Have you ever read a comic that made you laugh, gasp, or even tear up—without realizing how much work went into translating it?

Translating comics is much more than replacing words from one language with another. Every joke, sound effect, and conversation must feel natural to readers while staying true to the original story. A study by CDE student Clarissa Tirta Arief and CDE lecturer Dr. Wulandari Santoso explores this challenge by examining how the English comic Robber x Lover was translated into Indonesian.

The research focuses on a process known as localization: adapting a story so that readers in another language experience it in much the same way as the original audience. Rather than translating every word literally, translators often need to consider culture, humor, emotions, and even the limited space inside a comic’s speech bubbles.

To investigate these challenges, the researchers analyzed a fan translation of Robber x Lover, a romance comic filled with casual conversations, comedy, and emotional moments. They identified difficult words and phrases, evaluated the translation using Professor Nababan’s Translation Quality Assessment model, and examined how the translation improved after revision by professional reviewers.

One of the biggest challenges involved non-equivalence: situations where a word or expression in English has no direct equivalent in Indonesian. This often happened with sound effects, idioms, and expressions that are closely tied to English-speaking culture. For example, the comic uses the sound effect “Du-doom” to express a character’s feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Since Indonesian has no familiar equivalent for this sound, the translator kept the original expression and added a brief explanation so readers could understand its meaning.

The study also found that literal translations do not always produce natural dialogue. In one scene, a frightened character apologizes for “gulping.” Although a direct translation was technically correct, it sounded awkward in Indonesian. The revised version instead translated the idea as apologizing for “making a sound,” preserving the situation and emotion rather than the exact wording. This small change made the dialogue much more natural for Indonesian readers.

Across the study, one strategy stood out above the others: paraphrasing. Instead of searching for an exact word match, translators rewrote expressions using different words that conveyed the same meaning in a way that sounded natural in Indonesian. The researchers found that this approach was especially useful when translating humor, emotions, and everyday conversations that did not have direct equivalents between the two languages.

Another important finding is that successful translation depends on more than language skills alone. Translators also need to understand culture, storytelling, and the expectations of their readers. A sentence that is perfectly accurate may still fail if it sounds unnatural or does not fit the mood of the scene. Careful revision and feedback from experienced translators helped improve the comic’s accuracy, readability, and overall quality.

The research highlights the growing importance of localization as comics, webtoons, games, and other digital media reach global audiences. As more stories cross language barriers, translators play a vital role in ensuring readers can enjoy the same humor, excitement, and emotion regardless of the language they speak.

By revealing the decisions that happen behind the scenes, this study reminds us that translation is both a science and an art. Every successful comic translation represents not only linguistic knowledge but also creativity, cultural understanding, and a deep appreciation of storytelling.

Read the full paper here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393492112_An_Analysis_on_Understanding_Localization_Issues_in_Translating_English_Comics_Robber_X_Lover_to_Indonesian?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InByb2ZpbGUiLCJwYWdlIjoicHJvZmlsZSJ9fQ