What Are the Difficulties of Translating Humour from English Into Spanish Using the Subtitled British Comedy Sketch Show Little Britain as a Case Study?

The focus of this paper is an analysis of the book Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas using concepts from the Lives Across Cultures textbook. Ten concepts are identified and defined from Chapter readings. Following definitions, examples from the novel of these concepts are shown.

Problem areas with translations: Weights, measures, money. Euphemisms. Vocabulary. Wordplays. Grammar and Syntax. Matters of Gender.

The purpose of this research is to discover which of the four strategies suggested by Baker (1992), used in translating idioms and idiomatic expressions from English into Persian in a Novel titled “Kite Runner”. This chapter deals with methodology, which is the materials chosen for the analysis, the instrumentation, the procedures adopted to collect data, design of the study and data analysis.

Frances Gasparino of Rochester Institute of Technology suggests “the generative methodology offers the capability for the jokes and segments… to be analyzed against Burkean theory of comedic enlightenment. By looking to show that a means-end joke is an appropriate way in which to convey a message it would be seen that the message… would not be eclipsed by… the underlying message, to question the media and not take what is said for fact [got] across to the audience.” This tool of comedic critique can be dually entertaining as well as enlightening. The seemingly realistic script coupled with the serious expressions and tone of the actors creates the perfect milieu to reach the intellectual viewer as well as the average, blue-collar viewer; thus, increasing their total

Unless the writer is very aware of how to create tone in their messages the reader may not catch on to the joke, and a conflict will quickly arise.

Comedians entertain audiences by revealing the unexpected. These breathtaking moments are caused by the creation of stereotypes. The controversial video entitled, “The Substitute Teacher,” reveals Mr. Garvey’s difficulty in adjusting to different classroom settings. Within the classroom, Mr. Garvey applies an inappropriate adaption of black culture even though the majority of his students were Caucasian. The comedic aspect is illuminated by Mr. Garvey’s stereotypical nature when pronouncing names through roll call. The video reasons his nature through his “experiences” in substituting at inner city schools. Ironically, a majority of the students in the classroom possess a middle-class socioeconomic background. Parodies such as “The Substitute Teacher” seem hilarious; however, it causes audiences to feel remorseful after becoming aware of these stereotypical jokes. Some comedians reveal social injustices, while others accomplish more by teaching audiences how stereotypes are evident in real life situations.

The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of

One good example of humor is where Mark comes up with new name for “ kilowatt-hours per sol ”. A sol is a day on Mars. “I’m gonna invent a new scientific unit name. 1 kilowatt-hour per sol is… I’ll call it a pirate-ninja” (Weir 230).

Liuzza begins his article by telling the reader that when a person translates a novel, all their shortcomings and biases are put on public display. What gave him the most anxiety while translating, however, was the “vague thing usually called tone”.

In many a television series, nonstandard language is used for the purpose of conveying specific ideas or emotions to the viewer. In many cases, though, the language creates confusion if those watching the show do not understand certain words or phrases. However, the use of nonstandard language is particularly effective in the show Sherlock. This mystery series features examples of idioms, phrases that cannot be taken literally. This helps add to the show's overall theme and mood.

Humour and satire are two concepts that are both wide ranging and diverse, from dark, to light hearted, with each producing a different effect. Humour in the main, is something that is used to please the audience, its function is to invoke laughter amongst its audience. Satire is used to create a comical critical view of the subject at hand, this can range from a light hearted comical way, to a judgemental way, with each style giving the text a different meaning, however this does not mean that satire cannot be humorous, which can evident in the use of parody and irony within texts. Within literature both concepts play an important role to how the text is viewed, humour can include word play, grammatical jokes, to even inside jokes with the author and reader, and with satire, including that of irony and parody, with each style and type delivering humour in its own unique way. These differing styles of humour can be found in a variety of forms including Jasper Forde’s The Eyre Affair (2001), with its silly atmosphere, word play and grammar jokes, and the use of light hearted satire and parody to brighten up the text, and Julian Barnes A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), where there is a more serious atmosphere, with a more critical, satirical eye on history and characters, as well as using irony to achieve its comical effect, and the position of the world. Each text is humorous and satirical in its own right, and with each author using different techniques to

According to the Oxford dictionary “Humor,” is defined as: The quality of being amustic or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech, but what truly makes something funny? Comedy has been around for hundreds of years; as it is being examined four concrete theories have been developed to understand the idea of comedy: Superiority, Relief, incongruity, and Benign Violation theory.

I was the “funny guy” in my clique of high school friends. Ever since I learned to read English, I enjoyed reading and collecting joke books. I exhausted every single joke book from the small community library in town. Riddles, jokes about animals and wildlife, reasons why I didn’t do my homework, lawyer jokes, and later on, ethnic jokes. I knew they were funny, but I wanted more. Perhaps it was my lack of physical achievements that made me obsess with a need to entertain my peers.

“Translators have to prove to themselves as to others that they are in control of what they do, that they do not just translate well because they have a “flair” for translation, but rather because, like other professional, they have made a conscious effort to understand various aspects of their work.”

Daniel Gouadec (2002: 273) said in Translation as a Profession that "most translation problems and potential risks could be resolved by getting as much information as possible prior to a translation project". As to the translation project in this report, I made preparation in the following aspects: