I grew up with several classic Asterix stories on my bookshelves, and was always charmed by them in every way. There's no doubt that these translations have had

I grew up with several classic Asterix stories on my bookshelves, and was always charmed by them in every way. There's no doubt that these translations have had a lasting effect on my sense of humour. Not being a French speaker (at least not a good one), I have often wondered to what degree the original intent was lost. Certainly, we are very fortunate that the English translations are of such high quality, and give us similar humour, if not the same actual jokes. But I'd obviously worked out that in some scenarios the original joke would simply not work in English, and I've wondered what the differences were like. So thanks for this article, which has shed some light on my wonderings. That first example in particular, with Jericho / Gericault, ensures that, while we unfortunately can't make the same fairly direct reference as the french, there's still an in joke to be had there by those familiar with the parodied source scene (which I was not previously, and now am, and now further respect the translators)