Open AccessCase Study of the Audiovisual Translation of Wordplay
Author(s) -
Lana Pierrina Camilli
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of audiovisual translation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2617-9148
DOI - 10.47476/jat.v2i1.24
Subject(s) - joke , translation (biology) , natural language processing , computer science , linguistics , comedy , translation studies , artificial intelligence , literature , art , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , messenger rna , gene
This paper examines the dubbing of the British comedy series A Touch of Cloth into French. Building on existing descriptive theory regarding wordplay translation – particularly the model of translation techniques laid out by Delabastita (1993) – translation patterns are identified. A corpus of instances of wordplay is established, correlations are identified between particular types of wordplay and particular translation results, and a case-by-case examination is undertaken to determine how different factors impacted these results. A wide range of factors are found to contribute to the way wordplay is translated, notably: the languages at hand, the nature of the joke, and the audiovisual features the joke brings into play. Conclusions are then drawn regarding the technique likely to be employed on a given occasion and why, as well as how closely the translation can be expected to reflect the original segment.