Israel Today reports that diminutive French comics hero Asterix the Gaul now speaks Hebrew and Arabic in his latest of many translations (the series has been translated into more than a hundred other languages so far, which surely must make this album series one of the most universally popular cultural items on the planet). Jamal Shehayeb, a Syrian translator and Israeli translator Dorith Daliot Rubinovitz both commented that one problem with translating Asterix for these markets was the inclusion of wild boars, favourite dish of Asterix’s rotund friend Obelix, since obviously boars aren’t kosher and pork is also forbidden to Muslims, but rather than take them out to avoid offending any fundamentalists they decided to keep the boars in, much to the relief of Obelix no doubt.
Thu, Mar 29, 2007
Comics and cartoons