English

English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European family, originally brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th and 6th centuries. Over the centuries it has absorbed influences from Old Norse, Norman French, and Latin, shaping it into a language that is Germanic in grammar but with a large portion of its vocabulary of Romance origin. Because of Britain’s colonial expansion and the later global dominance of the United States, English has become the world’s most widely studied and influential second language.

The writing system is based on the Latin alphabet without extra letters, though English spelling is notoriously irregular. This irregularity is the result of historical sound changes, such as the Great Vowel Shift in the 15th–16th centuries, combined with a conservative spelling tradition. As a result, words are often not written the way they sound, making spelling and pronunciation challenging for learners.

Grammatically, English is relatively simple compared to many other Indo-European languages. It has largely abandoned the case system found in Old English, retaining only a few forms in pronouns (e.g., he/him, they/them). Verbs mark tense and aspect but not person beyond the third person singular (he runs). Word order is fixed in a subject–verb–object pattern, and meaning is often conveyed through auxiliary verbs and prepositions rather than endings.

The sound system of English is highly variable across dialects, but in general it features a large vowel inventory, including distinctions between short and long vowels and diphthongs. Consonants are relatively straightforward, though certain sounds such as “th” are uncommon in other languages. Today, English is spoken as a first language by around 370–400 million people, with well over a billion more using it as a second or foreign language, making it the most widespread lingua franca of the modern world.

Asterix speaks English

The Asterix series has been widely translated into English, with the first translations appearing in 1969. Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge were the most influential translators, known for their clever adaptation of the humor, wordplay, and puns in the original French versions. They localized many of the jokes and cultural references to make them more accessible to English-speaking audiences while maintaining the original spirit of the stories. Character names were often adjusted to reflect their traits and add humor — for example, Assurancetourix (the bard) became Cacofonix in English, referencing his terrible singing. The translators also preserved the essence of the Latin and historical references that are central to the series’ humor. Their work is widely praised for balancing accuracy with creative liberty, helping Asterix become a beloved series in English-speaking countries.

In recent years the publisher Dalen, as small publisher in West Wales, has released quite a few albums in languages other than English that are spoken in Great Britain and Ireland. Welsh, Gaelic, Irish and Scots albums are still widely available. Collectors are looking forward to a Cornish release.

Little Fred and Big Ed

Before the widely known English translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, Asterix was first introduced to British readers in the early 1960s through a serialized version in Valiant magazine. In this adaptation, Asterix and Obelix were portrayed as Britons resisting Roman occupation rather than Gauls, and their names were changed to Little Fred and Big Ed to appeal to British audiences. This version was short-lived and less faithful to the original spirit of the series, but it marked the first attempt to introduce Asterix to the English-speaking world.

Placing Asterix and Obelix in a different setting than Gaul, or the area they visit in the originals, is something the German Mundart releases seem to do quite often as well.

Dogmatix

Since 2025 Papercutz has started releasing English translations of Dogmatix and the Indomitables. We can finally enjoy the adventures of Dogmatix and his friends in English.

Nanette McGuiness is credited for translating Volume 1. She is responsible for many recent US English translations.

It is unknown if there will be UK English translations of the Dogmatix stories as well.