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Introduction

It is sometimes believed that humor does not travel between languages. This has been a motivation for scholars to consider the (un)translatability of humor. However, considering the widespread admiration of some films and TV programs all over the world, one can realize that, regardless of any inconveniences, humor does travel across cultural and linguistic barriers. Having this point in mind, the objective of this study was to examine how it goes between languages and cultures through one of media translation methods, which is dubbing here.

Basic characteristics that all comic events share include surprising, and playing with logic, expectations, conventions and meaning (Nael & Krutnik 1990:43). The two modes are considered as one in this study, since it seems to be difficult to separate them. However, deviating from the norms of conventional, everyday conversation and breaking the rules of politeness and decorum are crucial to all kinds of comedy. Timing and appropriateness of utterance is another factor in creating humor. Sometimes when this factor is violated the resultant surprise is amusing and appealing to the audience. Replete instances of humorous items in the Shrek and Shrek 2 animations and their world wide success as being the most popular animated films among children and adults, and moreover, the successful dubbed versions of these cartoons in Persian in comparison with other dubbed animated films, have been the reasons for choosing them as the focus of this study. Songs and rhyming are excluded from this study since they are a complicated, large category and out of the scope of this study.

Objectives

There were two objectives for doing this study which was carried out in order to write a master thesis. First, the researcher wanted to figure out what strategies the Persian translators have applied to transfer the humor from English into Persian. Second, it was intended to see which strategies have been more frequently used by translators.

Corpus

For the purpose of this research, some popular animated English-speaking films have been selected, which are among the most successful cartoons worldwide. Although there are multiple reasons to justify these choices, initially there were two requirements which the research material had to meet: it needed to have dubbed the version in Persian. The second reason is directly linked to the strong humorous flavor of the selected cartoons since the focus of this study is considering the element of humor in translation. To give an example we can shortly refer to Shrek which, as Patrick Zabalbeascoa (2000: 27) writes, belongs to the category of “white background with black spots” which in other words means a text presented as an infantile genre but with elements directed exclusively to adults. In the case of Shrek, the content of humor directed exclusively to adults was a guarantee of interesting and complex research material.

Theoretical Frame

This study is based on Viney and Darbelnet (1995) model of translation. They represent two broad categories, namely direct or literal, and oblique translation methods. These two categories include seven strategies: borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation.

Data Analysis

Some of the humorous items of cartons Skrek I and II and their translations in dubbed Persian are analyzed here based on the aforementioned model.

“Aren’t you a sight of sore eyes?”  

Persian: Cheshmaye baba ghurim daran dorost mibinan?

In this sentence Donkey states his surprise of seeing Shrek and Fiona, the Persian translation has observed the form, ‘sore eyes’ has been replaced by a cultural term to refer to his own eyes, but this phrase in Persian is  more humorous for the audience. The strategies applied here are literal translation and equivalence.

“Oh, you mean sorting the mails and watering the plants?”

Persian: Manzuret moratab kardane nameha va aab dadane golast?

Donkey claims that he has taken care of Shrek’s “love-nest” when they were in honey moon. Shrek’s utterance is an ironic remark to Donkey since obviously he has done nothing useful in the house, even though he so sincerely claims he has. In this case the visual context makes the utterance humorous. The Persian translation has observed both the meaning and the form. The strategy applied here is literal translation.

“All right, all right, I got it. I’m just darn bored.

Persian: Be darake asfalo safelin ke dure, man hoselam sar rafte!

Donkey is bored with the long journey to “Far Far Away” although he has been told several times that it is far far away; and when Shrek and Fiona get furious at his repeatedly asking “Are we there yet?” Donkey states this sentence. The humor of this example comes from the point that Donkey does not understand the situation even when explained to him, and this happens many times during the story. The Persian translation uses a slang phrase to show that Donkey is angry and bored, which adds to the humorous flavor of the original. The strategy applied is equivalence.

“Now let’s go before they light the torches.”

Persian: Bia bala gheiratan ta dakhlemuno nayvordan bargardim.        

The English idiom, ‘light the torches’, means trying to take revenge. This meaning is indirectly stated in English, but in the Persian translation it is overtly stated with a cultural flavor that comes from the expressions “bala gheiratan” and “dakhlemuno nayvordan”. It can be said that literal translation has been used here along with equivalence.  

“It’s easy to see where Fiona gets her good looks from.”

Persian: Hala dige rahat mishe fahmid ghiafe ghashange Fiona be ki rafte.

The timing of the utterances and their appropriateness in the situation are relevant factors in humor. This is an example of inappropriateness. One interpretation would be that Shrek refers to the beauty that Fiona had as a human, and the utterance is meant to be a compliment to the parents. Another way to interpret the situation is that the parents were not expecting their daughter to return with an ogre, let alone as an ogre, so the situation is awkward and Shrek tries to break the tension by telling a joke. As it turns out, nobody finds it funny, but rather insulting, and the silence that follows is even worse than before. However, this uncomfortable situation is amusing for the audience. Literal translation has been used in the Persian rendering and the tone of the Persian speaker together with the context helps the audience get the humor of the situation.     

“Let’s go bond with daddy.”    

Persian: Berim pedar zan salam.  

The English sentence is humorous since Donkey knows this fact that Shrek and his father-in-law have not gone along quite well with each other at their first meeting and when Shrek has lost his chance to talk to him because of not finding the way through the woods, uttering this sentence shows that Donkey does not understand the importance of the situation for Shrek. In the Persian translation ‘father-in-law’ is mentioned directly which was not mentioned verbally in the ST but the audience knows it from the storyline but the form and meaning are preserved. So here literal translation has been applied.   

“Hey, Shrek! Donkeys don’t purr. What do you think am I?”

Persian: Avalan ke aarvaare, dovoman be man migan khare palang.

The English sentence is Donkey’s complaint to Shrek, the Persian translation uses slang words and a different style which match the previous sentences and context. The strategies used include adaptation and modulation. 

“The position of annoying talking animal has already been taken.”

Persian: Hazrate agha, jatuno dadim geda avail bord.

The humor of this sentence comes from the speaker of it, Donkey, he is trying to show that he is Shrek’s best friend and the Cat can not take his position. He wants to show his disapproval of the Cat using these adjectives, but he is not aware that at the same time he is also insulting his own character. The form has been preserved, but the meaning has been a little altered to match the target culture. The applied strategy is equivalence.

 ”I had some rotten berries, I had strong gases eking out of my butt.”

Persian: Tameshke fased khordan haman o nasime molayem vazidan haman.

The humor in this sentence comes from inappropriate time of uttering this sentence by Donkey and the subject matter of it. The Persian rendering has modulated the meaning of English sentence, as in the target culture it is impolite to state such these matters directly. The meaning is observed but the form not. Modulation and transposition have been utilized.  

“Maybe there’s a good reason donkeys shouldn’t talk.”

  Persian: Ye zarbol masale ghadimimi hast ke mige khoda kharo shenakht ke behesh zabun nadad.                                      

This ironic sentence uttered by Shrek shows his unhappiness about Donkey’s talking all the time and the meaning of the sentence along with the paradox of the situation, that is, a talking Donkey, makes the situation humorous. The Persian translation includes a proverb which is not the exact equivalent for the English sentence but with a little change in the Persian proverb it has turned to an appropriate rendering. This change is that instead of word ‘shakh (horn)’ there is the word ‘zabun (tongue)’ in the translation. So here we have adaptation. 

“Donkeys don’t have layers. We wear our fear right out there on our sleeves.”

  Persian: Khara aslant laye laye nistan, una ba shoma kheili fargh