Translation procedures and strategies

Once it comes to discussing translation strategies there is one universal aspect that is treated in all the different approaches, thus it cannot be left unaccounted for in the present paper. When relating a source text to the norms of the target culture, translators can opt for an ‘assimilationist’ approach by canceling the elements that are alien to the target culture, or opt for an adherence to source norms by retaining source-culture specific elements. These two basic strategies lie at the two ends of a continuum. In fact what translators do in practice is to mitigate these two extremes by finding some sort of compromise so that the text would function for the target language audience in a maximally similar way as the original did for the source language audience and at the same time keeping as much as possible of its informational and pragmatic content. Consequently, we will also investigate the strategies employed by Romanian subtitlers and Hungarian dubbing translators in terms of a source language - target language continuum.

Our analysis will present and discuss various translation solutions for certain categories of verbally expressed humour. Since, subtitling is the predominant form of audiovisual translations in Romania, while Hungary is a dubbing country we analyze the Romanian subtitled version and the Hungarian dubbed version of the animated film Chicken Run. The film is closely examined and various translation solutions are presented. The analysis investigates the differences and similarities between the Romanian and Hungarian versions, and looks for any possible generalizations that might be of any help to translators when it comes to the challenging task of translating verbal humour. The examples will provide the source language text, the Hungarian and Romanian versions and their backtranslation.

The most frequent source of verbal humour in the film is wordplay. Delabastita defines wordplay as a “textual phenomena” contrasting “linguistic structures with different meanings on the basis of their formal similarity ” (Jaskanen 51-52.) One aspect of wordplay and translation that many researchers have approached is whether wordplay is translatable at all, since it depends so strongly on the structure of the source language for meaning and effect.

The translation strategies for puns suggested by Delabastita (qtd. in Asimakoulas) include the following: (a) translating the source text wordplay with wordplay in the target text, which may be more or less different; (b) translating it in a way that loses some aspect of the wordplay; (c) replacing it with some other device aimed at creating similar effect (e.g. rhyme, irony); (d) source text pun copied as target text pun, without being translated; (e) or omitting it.

The reasons for omission may be language specific when there are elements in the source text that do not have corresponding linguistic elements in the target language; media specific when the time and space limitations of subtitling affect the translation; or due to the human translator, through insufficient talent, interest, experience or time.

However if it is impossible to translate a certain occurrence of verbal humor due to language, culture or medium constraints translators can opt for a compensatory strategy by inserting a pun where there was none or making use of other humour-inducing devices.

Chicken Run, the title of the film is a taste of what is to come. While ‘chicken run’ means an area surrounded by a fence where one keeps chickens, the interpretation of ‘run’ as a verb makes an allusion to the ‘escape’ reading as well. Of course this second possible interpretation is available only when one becomes acquainted with the plot. Therefore this wordplay does not rely solely on language factors. However, it is worth looking at the Hungarian and Romanian translations: the Hungarian Csibefutam translates only the second interpretation, while the Romanian Evadare din coteţ translates both the ’escape’ (evadare) and the place where chicken are kept (coteţ.)

After me what? What is after me?

(2) Eng.

F: Pushy Americans, always showing up late for every war: overpaid, over sexed and over here.

Ro.

F: Americanii băgăcioşi, apar la sfârşitul fiecărui război, super-plătiţi, super-alintaţi şi acum vin peste noi.

Meddlesome Americans, they show up at the end of each war, extra paid, extra spoilt and now they are over here.

Hu.

F: Törtető Amcsik, minden háborúba későn lépnek be. Hogy éppen egy renyhe Yankee kössön egy ilyen heLYEN ki.[2]

Pushy Americans( slang form ), they enter each war belatedly. The only thing this place needs is a sluggish Yankee.

(2) is a remark made by British rooster Fowler referring to Rocky, the American rooster. This is an example of a pun embedded in a larger string of words. The mechanism that gives rise to humour in the source text is in fact similar to the one in (1.) Fowler activates two different meanings of over: ‘extremely’ in overpaid and over sexed, and ‘to one's place of residence’ in over here. The humor comes from the sudden introduction of a new meaning of over in an enumeration in which the elements preserve the same form. The unexpectedness of the change in meaning gives rise to humour. In order to translate this wordplay the translator would need an expression in the target language meaning ‘to one's place of residence,’ consisting of two words the first of which would also mean ‘extremely,’ and used as such in combination with other words as their first element. As pointed out earlier in such a similarity between languages is inconceivable. And indeed neither Hungarian nor Romanian makes use of such an expression. Consequently it becomes the translator’s dilemma to rewrite the humour in such a way that it has a similar effect on the target language audience as the source text had on the source language viewers. The Romanian subtitler chooses to render the informational and pragmatic content of the passage at the expense of the humour-inducing effect. He keeps as much as possible of the source text form. He uses the word super in the similar way as over is used with the first two elements, but since, super does not match the third element the translator opts for omitting the pun altogether. On the other hand the Hungarian dubbing translator retains only part of the meaning of the sentence altering the informational contents in such a way that it would function in a maximally similar way as the original did for the source language audience. In view of the fact that the source text wordplay is impossible to translate into the target language the dubbing translator replaces it with another device in order to create a similar effect. The natural stress pattern of the word helyen is changed and when read together with the word ki the output is identical to Yankee. This genuinely creative strategy of repeating the English word by a Hungarian word combination makes it possible to render the humour-inducing effect of the source text.

Ro.

In (4) the translators are faced with the highly challenging task of translating a cultural element which is based on a pun on Attila the Hun. Since neither Hungarian nor Romanian has the formal similarity between the words Hun and hen, the epithet Attila the Hen does not exist in the two target cultures. Finding this complex element impossible to translate both translators choose a culturally neutral solution in order to replace the wordplay, and in so doing they also reduce the humorous effect.

N: Fetcher, să vedem dacă prietena noastră şi-a schimbat părerea.

Fetcher, let's see if our friend has changed her mind.

Hu.

N: Te Csali, talán jobb belátásra tért az az észbontott csirke.

Fetcher, perhaps that crazed chicken has come round.

(5)Eng.

(5) is a complex issue. Ginger makes use of an idiom in order to convince Rocky to help them escape, but Rocky announces his intention to leave making use of the components of the idiom –the words will and way- to create a wordplay. The humor of the passage relies on Rocky’s wordplay. This seemingly untranslatable conversational exchange poses a real challenge for the translators. The probability of finding an idiomatic expression carrying the same meaning as the source idiom and having a polysemous component which may serve as a basis for wordplay, would have been highly unlikely both in Hungarian and Romanian. Thus, it is again the translators’ creativity that is put to work. The Romanian subtitler uses the current target-language equivalent for the idiom at the expense of the humorous effect. The Hungarian dubbing translator modifies Ginger’s words in such a way that Rocky’s interpretation can give rise to incongruity. The funniness of the Hungarian version lies in the activation of the literal meaning of ‘to scrape’ (kikapar) as opposed to the metaphoric meaning intended by Ginger. Yet, the humourous effect is somewhat weaker than what the source language expression might achieve in the source culture.

The examples discussed so far invariably tested translators’ capacity for making creative solutions when faced with the challenging task of exporting humor across cultural and linguistic barriers. However, owing to the audiovisual quality of the medium, subtitlers’ and dubbing translators’ latitude is often bound by the image. (6) and (7) illustrate cases of humour relying on the interplay of word and image. This comes to illustrate that verbal humour cannot be considered a purely linguistic phenomenon when it comes in a visual package.

(6) Eng

F: It's chicken feed.

Ro.

F: E mâncare de păsări

It's chicken feed

Hu.

F: Ez nekem magos.

This is seedy to me.

(7)Eng.

F.: Bird of a father flop together.

Ro.

F: Găinile împăunate...au căzut toate!

Every swaggering chiken....has fallen.

Hu.

F: Az utolsó fogás rakott csirke.

The last dish of layered chicken.

In the case of (6) and (7) the translator’s latitude is bound by the image. The humour in (6) arises from the interplay of the slang expression ‘chickenfeed’ meaning a trifling amount of money and the image of chicken feed on screen offered as payment. Since the image makes it impossible to rewrite the humour in the target language the subtitler must have felt at a loss and chose to comply with the image factor omitting the pun and losing the humorous effect. The Hungarian translator complies with the image factor by using the word seedy (as chicken feed is seen in form of seeds) and at the same time makes source humour function with the help of the ‘magos-magas’ paronym. The Hungarian expression ez nekem magas means: this is two difficult for me to comprehend. The humorous effect is generated with the use of the paronym, as well as with the expression functioning as an allusion to Fetcher’s foolishness. The humour in (7) also relies on the visual context. When Fetcher voices the idiom the image of a heap of birds lying on top of each other is shown on screen. The image activates the literal meaning of the idiom, giving rise to humour. The problem requires innovative thinking on the part of the translator. Their scope is bound by language factors as well as the visual aspect of the medium. Both translators manage to choose an effective technique. Though, the play on the idiom cannot be reproduced in the target languages the humorous effect of the Romanian subtitle arises from the rhyme (împăunate- toate) and the eloquent style of the utterance. The Hungarian version communicates the humour by comparing the image of the heap of chicken to a layered chicken casserole (rakott csirke.)

Concluding remarks

This paper has investigated the strategies used for translating verbal humor in the animated film Chicken Run. We have examined a Romanian subtitled-, and a Hugarian dubbed version of the film. Noticeably, the strategies used in the two versions were quite different from each other, part of which can be attributed to the two distinct forms of audiovisual translation.

It may well be that, the dubbing translator found it easier to move towards the target-culture end of the continuum and choose a target-language oriented solution, for dubbing allows somewhat more freedom to manipulate the target version. The dubbing version used various strategies in order to bring the translation closer to target culture preferences. The subtitled version is more consistently source-language oriented. The verbal humor was not communicated in the majority of wordplay instances owing to the fact that source-culture oriented translation solution could not render the humourous effect to the target-culture audience.

However, the data used in this paper does not entitle us to make generalizations on the translation norms of Hungarian dubbing or Romanian subtitling. This analysis is just a fracture of the large chunk of verbal humor created to be performed on screen. Nonetheless, it clearly illustrates that innovative thinking, and creative decision-making on the part of translators, can result in successful translation even with a culturally bound element in a contextually bound medium.

Filmography

Chiken Run. Dir. Peter Lord, Nick Park. Perfs. Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha. DVD. Aardman Animations, 2000.

Bibliography

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[1] Hungarian dubbing makes use of a target-culture oriented solution and replaces the original proper names with target language expression

[2] Stress placement marked by capitalization

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