"Chernobýl" 64-65-66

Aaaaaaand we're back! With more translation frustration.

Sometimes... Well, say, you're writing a comic for an anthology called SLAVIC Nihilism. And you're trying to put as much SLAVIC stuff in it as possible! It's your mission, right? So, in your Russian script, you write in something goofy, like "надёжа-государь" - an expression very viral in Russian language (in many ways thanks to this movie). So, the words act as a little joke already. A cheeky reference to an extremely Russian expression. Not an actual joke, but a lot of flavour, you know? Someone addresses the Tsar, and their relationship are immediately clear just because how slavishly "надёжа-государь" sounds.

But then, in the end, you and your friend need to translate it to English. Cause making this in English is also part of the mission, right?

And even the official media could only offer you shit like "kind sire":

For me, it's such a weird situation in English tradition. When tackling one culture this language will try to adapt to it - like, for example, if you're talking about Japan in English, you will use a ton of Japanese terms; same goes to French words and expressions sprinkled throughout any English conversation or text about France. But with another culture, English will just get by with very general expressions and word analogues. I know dozens of Russian versions of "sir" for different countries and cultures, but in English sometimes everything is Ye Olde England. And I'm not saying it's necessarily bad or ignorant, but it's something that works very differently in Russian, and so my brain is always heating over those differences.

Bah! I'm rambling! But we're always struggling with it, me and Yiriy.

(And it's even harder for Chernobýl specifically, because very early in the development I decided to drop the historical accuracy pretending game and balance between specific authentic language details and nonchalant American-speaking comics language).

P.S. Anyway, some of you miiiiiight recognize one of the golden trinkets from the bottom of the river in panel 3: