Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)

CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication

Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 578

HOW FUN IT IS TO TRANSLATE HUMOUR

Bianca-Oana Han

Assist. Prof., PhD, ”Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureș

Abstract: Everyone speaking at least one foreign language, besides his or her mother tongue,
has been or is prone to be in a situation in which the following words apply: “I cannot
translate this joke: it will only spoil the fun…”. This article aims to prove that humour is to be
pondered upon as being cultural-information carrier, as it is endowed with the capacity to
gather the very hidden and subtle meanings we can discover in language.

Keywords: translating humour, language, communication, specific cultural items

Ever since the beginning of this article, we feel we ought to assure the reader that
translating humour is, paradoxically enough, as funny and amusing as it is ghastly and dreary,
since translation per say, is already a rather difficult, energy- and resource-consuming
activity. But when translation needs to render humour from one language to the other, with
everything that humour stands for, things can easily become more problematical. This appears
to be the reason why humour translation represents a real challenge even for the experienced
translator, and the truth is that, when rendering humour in translation, the translator’s choices
are, somehow, limited.
“Intercultural communication represents a very complex topic for linguists. In the
context of intercultural communication humour appears to play a very important role.
Exploring humour across cultures is not new in translation studies and yet still considered a
fruitful topic for scholars. Many have written about the translatability or untranslatability of
humour. Some said that humour does not travel well across linguistic barriers.”1

1
Ramona-Agneta Budea (Nedea), Translating Humour and Profanities in Films, in Translation Studies:
Retrospective and Prospective Views 2011, Year IV, Issue 12 Galati University Press Editors: Elena Croitoru,
Floriana Popescu & Antoanela Marta Mardar Galati, Romania, pp. 6-14
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 579

Humour relies on specific linguistic, cultural, nation-related elements which can only
be adapted having a basis of deep cultural understanding. The important role in the process of
translating humour is, obviously, played by the translator, who needs to prove his skills and
competences of a good linguist, a flexible communicator, pragmatic person. The translator
plays the leading role of this process, a leader who needs to be creative and open to
challenges. Because of its difficulty and high complexity level, the translation of humour is a
particular part of the translation field, along with the specialised translation of specific fields
of science, where terminology plays an important role in de-coding and then re-coding the
message.
According to Burgess, ”translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of
making intelligible a whole culture.”2 Stretching the idea, “when it comes to translating
humour, the operation proves to be as desperate as that of translating poetry” states Diot in
Vandaele.3 Thus, since humour envelopes the wit and popular intelligence of a people
speaking a language, just like a poem comprises the sensibility of the human mind, translation
of such intrinsic values cannot be taken lightly.
Why does humanity need humour? Humour can be defined and explained on the
ground of a large and complex theory. The theory of humour is based on many aspects which
concern humour with everything it implies: comical situation, comical words/language,
culture, intellectual level, need of humour, mood of interlocutors, adequate time and, of
course, the effects of humour, for instance, the laughter, which ”is a fundamental part of
everyday life”4.
Let us figure out what humour is and why it is that challenging, translation wise.
According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, humour is ”the quality in
something that makes it funny” or ”the way that a particular person or group find certain
things amusing”. As it can be noticed, the key words in these two definition are ”funny” and
”amusing”, which automatically imply the idea of laughter, of good mood, of happiness and
other positive aspects of human life. From a psychological point of view, ”laughter can help

2
Anthony Burgess, Quotes on translation, 2007, https://pbtranslations.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/quotes-on-
translation-2
3
Jeroen Vandaele, 150. Humour in translation. Oslo: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010.
http://folk.uio.no/jeroenv/Vandaele%20Humor%20in%20Translation_proofs.pdf
4
Robert Provine, The Science of Laughter, 2000, https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200011/the-
science-laughter>
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 580

us minimise physical, mental, and emotional pain by looking at a situation from the lighter
side of things.”5 From a social point of view, humour is seen as ”a quintessentially social
phenomenon”6. Therefore, due to the fact that humour is an active social factor, one may
assert that humour is a type of interpersonal communication, as it creates a bond between
speakers. In terms of interpersonal communication where humour may occur, there are certain
aspects that must be considered, for example culture, time, place, etc. In order for a funny
situation or word to be perceived and understood accordingly by the others and for laughter to
be induced, the type and means of communicating humour must be perfectly shaped in
accordance to the upper elements, which have to be common for everybody involved in such
a communicational situation (culture, time, place). Moreover, in terms of social
communication, humour and implicitly laughter, facilitate the creation of interpersonal
relationships, since humour creates a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
According to Raphaelson-West7, there are three types of humour: linguistic humour,
cultural humour and universal humour. Linguistic humour, as the name suggests, has at its
basis language itself. This being the case, it regards the way people spell the words, the way
they utter and emphasise them and of course, the meaning of the words used, which must be
appropriate to the situation. Warren8 divides linguistic humour into six categories which
namely pun, morphology, lexical ambiguity, idioms, structural and scope ambiguity and
pragmatics. All of these are to be rendered accordingly, but probably the one that carries the
deepest load of hidden meaning, thus creating a huge effort in translation, in an inverse
proportion to its size, the smallest lexical unit is the word pun.
Puns, is a category which has been also characterised by Delabastida9 as having four
other linguistic-linked aspects which have to be taken into account:
- homonymy (identical sounds and spelling);
- homophony (identical sounds but different spellings);
- homography (different sounds but identical spelling);

5
Steven Handel, The Psychology of Laughter. 2011, http://www.theemotionmachine.com/psychology-of-
laughter
6
Giselinde Kuipers, The Sociology of Humor, 2008, p. 365,
http://www.academia.edu/1166958/The_sociology_of_humor
7
quoted in Lutviana, Rizky and Subiyanto Aryf. The failure in translating humour, http://jurnal-
online.um.ac.id/data/artikel/artikelD3AF46983CDFF27BDAAEF11A9A623746.pdf
8
idem
9
idem
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 581

- paronymy (there are slight differences in both spelling and sound)

Any of these types of puns embrace a fair amount of linguistic humour, increasing
the difficulty in translation. For this reason, Delabastida10 suggests five strategies to translate
them:
- translating the source text wordplay with wordplay in the target text, which may be
more or less different,
- translating it in a way that loses some aspects of the wordplay,
- replacing it with some other devices, aimed at creating similar effect such as rhyme or
irony,
- source text pun copied as target text pun, without being translated,
- omitting it.
The other categories which generate linguistic humour, morphology and lexical
ambiguity, semantic ambiguity, i.e. the idioms, the structural and scope ambiguity and the
effect the words have from the social, communicative, contextual point of view, i.e.
pragmatics, are also prone to give any translator nightmares.
On the other hand, another type of humour is the cultural humour, a type of humour
which is culture-based. Cultural elements are specific elements which can or cannot be found
in other cultures, they are bound to belong to a particular people, thus endowing this kind of
humour with more picturesque, colourful elements. According to Newmark 11, cultural
humour has its origins in the following elements: ”ecology, including flora and fauna;
material culture (artefacts), including food, clothes, houses and town; social culture: work and
leisure; organisations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts: including political and
administrative, religious, artistic; gestures and habits.”
The last, but not least type of humour is the universal humour, which consists of
elements which are common within two or more cultures. Neither linguistic aspects nor
cultural elements may condition this type of humour. Hence, this is an ”independent” kind of
humour, a kind which can be easily and correctly understood in terms of intercultural
communication.

10
quoted in Budea, op. cit., p. 7.
11
Newmark, P. 1988. A Textbook of Translation: Longman
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 582

Regarding the factors that may influence the translation of humour Shipley, (quoting
Attardo12) talks about two types of factors in dealing with this kind of translation: external
factors and internal factors. From the point of view of the external factors, we deal with:
Time frame consideration (TFC) – (in comedy movies, comedy shows, etc.) which
refers to the fact that, if the funny events are recent in the source language medium, when
translating them, their effect must be also transmitted to the target language medium, even if
there may be a high distance of time between the event and its translation.
Social-class and educational considerations (SEC) – according to Attardo13, the
author of a text has a target audience in mind. This refers to the fact that there is the
possibility for a joke not to be understood properly if the audience is not the appropriate one.
For example, a joke about medicine between two doctors might not be completely understood
by a linguist or vice-versa. For this reason, humour must be adapted to the audience.
Cultural awareness decisions (CAD) – this external factor refers to the fact that a
funny element of the source language is internationally known, it should not be translated if
not needed.
Whereas the internal factors, regard:
Language (LA) – according to Attardo14, ”the simplest approach to translation is:
substitute Language in TL for Language in SL. ”
Narrative strategy (NS) – the narrative strategy in translating jokes may be
unnecessary as long as the joke itself depends on the language. The narrative strategy is not
common among cultures, so the translator is free to adapt the joke according to a culture-
specific narrative strategy in order for the joke to sound typically.
Target (TA) – this factor is mainly the same as the second external factor, because it
concerns the target audience. Thus the joke must be outlined so that it can be fully understood
by a certain social class, age class or any other kinds of audience.
Situation (SI) – this refers to the case when a humourous situation cannot be
translated into the source language either because there is not such a situation in the target
language, or because that situation is not funny in the target language. The solution is the

12
Attardo, S. quoted in Shipley, Trajan. Towards a humour translation checklist for students translation.
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, n.d. Pdf. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2317721
13
idem
14
Idem
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 583

replacing of the source situation with another one in the target language by respecting and
keeping all the knowledge aspects.
Logical mechanism (LM) – here can be debated the subject of puns translation, when
the same sound equals the same meaning. Due to the fact that puns are linked to language,
their translation, as well as all the other logical mechanisms are easier to translate.
Script opposition (SO) – this last internal factor is similar to Situation, because it is
about the translation of a joke which does not have an equivalent in the target language, so it
may cause problems in terms of translation. But if there is some kind of equivalence between
the two cultures, script opposition may be used.
Regarding the competences needed by a translator, since translation is an art, we
should consider the translator an artist. Besides his acquired and practiced skills, a translator
must have a natural born talent to translate, which is also the base of all the other competences
that he accomplishes throughout his career. According to Budea15, a good humour translator
ought to have four main competences: linguistic, communicative (pragmatic), technical and
humour translation competence.
-Linguistic competence: the linguistic competence of the translator consists of his/her
linguistic knowledge reflected through a rich and various vocabulary and also of a perfect
knowledge regarding grammar and other syntax aspects. Because the translator is a bilingual,
he/she must respect these linguistic conditions of both languages and to use them accordingly.
-Communicative (pragmatic) competence: the communicative (pragmatic)
competence of the translator must be reflected in his/her capacity of making the target text as
comprehensible as the source text, by creating a natural sound of it. He/she must be aware of
the changings that must be made at the text level but, at the same time, to be as pragmatic as
possible, meaning that he/she has to offer accuracy in the outlining of the target text.
-Technical competence: the technical competence of the translator is a result of all
the skills and abilities achieved through study and practice. The technical competence of the
translator is palpable through the naturalness of the translated text.
-Humour translation competence: the humour translation competence is a special
competence, which, in my opinion, cannot be achieved by technical means. It is an ability that
the translator is born with, because in terms of translating humour, it is needed a translator

15
Budea, op. Cit.
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Language and Discourse 584

with that so-called ”sense of humour”, who can offer that special nature and colourful
meaning of the source text, in order to create the same effect that the original writer aimed at.
Humour occurs from different and numerous sources which regard people’s daily
life, nature, culture, environment, etc. Because of the fact that humour has its own peculiarity,
when it comes to its translation, we can definitely talk about a complete science, but also art.
The theory which has been built on the background of this special type of translation aims to
clarify the ambiguity of humour given by its specific elements it derives from (language,
culture, country, etc.). But, of course, all these theoretical parts of humour translation would
be purposeless without a translator to use them in order to bring forth the common effect of
humour. i.e. to make people laugh.
Humour is a particular part of translation which represents a true challenge for the
translator, who needs to make the most of his best skills and competences and a perfect
knowledge of languages, cultures and national specificity.

Bibliography

- ***, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Barcelona: Cayfosa, 1995

- Budea, R., Translation Studies. Retrospective and prospective views. 12th Volume.
Article: Translating humour and profanities in films, Galati: Galati University Press, 2011
- Burgess, A., Quotes on translation, 2007
https://pbtranslations.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/quotes-on-translation-2
- Delabastita, D., Wordplay and Translation, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 1996
- Handel, S., The Psychology of Laughter. 2015.
http://www.theemotionmachine.com/psychology-of-laughter
- Kuipers, G., The Sociology of Humor, 2008.
http://www.academia.edu/1166958/The_sociology_of_humor>
- Rizky L., and Aryf S., The failure in translating humour: A case study in the
Indonesian translation of humour graphic novel "The diary of a wimpy kid". Malang,
- Newmark, P., A Textbook of Translation: Longman 1988
- Provine, R., The Science of Laughter, 2000.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200011/the-science-laughter
- Vandaele, J., Humour in translation. Oslo: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010
http://folk.uio.no/jeroenv/Vandaele%20Humor%20in%20Translation_proofs.pdf