Translating Humour for Subtitling In Sitcoms, Based On the Tv Series “Friends”

Translating Humour for Subtitling In Sitcoms, Based On the Tv Series “Friends”

Introduction

If there is something that is unsolved - among many other things in Translation Studies, that is the question of humor. Many studies in other areas, such as psychology, sociology and linguistics have tried to explain the sources of humor and to describe its features.

The question regarding translation is the extent to which humor (in its various aspects) can be transferred1 from one language to another and how. As an attempt to answer this question, many authors have analyzed the translation of comic texts, in written or audiovisual form, such as in films, and some of their analysis ended up being prescriptive. The aim of the present paper is not to present a definite answer or solution to the question, but to discuss several aspects considered relevant in the assessment of humor translation in the specific situation of subtitling, including sources of humor, creativity and technical constrains. To illustrate the reflections a case study is conducted on a recent episode of the American sitcom "Just Shoot Me", with a view to observe how the translator/subtitler

deals with the problems risen by the specific situation in question.

Sources of humor and sitcoms

What makes one laugh? A study by Vandaelen (1995) on humor suggests incongruity as being one source of laugh. He defines incongruity as a contradiction of cognitive schemes, which can be linguistic, pragmatic, social, natural or narrative. In other words, the funny element in a joke is what contradicts our expectations.

This contradiction does not have to be necessarily expressed in words, but it can be audio-visual. Another cause for humor, according to the same author, is superiority, a notion referring to the rejoicing we feel when making fun of certain individuals or situations, solving (understanding) the incongruities of a joke, or recognizing something as funny because it became institutionalized.

Like incongruity, superiority also relies on schemes. Since cognitive schemes vary from one individual to another we can not expect a joke to have the same effect upon different individuals and in different cultures. That is why humor, being culture-specific, is so difficult to translate. In fact, almost everything regarding translation involves differences in culture, but the big challenge concerning humor is not only to keep the meaning of a joke but also to provoke the same effect without compromising the text cohesion and coherence.

However, certain instances of humor are said to be universal, in the sense that, in any language or culture, they are recognized as funny. As observed by Possenti (1998), themes currently re-explored in humor, in any language, include sex, politics, racism, cannibalism, social institutions (church, school, marriage, motherhood, the languages), madness, death, misfortunes, and handicapping.

A comedy of situation, or sitcom, is an adequate example to be analyzed in terms of humor, for it displays different types of incongruities and superiority, as the result of audio-visual and linguistic elements interconnected; in addition, it usually reveals humor related to culture and ...