Fidelity In Graphic Novel Translation: A Multimodal Approach

Literary translation is not a simple and easy work due to the peculiar problems that often occur in the process. The problems may be cultural, linguistic, and psychological, or also include style and mode, especially when the translation does not only involve text in narratives but also in images. Focusing on the fidelity in translation, this paper analyzes the Indonesian translation of a literary graphic novel adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. By considering the linguistic and cultural differences, the fidelity in translation is examined from both visual and verbal aspects. Utilizing Gonçalves de Assis’ chart of fidelity, that includes linguistic fidelity, non-linguistic fidelity, spatio-topia fidelity, typography fidelity, and format fidelity, from 132 pages, there are 32 panels illustrating stark differences or infidelity. The infidelity was influenced by different cultural traditions and different sets of conventions for comic translation. As a consequence, the readers may perceive similar visuals but they may receiveThere are different perception and impression due to infidelity in linguistic, nonlinguistic and topography aspects. Yet, there is fidelity to the format, size and position of panels and pictures. Due to the small number of differences found, the Indonesian version of The Kite Runner: Graphic Novel leans towards foreignizing since many borrowings are performed in both verbal and visual aspects.