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Flight 714: Dialogue differences between versions in French and English?

mct16
Member
#1 · Posted: 17 Jan 2017 11:08
Here's a little piece of trivia which might appeal to those who love to analyse Tintin down to the tiniest details.

I recently got to read some old Tintin weekly comics which included the original publication of pages 28 and 29 of "Flight 714" and found that Haddock's thoughts and comments on those pages differ between the magazine and the book versions - French and English.

In the English version, when he and Tintin set off to find Carreidas, Haddock is thinking about Marlinspike and what he will do if anyone dares mention travelling again. At that moment he falls down a hole. When Tintin helps him out they both comment on the weird atmosphere they feel coming from it.

This is an almost word-for-word translation of the original French text when it was published in Tintin magazine in 1966-67 - though the magazine version does not include the "weird atmosphere" bit, simply Haddock remarking on the strange object he slipped on.

However, in the French book edition, Haddock's thoughts are very different. They are about sensing a strange presence around him:

"Strange feeling!... Like... ... that of an unseen presence around us... Better keep my eyes peeled!"

before he falls down the hole. Again, when he gets out of the hole, he comments on slipping on a flagstone, but there is no mention of the "weird atmosphere".

It's almost as if, in the French book version, Kanrokitoff is already probing their minds while deciding what to do. It also implies that Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner read both the French magazine and book versions and included elements of both in their English translation. The French and English books were published almost a year after the magazine version.
mct16
Member
#2 · Posted: 23 Feb 2022 20:38
Here's a follow-up to the above:

The last panel on page 42 of the book version has Tintin and his companions exploring the underground tunnels:

In the original version published in Tintin magazine in 1967, Haddock asks where Tintin is taking them, and Tintin answers that he has no idea and that someone appears to be guiding him.

In the French book edition published a year later, Haddocks asks what kind of a brigands' hideout he has brought them to, to which Tintin suggests that it is the tunnel that includes the flagstone they noticed in the scene above.

In the English book version published in 1968, Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner refer to the text about Tintin answering that he has no idea and that someone appears to be guiding him.
jock123
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 11 Apr 2022 16:36
I thought I had replied to this earlier, so apologies for being tardy.

That's really interesting - well spotted, mct16!

I'm guessing that the tight deadline between first publication and the appearance of the book made using the serialized version as the basis of the translation expedient.
I wonder were MT&LL-C made aware of the changes being wrought to the French dialogue, or if they turned in their version prior to the French script being given a tweak?

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