Tonoharu French Sound Effects


Photo Credit: Anne Cavarroc

So I finally got my hands on a copy of the French edition of Tonoharu, and I gotta say it’s a thing of beauty. My French publisher Le Lezard Noir clearly put a great deal of care into the production of the book, and for that they have my gratitude.

I can’t read French so the translation isn’t meaningful to me, but I have enjoyed looking at the way certain sound effects are represented:


(Note: The “Bling” is blurry because of my lousy scanning, not cuz it’s printed that way.)

Just as interesting is seeing what sound effects remain the same: “ha ha”, “clap” and “sniff” don’t change, and “click” just gets the “k” lobbed off. And I never would have suspected that “flush”, “ahem” and “ziiiip” would be the same in French… what can I say, I’m easily amused.

Oh and this is kind of cool: while I was writing this on Thursday afternoon, I hopped on Amazon.fr to look up Tonoharu, and at the time it was the best-selling graphic novel on the site!

At “press time” it’s slid down a few spots, but still; pretty groovy!

  • Hey Lars ! I finaly got a french Tonoharu too ! I can tell you that the translation is very good. I love the french format with the flexible cover. (Ive done a little review).

    Have a nice day.

  • Lars Martinson

    Great! Thanks for the continued coverage & support! (^_^)

  • Love it!
    What are “ricane ricane” and “froutch froutch?”

    “froutch froutch” makes me think of boots in crunchy snow.

  • Lars Martinson

    “Ricane ricane” was “snicker snicker”, and “froutch froutch” was “shucka-shucka” (as in, frantically brushing one’s teeth).

  • William

    Hello,

    Just got my French copy today after reading a nice little review in a French magazine.
    Very nice book (the cover reminds me a bit of the Babel DVD cover) and after reading the first pages, I couldn’t stop.
    Really like the graphics and the lines, I find it quite comforting for some reason!
    Merci!

  • Lars Martinson

    Cheers, William!

  • Jérémy

    Hi! I got the french edition of Tonoharu recently and I must say it is a brilliant book ! It was nice reading it and I’m looking forward to reading the other parts!
    Thanks for the good time I had when reading Tonoharu!

  • Lars Martinson

    Thanks Jérémy! I appreciate it!