It is assumed after Zanettin (2008) that translated comics may be analysed within a localization framework as they are often republished as updated, repackaged, redesigned ‘products’ adjusted to different cultural conventions or age groups at different moments in time. Similar to software localization, the translation of comics may involve not only the translation of textual content but also the transformation of non-textual, graphic content. Comics translation may not simply involve the insertion of text into a pre-existing matrix of panels and speech balloons, but may involve modifying colours, panels, images, icons, speech balloons, font size and lettering, the reading direction, book covers, paratexts and formats.
What is also significant from the point of view of translation is the fact that the verbal and the visual modes interact and both contribute to the creation of meaning on a comic book page (Borodo 2015). As in subtitling, the visual can thus play an auxiliary role in translation (Borodo 2016) as some meanings in the original text may also be simultaneously communicated by images. This meaning overlap between words and images may be exploited by the translator and potentially lead to textual condensation and lower textual density in speech balloons. Textual density can, however, also be related to other factors such as different cultural conventions, the cultural status of comics in a given context or the fact that comics may be addressed to a new and diversely conceptualized audience.
It is thus assumed that the translation and localization of comics is a complex linguistic, but also visual, technical, cultural, publishing and marketing process that is referred to in this issue as ‘reimagining comics’ – an umbrella concept which encapsulates transforming the textual, adapting the visual and redesigning comics for new audiences. Be it a digitally distributed scanlation of Japanese manga, a Franco-Belgian comic book album translated for a new audience, Argentinian comic strips published in the format of comic books in Eastern Europe, a localized version of an American superhero narrative, or even a glocal retelling such as Spiderman India or Egyptian Zein the Last Pharaoh – ‘reimagining comics’ by different cultural agents behind the translation and publication process lies at the heart of all such translation enterprises.
Submissions of papers are invited in, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Comic books, comic strips and graphic novels in translation
- Franco-Belgian BDs in translation
- The translation of American comics
- The translation of Japanese manga
- Comics translation in Central and Eastern Europe
- Scanlation, fandom translation initiatives
- The translation of e-comics
- Graphic transformations in comics
- Comics translation as a form of localization
- The verbal-visual relationship in translated comics
- The history of comics translation
- Ideology and censorship in translated comics
- Marketing and publishing strategies across cultures
- Glocal retellings of globally distributed comics
Submitting proposals:
To submit a paper, please send your abstract proposal (300 words, excluding references) and a short biosketch as a Word document by email to michal.borodo@ukw.edu.pl by 15 September 2021. Full articles (between 7,000 and 8,000 words, including references) should be submitted before 31 July 2022. Following the peer-review process, this special issue will be published in the spring of 2023.
Important dates:
15 September 2021: Deadline for submitting abstract proposals
30 November 2021: Notification of acceptance
31 July 2022: Submission of full papers
30 November 2022: Reviewers’ reports
15 March 2023: Submission of final revised papers
Spring 2023: Publication of special issue
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Borodo, M. (2015) ‘Multimodality, Translation and Comics’, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 23(1): 22-41.
Borodo, M. (2016) ‘Exploring the Links between Comics Translation and AVT’, TranscUlturAl: A Journal of Translation and Cultural Studies 8(2): 68-85.
Kaindl, K. (1999) ‘Thump, Whizz, Poom: A Framework for the Study of Comics under Translation’, Target 11: 263-288.
Kaindl, K. (2004) ‘Multimodality in the Translation of Humour in Comics’ In E. Ventola, C. Charles & M. Kaltenbacher (Eds.), Perspectives on Multimodality, 173-192, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Zanettin, F. (2014) ‘Visual Adaptation in Translated Comics’, InTRAlinea 16.
Zanettin, F. (Ed.) (2008) Comics in Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome.
The international conference Translation Beyond Human Languages and Cultures in Times of Ecological Crises welcomes abstract submissions for the event taking place on 12–13 November 2026 at Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, Türkiye. Researchers are invited to submit their proposals to beyondhumanconf@gmail.com. SUBMISSIONSEach paper presentation will be allotted 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion.Submissions for individual presentations should include:- An abstract of no more than 300 words,- A short bionote including name, affiliation, and email address,- Up to five keywords indicating the subject, methodology, and theoretical framework(s).Submissions are open until 01 April 2026.WORKING LANGUAGESAll proposals must be submitted in French or English for peer review by the Scientific Committee. Interpreting between French and English may be offered depending on available resources. Questions and discussions during the conference may take place in both languages.KEYNOTE SPEAKERSMichael Cronin (Trinity College, Dublin) Kobus Marais (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein) Şebnem Susam-Saraeva (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh)CONFERENCE FEESConference fees will be split into two categories: € 120 regular fee € 90 reduced fee for postgraduate studentsDetails regarding the conference will be shared in due course via the following link: https://avesis.yildiz.edu.tr/researchteamsite/biodemocraticpractices
The Department of Translation, Terminology and Interpreting Studies of the University of Malta, the Graduate Institute of Interpreting and Translation of Shanghai International Studies University and the Department of Theory of Translation and Comparative Linguistics of the National University of Uzbekistan are organizing an international conference in ‘Indirect Translation: A Two-Arched Bridge Between Cultures’ in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 15-17 April 2026. For further information see the call for papers at https://www.um.edu.mt/media/um/docs/faculties/arts/translation/CallforPapersTashkent2026_FinalUM.pdf
Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting UK and IrelandWe are delighted to announce that the 2026 APTIS conference will take place in Wales for the first time, being jointly hosted by Cardiff University and Swansea University. The conference will take place from 15-17 April 2026 in Cardiff, with an optional ‘cultural’ day in Swansea on Saturday 18 April. We welcome abstract submissions for traditional papers, book launches, workshops, and students’ flash talks. Please note that the deadline for proposal is 15th December 2025. For more information and to submit an abstract proposal, please go to our website: https://www.aptis-translation-interpreting.com/aptis-2026
Guest editors:Anna Strowe (University of Manchester)Richard Mansell (University of Exeter)Helle V. Dam (Aarhus University)This special issue focuses on the normative expectations around translators, including norms around translator identity, as well as around hiring or selection processes and understandings of competence or expertise. By applying the concept of norms to the area of translators and translatorship, we hope to connect conversations about the multiple intersecting systems of values that underpin those norms, often silently, ranging from beliefs about education, language skill, and qualification, to understandings of professionalism, economics, and translation itself, while continuing to explore the dimensions and qualities of translator identity and presentation. The norms themselves are at the centre of the topic, along with the values from which they emerge and with which they engage, but as with investigation of other types of norms, they must be extrapolated from available forms of data, for example texts by and about translators, or trends in hiring or training.As scholarship in translation studies has broadened, first from linguistic approaches to cultural and sociological approaches, and then to a focus on the translator, we have increasingly come to understand that we must view translation as a socially-situated practice or set of practices, carried out by agents whose behaviour and choices are influenced by a variety of external as well as internal factors. A large part of the focus has been on using this perspective to better understand the choices that are made in translating – that is, the specific textual decisions made by translators – but interest has also grown significantly in questions that move beyond textual choices and comparative textual analysis. There are significant threads of scholarship for example on the cultural or structural aspects of non-professional translation and interpreting (e.g. Antonini et al. 2017; Pérez-González and Susam-Saraeva 2012), the relationships between translation and activism (e.g. Boéri 2024; Gould and Tahmasebian 2020; Tymoczko 2010), and the impact of emerging technologies and digital spaces on perceptions of translatorship (e.g. Zhang et al. 2024), among many others.Norms have long been a productive tool for translation studies, but existing articulations and uses have focused on the translational norms that we understand as governing micro- and macro-level translation choices. Meylaerts (2008) discusses individual translators and their identities and profiles in relation to the norms of translation and the profession, following Simeoni (1998) in connecting these to Bourdieu’s notion of habitus. However, behaviour around translator identities and characteristics, such as hiring or self-presentation, can also be examined in terms of norms. In a recent article, Strowe (2024) suggests considering translator selection as norm-driven could help us better recognize the values and decisions around translator recruitment and deconstruct assumptions around translator choice and identity.These norms are reflected in patterns in hiring trends, the translation industry, job advertisements, and translators’ websites or blogs, for example, but they also inform a variety of aspects of how translatorship is constructed. The self-image and presentation or representation of translators is informed by beliefs about what responsibilities, tasks, and capacities are involved in being a translator, areas that intersect both with culturally constructed notions of what constitutes and delimits translation itself (see Tymoczko 2007) and with what forms of social, cultural, and legal understandings we have about various agents’ forms of responsibility for texts (see Bantinaki 2020; Pym 2011).The special issue will collect both empirical studies that explore areas related to translator norms, and articles exploring either the theorization of translator norms or the methodological possibilities of this kind of work. Potential questions to explore include (but are not limited to) the following:How might we theorize norms around translator identity, self-presentation, hiring etc.?What kinds of translator norms can be identified within the LSP industry or in other contexts in which translation is done?What differences are there in translator norms across different contexts or domains, and how do these differences affect practices of translation?How can we understand projections of translator image as a form of representation of translator norm? • How are translator norms changing in the face of developments in digital technology?What kinds of research methods facilitate the exploration of translator norms?This is an open call, and the editors particularly welcome proposals from researchers whose workintersects with translator identity or self-presentation;looks at industry expectations around translators and hiring practices;seeks to describe and delimit the spaces of human agency and identity around translation amidst the growing presence of AI.Submission Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by November 24 to Anna Strowe by email (anna.strowe@manchester.ac.uk). Once invited to do so by the editors, selected authors will be asked to submit an article of between 7000 and 8000 words, including references, through the journal’s online portal no later than May 30, 2026.A full schedule of dates plus the bibliography is available here: https://benjamins.com/series/ts/callforpapers.pdf
Life Writing and Translation Thursday 18 – Friday 19 June 2026 University of Geneva Abstract of no more than 250 words (bibliography excluded) in English or French are now invited and should be submitted to lifewritingtranslation@unige.ch by 16 November 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be distributed at the beginning of February 2026. Please find more information on abstracts on the Conference website: https://www.humanmovement.cam.ac.uk/events/translating-conflict-and-refuge-language-displacement-and-politics-representation
