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Translating Audio Visual Humor A Case Study
Translating Audio Visual Humor A Case Study
Translating Audio Visual Humor A Case Study
Perspectives
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Abstract
This article presents a descriptive and discursive analysis of how elements in humorous ex-
tracts from an animated American television show (The Simpsons) fared in overcoming linguistic
and intercultural barriers in dubbing (English-Spanish). The analysis is based on several Transla-
tion Studies and Pragmatics methods and on a taxonomy of humorous elements in audiovisual
texts. These were used to (1) quantify and (2) analyse the humorous elements in the source and
target texts, (3) calculate the percentage of humour in the source texts that had been realised in the
target versions, (4) make observations on humour translation in animated serials; and, finally, (5)
create a list of translational tendencies – potential norms – in humour translation in audiovisual
texts.
Objectives
The objectives of the study discussed here were:
• firstly, to set up a method for the analysis of humour in audiovisual trans-
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Corpus
For this study, I selected The Simpsons, an animated American television serial
that is telecasted in many countries. The focus was on the translation – mainly
via dubbing – of excerpts from the series in order to identify tendencies in hu-
mour translation in audiovisual texts. The programme was ideal for this pur-
pose, since most segments in the source version were humorous and should be
so in the translated versions as well. Besides, the humour in a good many of
these comical segments was based on elements of the cultural context.
The choice of this series was determined by several factors: (a) it is popular,
(b) it has been aired for about fi�een years, (c) I personally like it, and (d) all epi-
sodes show two characteristics that I consider relevant to the study: a humorous
nature and cultural specificity. Thus, the only selection criterion applied to the
twenty episodes initially screened was that they were available to me (on VHS
tapes or DVDs).
I chose four episodes from different seasons (namely the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th).
The reason for this selection was that these episodes would reflect – to a degree
– the logical evolution of the series in the course of not simply one year, but over
the fi�een years of running time.
The episodes eventually selected were (including the title of the English
source text and the title of the dubbed (Castilian) Spanish version):
Theoretical frame
This study is primarily encompassed within the communicative-sociocultur-
al approach of Translation Studies. The framework of the study is based on de-
scriptive, manipulation-school, functionalist, and relevance theories, since, ac-
cording to my own concept of ‘translation’, it is not possible to conduct a study
like this by limiting it to a single approach. There is, in addition, some influence
from Cultural Studies (as culture is a key element) and Pragmatics (which was
used in the analysis).
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These types of elements can include, like here, politicians (Dole, Clinton,
and LaRouche), celebrities, an organisations, a newspapers, books, films,
etc. The reference can be explicit or implicit and acoustic as well as visual.
Elements in this category present or evoke the image of some specific ref-
erent in the culture.
5. Graphic Elements: This type includes the humour derived from a wri�en
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8. Sound Elements. This final category is inspired by the sound jokes defined by
Adrián Fuentes (2001).3 They are sounds that by themselves or in combi-
292 2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 4
nation with others may be humorous. They are explicitly and acoustically
found in the soundtrack and the special effects when these contribute to
the humour.4
Example: This is evident in the situation referred to in Visual Elements (above),
where we could see and hear how Homer hits the space ship’s control panel. A
second later, we can also hear the noise of the ship’s engine starting.
The Analysis
The analysis occurred in two stages:
1. A global analysis of all source jokes and their translations, in which the
humorous elements were classified and subdivided according to the ab-
sence (Group 1) or presence (Group 2) of changes or losses – quantitative
or qualitative, total or partial – in their humorous loads a�er their transla-
tion (‘humorous load’ refers to the number of discrete humorous elements
that the joke includes, so it is a quantitative concept). And
2. A pragmatic-intercultural analysis of jokes in Group 2 in order to explain
why their ‘humorous loads’ had experienced some kind of change or loss.
In this context, the principle of relevance became prominent in terms of ex-
isting and contextual assumptions, as well as concerning cognitive effects
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(which are the ones that, ultimately, determine each fragment’s relevance
and pragmatic reward in the form of humour). In order to illustrate how
each Group 2 segment was analysed, I can use an analysis of Card 43:
Martínez-Sierra. Translating Audiovisual Humour. A Case Study. 293
Card: 43
Season: 2
Episode: Bart vs. Thanksgiving – Bart en el Día de Acción de Gracias
Joke Number: A 23
Context: The Simpson family gathers to have dinner on Thanksgiving Day.
American source version:
A taxi arrives at the Simpsons’ house with Marge’s mother. The driver gets out of the taxi to
open the door for her, but she gets out through another one.
So� background music.
Spanish target version:
The same: There is no dialogue. At first glance, it is a 100% match between the source
and the target versions.
Load difference:
American source version: Spanish target version:
Community-and-institutions + visual + Visual + sound elements
sound elements
Cognitive environment and effects on the American audience:
• Existing assumptions:
1. Families usually gather for dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving.
2. It is not unusual for a taxi driver to open the door for an elderly person.
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3. The music is from We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing, a hymn that is
traditional on Thanksgiving Day.
• Contextual assumptions:
1. Marge’s mother turns up at her daughter’s to have dinner with her family.
2. The taxi driver gets out of his car to open a door for her, but she gets out through
another one.
3. There is music.
• Cognitive effects:
1. Contextual assumption 1 reinforces existing assumption 1 (families gather).
2. Part of contextual assumption 2 reinforces existing assumption 2 (the possibility
that a taxi driver gets out to open the door for an elderly person).
3. Contextual implications:
In view of existing assumption 2 and contextual assumption 2, it is surprising that
the woman ignores the taxi driver’s gesture.
In combination with existing assumption 3, contextual assumption 3 produces sat-
isfaction (the background music is the hymn).
The combination of existing assumption 2 and contextual assumptions 2 and 3
makes for a disparity between the action seen and the music that the audience hears.
Comment:
This joke remains successful in the target version because it plays both on visual ele-
ments (grandmother ignores the taxi driver) and sound elements (the music). Since the
visual element does not vary, both existing assumption 2 and contextual assumption 2
are possible in the Spanish version, just like cognitive effects 2 and 3.1. However, in the
American source version, the sound element, being a hymn, also implies a community-
and-institutions element. This element is not realised by the target audience, since the
hymn is unfamiliar to the Spanish viewers. Even so, the sound ensures some measure
of amusement by providing a contrast to what happens on the visual side. To a Span-
ish audience, the music suggests something harmonious, a mood that is broken when
grandmother ignores the taxi driver’s gesture (the cognitive effect 3.3).
294 2005. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 13: 4
Quantitative material
There were 365 items that I identified as jokes. Of these, 264 (72.3%) belong
to Group 1, while 101 (27.7%) fall in Group 2 and, roughly and quantitatively
speaking, were rendered as follows:
Out of these 101 jokes, 81 suffered a partial loss of humorous load in the
Spanish version; 6 lost their humorous load totally; 9 had the same degree of
humorous load but with a different content; and for 5, the load was increased.
Overall, the humorous load of the 365 jokes was diminished in the Spanish
version in 22.2% of the cases. In the same terms, only 1.7% of the renditions con-
tained no humorous element at all, whereas 1.4% had a higher humorous load
than did the original English.
In sum, only 14.4% of all the elements that had a potential for producing
humour in the source texts were not realised in the Spanish target texts. These
instances comprised primarily community-and-institutions, community-sense-
of-humour, and graphic elements.
of source texts jokes for which the humorous load was not rendered at all was
1.7% – and the load actually increased for 1.4% of the jokes.
Other identified tendencies included the following: The Simpsons’ humour
is compound humour in terms of humorous load, and the intention to keep that
same type of compound humour in the translated version is evident; even though
dubbing is the dominant translational practice for the series, there should be
li�le hesitation to resort to subtitling in order to maintain the humour; there is also
a tendency toward the use of foreignising solutions; and, finally, the preceding
tendency entails another one, to avoid the use of community-and-institutions and
community-sense-of-humour elements specific to the target cultural system.
Future Perspectives
The results call for reception studies to confirm whether the quantitative re-
duction of humorous load in the target version also implies a qualitative reduc-
tion in the humorous effect on the audience.
The results also justify additional descriptive studies to falsify, revise, or con-
firm the generalising validity of the tendencies I have identified, for use in other
audiovisual corpora and, possibly, to define them as translational norms.
A further descriptive study might explore the tendencies that depend on
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Works cited
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