Tulkitse kuva! Eleet ja ilmeet sarjakuvassa

Comics are multimodal form of artistic expression which communicates through a combination of two languages: verbal and visual. The sequence of panels includes not only images and written texts but also many graphic signs such as speech bubbles, sound effects and pictorial symbols, all of which reinforce the joint effect of the words and images. Additionally, the appearance of the characters conveys bodily gestures, postures and facial expressions. These meaning-making features are culture-specific. When translating comics, the translator has the challenging task of transferring the written text as well as the nonverbal messages of comics from one language and cultural environment to another. In this article, I examine, how the body language of the characters presented by the visual mode could affect the meaning of the verbal mode. In addition, I discuss to what extent the translator should take into account the culture-specific nature of the nonverbal messages which the characters of comics transmit.