translation of comics in all its colourful forms – from graphic novels and Japanese manga to European bandes dessinées and comics from Southeast Asia.

Join award-winning comic artists, translators, and publishers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Europe, and the US as we explore how this popular medium engages with cross-cultural representations and understanding. Comics are not only “funnies” and escapist reading, but also form part of the intercultural flow of texts and experiences through their interplay of words and images.

Lim Cheng Tju, an educator who writes about history and popular culture, is the advisor to the “Comics and Translation” programmes.

The programmes will be in English.



PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Why Translation Matters In Comics

Featuring: Emma Hayley, Mari Morimoto, Maria Antonia Rahartati Bambang Haryo
Moderated by: Lim Cheng Tju


Date: 22 Sep, 2017
Time: 7.30pm – 8.45pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


We may not always associate translation with comics, but from manga to the Asterix series, much of our diet of comics is made possible only through translation. In this panel, our speakers – Maria Rahartati, aka Madame Asterix, translator of the Asterix comics in Indonesia; manga translator Mari Morimoto; and influential indie comic publisher Emma Hayley (SelfMadeHero) – tell us why they champion works in translation, and why comics are important for intercultural understanding.

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Venturing Abroad: Singapore Comics Translated For Overseas Markets

Featuring: Cheah Sinann, Dave Chua, Evangeline Neo, Foo Swee Chin
Moderated by: Lim Cheng Tju


Date: 23 Sep, 2017
Time: 10.30am – 11.45pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Singapore graphic novelists have gained international attention in recent years, especially in light of Sonny Liew’s recent triumph at the Eisner awards. The comics of Cheah Sinann (The Bicycle), Dave Chua (Gone Case), Foo Swee Chin (Nihon lah) and Evangeline Neo (Eva, Kopi and Matcha) have been translated and published in different languages, including Bahasa Indonesia, French, Japanese, and Vietnamese. What were the issues the artists faced, and what changes did they make to cater to another culture and language? Come listen as the artists shed light on the process.

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Translating Comics: The Translators Speak

Featuring: Canan Marasligil, J. Casey Hammond, Mari Morimoto, Maria Antonia Rahartati Bambang Haryo
Moderated by: Lim Cheng Tju


Date: 23 Sep, 2017
Time: 12.15pm – 1.30pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Translation is never neutral. It is culturally laden, and domestication of the original work takes place whenever translation happens. This panel brings together a group of comic translators, who work in different languages and cultures, to share their experiences of how they started translating the sequential arts, how they tackle the tension between words and images, and the cross-cultural minefields they tread.

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Comics From Southeast Asia: A Cross-Cultural Bridge?

Featuring: Aji Prasetyo, Carlo Vergara, Peejay Catacutan, Nguyễn Thành Phong
Moderated by: Roy Ablah


Date: 23 Sep, 2017
Time: 2.30pm – 3.45pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Comics are not only for entertainment, but promote intercultural exchange as well. In this panel, we hear from award-winning comic artists from the Philippines (Peejay Catacutan, Carlo Vergara), Vietnam (Nguyễn Thành Phong), and Indonesia (Aji Prasetyo) as they talk about the potential of comics to bridge the cross-cultural gaps between various countries in ASEAN, and how to make comics more accessible to all readers in the region.

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Out Of SEA: Getting Comics Into The Global Market

Featuring: Edmund Wee, Emma Hayley, Lim Li Kok, Roy Ablah
Moderated by: J. Casey Hammond


Date: 23 Sep, 2017
Time: 4.15pm – 5.30pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Comics from Southeast Asia cover a wide and diverse range of cultures, languages, and stories. But there are also some common threads that connect them. What are the challenges of getting these comics into the global market, or even in the region itself? What are some of the ways they could be made appealing to an international audience? A panel of esteemed publishers share their views.

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In The Crosshairs: Using Comics to Tackle Social Issues

Featuring: Aji Prasetyo, Carlo Vergara, Foo Swee Chin, Nguyễn Thành Phong
Moderated by: Roy Ablah


Date: 24 Sep, 2017
Time: 10.30am – 11.45am
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Are comics meant for only escapist reading? What if the creators take a moral or philosophical point of view? Would they risk alienating their readers? This panel looks at how comics can reflect the social issues prevalent around us, and how this popular medium can be used to tackle hot-button topics.

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Image vs Text: Which comes first?

Featuring: Canan Marasligi, Carlo Vergara, Evangeline Neo,Foo Swee Chin, Mari Morimoto
Moderated by: Peejay Catacutan


Date: 24 Sep, 2017
Time: 12.15pm – 1.30pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Comic artists utilise both drawings and text to create the most impact. However, does translating comics go beyond just replacing the original words in the speech balloons? Translators also have to contend with practical issues, like fitting the new language into text boxes, maintaining the narrative, and even redrawing! This panel addresses the tension between the visual and written modes, and ways to preserve the comics’ artistic integrity.

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Editing and Translating Comics

Featuring: Canan Marasligi, Emma Hayley, Lim Cheng Tju, Roy Ablah
Moderated by: Tan Dan Feng


Date: 24 Sep, 2017
Time: 2.30pm – 3.45pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: $10; $8 (students and senior citizens); $38 Forum Pass | Get your tickets here


Like translating, editing is an underrated but much needed element of the process of creating comics. In many ways, translating is a form of editing and vice versa, as the act of editing also helps the creators translate their vision for the readers. This panel will explore some of the pitfalls of comic editing and translation, and why some choose to make drastic changes while others go for a lighter touch.

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Comics Portfolio Review

Featuring: Aji Prasetyo, Emma Hayley, Lim Cheng Tju, Nguyễn Thành Phong, Roy Ablah


Date: 24 Sep, 2017
Time: 4.15pm – 5.30pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: Free by registration here


Calling all aspiring comic artists! Don’t miss this chance to get an honest and professional appraisal of your work from seasoned industry players. A panel of publishers, editors, and comic artists will be on hand to offer you advice on how to improve your portfolio. Sign up for your slot now!

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Comics Translation Worm

Featuring: Aji Prasetyo, Canan Marasligil, Mari Morimoto, Maria Antonia Rahartati Bambang Haryo, Melissa Lybianto
Moderator: Lim Cheng Tju


Date: 24 Sep, 2017
Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm
Venue: Play Den, The Arts House
Tickets: Free by registration here


What is lost or gained in translation? Is it harder or easier to translate the words in a comic strip as the elements of the comic include both words and drawings? To close the Comics and Translation Forum, we are bringing together the cartoonist Aji Prasetyo and translators Maria Antonia Rahartati Bambang Haryo, Canan Marasligil, Mari Morimoto and Melissa Lybianto to translate a comic strip from Bahasa Indonesia to French to English to Japanese and then back to Bahasa Indonesia.

Join us for this closing event and to be lost in translation one more time.

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For the complete TranslateSingapore 2017 programmes, please click here.

You can download the brochure here

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