Claudia Elena Italia Martínez (English-Spanish) Friends and F Is for Family The Translation of Humour in TV Series: The Case of

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UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA DE MADRID

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES Y COMUNICACIÓN

The Translation of Humour in TV Series: The Case of Friends and F Is

for Family (English-Spanish)

Claudia Elena Italia Martínez

Bachelor’s Degree Final Project in Translation and Interpretation Line of Investigation: Audio-visual Translation

Directed by Rodrigo Mesonero Izquierdo Date: May 26, 2021

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The Translation of Humour in TV Series: The Case of Friends and F Is for Family (English-Spanish).

Claudia Elena Italia Martínez

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3 UNIVERSIDAD EUROPEA DE MADRID

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES Y COMUNICACIÓN

The Translation of Humour in TV Series: The Case of Friends and F Is for Family (English-

Spanish)

Claudia Elena Italia Martínez

Bachelor’s Degree Final Project in Translation and Interpretation Line of Investigation: Audio-visual Translation

Directed by Rodrigo Mesonero Izquierdo Date: May 26, 2021

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6 Acknowledgements

I would like to say thank you to the translator of Friends, Daryl Clark and the two dubbing actors from F Is for Family, Antonio Muñoz and Eduardo Bosch, for conducting personalised interviews with me in order to complete this study.

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7 The Translation of Humour in TV Series: The Case of Friends and F is for

Family (English-Spanish)

Claudia Elena Italia Martínez [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study’s aim is to obtain significant information on the translation of humour within comedy TV series; in order to do so, the TV-shows Friends (1994-2004, NBC) and F is for Family (2015-present, Netflix) will be thoroughly scrutinised and examined. The purpose of this analysis is not only to identify the use of translation techniques, but also to determine whether cultural factors have been considered and therefore adapted. In addition, aspects such as: dobbing, subtitling and further technical aspects in terms of the final audio-visual product will also be explored alongside the translation of the original songs featured in the TV series.

The complete examination of all the elements mentioned above will result in a reflection on the peculiarities of the translation of humour within the comedy genre.

RESUMEN

«La traducción del humor en las series de televisión: el caso de Colegas (Friends) y F es para la Familia (F is for Family) (inglés-español).»

El presente estudio tiene por objeto obtener información significativa sobre la traducción del humor dentro de las series de comedia; para ello se criticarán y examinarán a fondo las series Colegas (Friends) (1994-2004, NBC) y F es para la Familia (F is for Family) (2015-pressente, Netflix). El propósito de este análisis no es solo identificar el uso de las técnicas de traducción, sino también determinar si los factores culturales se han considerado y, por lo tanto, adaptado.

Además, se explorarán aspectos como el doblaje, la subtitulación y otros aspectos técnicos en cuanto al producto audiovisual final, junto con la traducción de las canciones originales que forman parte de la serie. El análisis completo de todos los elementos mencionados anteriormente dará lugar a una reflexión sobre las peculiaridades de la traducción del humor dentro del género de la comedia.

Keywords: Audio-visual Translation. Comedy Series. Cultural Adaptation. Humour Translation. Linguistic Adaptation. Techniques. Translation.

Palabras clave: Adaptación cultural. Adaptación lingüística. Series de comedia. Traducción audiovisual. Traducción de humor. Técnicas. Traducción.

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8 Index

1. Introduction……….………..p9 1.1 Justification of the subject matter……….……..p9 1.2 Objectives, Hypothesis and Methodology ………..………...…p11 1.3 Sources……….…….p12 1.4 Justification of the structure………...p12 2. Overview of the Subject Matter - Analysis of TV shows Friends and F is for Family…..…p13 2.1 Humour Linguistics……….p13 2.2 Audio-visual Translation: Types of Humour………....p16 2.3 Evolution of the Translation of Humour within the Audio-visual Field….……….……....p20 2.4 Understanding and Differentiating the Culture of the Source Audience and the Target

Audience………...p24 2.5 Translation Techniques……….…p26 2.6 Spatial and Temporal Considerations………...…p31 2.7 Dubbing Techniques………...…..p33 2.8 Series Analysis………..p40 2.9 Series Comparation………..….p45 3. Conclusions……….…p45 3.1 Bibliography……….…p47 4. Annexes………...p48

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9 1. Introduction

This analytical bachelor’s degree final project intends to analyse the effective and non-effective ways humour has been translated from English into Spanish. Within the comedy genre it is common knowledge that the humour within the content is not only the main factor, but it is also the defining factor towards its success and fulfillment. Although within translation there are many linguistical factors to take into account, it must also be established that the cultural component is just as important. When this is not done properly, it is significantly noticeable by the fact that certain shows do not achieve the same amount of success in other countries post translation. «Lo fundamental es intentar mantener la comicidad, aunque el contenido sea diferente»¹ (Aguirre de Cárcer, as cited in Peiró, 2017). Aguirre de Cárcer is the translator of comedy series such as The Simpsons (1989-present, Fox), Futurama (1999-2003, Fox) and Seinfeld (1989-1998, NBC).

In addition, this study not only takes into account linguistic and cultural components but also post editing techniques, the ways in which songs are translated and not to mention dubbing; «A veces, el humor se consigue no por lo que se dice, sino por cómo se dice. En el doblaje español se recurre poco a tipos especiales de voz o maneras poco usuales de hablar, el humor es precisamente uno de los casos en los que sí se utilizan»² (Zabalbaescoa, 2001, p.253).

As the title indicates, this study first presents a theoretical part which is then applied through the analysis of a corpus, in this case the translation of series Friends (1994), which first aired in Spain on November 27, 1997 with the translated title: Colegas, which then changed to the original English title Friends after the airing of its second season in 1998. The two titles apply to Spain only, as Latin America used the title Amigos and maintained it. The second series that is incorporated in this study is F Is for Family (2015), which first aired in Spain on December 18, 2015 with the translated title: F es para la Familia.

1.1.Justification of the Matter

The matter of this study was a choice based on audio-visual translation, in which knowledge was acquired within the dubbing sector, the transmission of humour, technical audio-visual aspects and its particularities. Furthermore, it can be established that a profound interest within the field of audio-visual translation and products were also driving factors, especially within the comedy genre. It must not go unsaid that the matter was also motivated by a frustration of good comedy products not being recognised due to their poor translation. This results in many products not reaching their full potential within the current era of globalisation. Nevertheless, there have been many recent improvements within this field. Notably, it is more than likely that the target audiences themselves do not recognise such improvements, nor are they able to appreciate the adaptations made towards their linguistic and cultures in order to transfer the humoristic aspects. Nevertheless, those who have an understanding of the original product’s language and humour, can acknowledge the intellectual and cultural strain that the translator has undergone in order to affectively produce a satisfactory and adequate final product. The

1 “The main goal is to try to maintain the comedy aspect, even if the content is different” (Own translation).

2 “Sometimes, humour is achieved by the way something is said, rather than what is actually being said. In Spanish dubbing there is little use of unique types of voices or uncommon ways of speaking. However, humour is precisely a case in which this is used” (Own translation).

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10 translation of humour is not a new concept. However, it is currently being worked upon and criticised. Not to mention, the concept of humour within the translation sector, requires requires greater experience within both the target and source language, than simply knowing the linguistics, in order to translate effectively. For this reason, other than general translation, audio-visual translation recommends bilingual translators and even more so within the genre of comedy.

The aim of this study is to promote studies that analyse the importance and treatment of humour.

The bibliography provided grants one access to some further insight and professional opinions of the matter discussed in this study. «La cuestión básica sobre la traducibilidad o intraducibilidad del humor ha estado en el punto de mira de la investigación durante mucho tiempo»³ (García, 2005, p.837). It is a fact that when translating, the translator must be faithful to the original product. However, in order to facilitate and establish the adaptation of humour, it is required that the translator takes liberties in changing aspects in order to appeal to the target audience’s sense of humour. Nevertheless, what does this “liberty” imply? Furthermore, where should the line be drawn when making necessary alterations? One must keep in mind that this must be done without losing the relevance of the original text. Ultimately, the answer depends on the context, the specific content itself and the importance of the information being manipulated. However, it is certainly clear that more research can be done regarding such aspect.

The TV shows that make up the corpus are Friends and F Is for Family. Firstly, Friends aired in 1994 for a duration of ten seasons and ended in 2004. The show was directed by Gary Halvorson, Kevin S. Bright, Gail Mancuso and Michael Lembeck and starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer (the mentioned actors were interpreted by the following dubbers in the same order; Alicia Laorden, Concha García Valero, Alba Sola, Daniel García, José Posada and Alberto Mieza). The show follows the misadventures of a group of 20- to 30-year-old friends living in in New York City:

Joey (LeBlanc) a flirty struggling actor, Monica (Cox) a control freak chef, Rachel (Aniston) a carefree waitress who hopes to work in fashion, Ross (Schwimmer) a quirky palaeontologist, Chandler (Perry) the ‘funny one’ who hates his job in data processing, and Phoebe (Kudrow) a flaky and bubbly masseuse who is also a wannabe musician.

Secondly, F Is for Family aired in 2015 for four seasons and is currently airing. The show is directed by Ben Marsaud and stars Bill Burr, Laura Dern, Justin Long, Haley Reinhart and Debi Derryberry (the mentioned actors were interpreted by the following dubbers in the same order; Antonio Fernández Muñoz, Pepa Castro, Borja Fernández Sedano, Marta Górriz and Desirée Álvarez). The TV-show is set in the early 1970’s and shows the life of the Murphy’s, a lower middle-class family. The continuous theme of the show is that nothing ever seems to go right for any of the members of the Murphy family. The household is made up of:

Frank (Burr) a 39-year-old man who is disillusioned with his life, short-tempered and foul- mouthed, Sue (Dern) Frank’s 36-year-old wife, a caring and struggling entrepreneur, Kevin (Long) the eldest dim-witted child, who is 15-year-old delinquent, Bill (Reinhart) the second oldest child who is 12 years old, neurotic and is constantly harassed by bullies, and Maureen (Derryberry) the 9-year-old daughter who is the princess of the family and very intelligent.

Although both shows explore the lives of their protagonists, both share the main theme of comedy - which defines their success. Thus, in order for their high-standing platform to be maintained outside of English-speaking countries, the humour factor must be adapted and maintained. Throughout the present study, the improvements within this category will be

3 “The key issue regarding the translatability or untranslatability of humour has been at the main focus of research for a long time”. (Own translation).

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11 explored. The significant difference in time between then airing of the two shows is relevant in highlighting such advances. Not to mention, Friends and F Is for Family have both had success in Spain. Nevertheless, F Is for Family has been adapted more to Spanish humour and culture in comparison to Friends. This is not to say that one show is better than the other, if not that translation techniques have been further developed within the comedic sector. For this reason, the two shows will represent both errors and enhancements within humour translation.

The translation for Friends was done by Darryl Clark, while the translation for F Is for Family was done by Kenneth Post. It was easy to contact Clark, who provided us with information and his personal experience in translating humour. Thus, he further guaranteed the total reliability of this study.

1.2.Objectives, Hypothesis and Methodology

As mentioned in the previous section, the motivation for this study is found in the scarce existence of analytical studies within the translation of humour and its effectiveness in audio- visual products, although it is true that there are many theoretical works about audio-visual translation and its cultural adaptations.

Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyse the quality and evolution of the translation of humour from English to Spanish using the comedy TV-shows Friends and F Is for Family. The objectives findings are discussed in the conclusion of this study, which contains all the general and technical verdicts corresponding the objective.

In terms of the subject of this study, the hypothesis claims that the socio-cultural content affects translation more than linguistic content within the audio-visual sector, most importantly when it comes to humour.

Due to the Typology of this investigation, this study is divided into a theoretical and an analytical section. The theoretical part includes an exhaustive and complete review of all the theoretical concepts that are applied in the analytical part. This theoretical part is composed of two large blocks: one dedicated to cultural adaptation as a modality of audio-visual translation, where issues which are linguistic and cultural related are discussed as well as specific translation techniques; and the other focused on the delivery and transmission of the humour in audio-visual products via dubbing, editing and technical support. The methodology used to achieve the objectives set out above is based on the study carried out by professionals within the translating sector.

“…functions of humour make it difficult for scholars to provide a unified definition for it, an issue made more complex in the transfer of humour to audio-visual works and their translations as well as their ongoing changes in technology” (Dore, 2019, p.1).

Hence, Dore also establishes that people such Palmer 1994; Attardo 2001; Oring 2003 and Martin 2007 have developed theories in terms of humour,

“…in the attempt to explore and explain this linguistic, semiotic, cognitive and social phenomenon from different standpoints. This academic interest has culminated in the creation of a research field in its own right called Humour Studies, which has stimulated and produced a good deal of interesting research. However, many scholars have

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12 struggled to provide a unified definition of humour and the debate is still ongoing”

(Dore, 2019, p.1).

Considering that the matter of analysis of this study is an existing subject that is still being analysed, there is no doubt that improvements have been made and still need to be made.

Therefore, there is a necessity for further studies and investigations on the topic.

1.3 Sources

In order to complete this study, reliable sources have been found and investigated upon. In the first section (theoretical section) which explores humour linguistics, types of humour, adaptations, audio-visual translation techniques and other considerations that must be taken into account, will be explained through professional authors such as: Attardo (2017), Brône (2006), Brône (2016), Dynel (2009), Laurian (1992), Wilund (2017), and Zabalbaescoa (2001), to name a few.

The second section (analytical section) will be an analysis of the TV shows Friends and F Is for Family. In order to conduct such analysis, several interviews have been conducted in order to provide further professional information. The people interviewed personally for this study were: the translator of the TV-show Friends, Darryl Clark, and the Spanish dubbers from the TV-show F Is for Family, Antonio Fernández Muñoz (Frank Murphy) and Eduardo Bosch (Vic). Such sources not are not only reliable, but they also construct a theoretical framework which not only fit the studies requirements but also relates to the hypothesis of study.

1.4 Justification of the Structure

The structure of the work is closely related to its methodology and the objectives it pursues. As mentioned previously, the work consists mainly of two parts, one which is theoretical and another which is analytical. Hence, the corpus is analysed based on the theoretical concepts set out in the first part, so that the previous description of the relevant studies concerning the translation of humour within audio-visual translation allows us to draw particular conclusions from the corpus. Therefore, the model which is used starts off quite broad and builds up its complexity in order to study more particular and specific aspects.

Likewise, in the theoretical part, the different sections and sub-sections lead to more precise information throughout the process. The first section, dedicated to humour as a linguistic component within audio-visual translation and its adaptation, is essential when it comes to laying a solid foundation to build on the rest of the study. Furthermore, it is not viable to detail more specialised information without first describing the modality in which all the work is inserted. The two sub-sections contain, spatial and temporal considerations and translation techniques respectively which are applied and explained within the analytical part.

Therefore, they are completely clarified and understood prior to reaching this stage of the study.

Other sections also focus on the translation of the TV shows Friends and F Is for Family with an emphasis on the way its humour was translated and adapted, with sections dedicated to the interviews of the correspondent professionals and the possibilities of translation. The analysis of these issues corresponds to the whole corpus.

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13 In the analytical part most representative examples of the analysis of humour translation will be found. This is where the two TV-shows that make up the corpus are collected, criticised and praised; in addition to other relevant aspects derived from the detailed analysis of the TV shows, which are collected in order to conclude the study.

Finally, the results of the analysis are synthesised, and the objectives previously set out are reviewed in order to respond to the hypothesis and doubts prior to the completion of the study.

2. Overview of the Subject Matter - Analysis of TV shows Friends and F Is for Family In this section the theories and research chosen as a theoretical basis for the study are developed.

The first sub-sections are dedicated to humour linguistics and different types of humour as a modality of audio-visual translation. This is where the fundamental humour aspects are defined.

At the same time, this section also examines the evolution of humorous audio-visual translation, translation techniques, spatial and temporal considerations, dubbing techniques and post editing techniques within audio-visual products.

The analysis and conclusion focus on the evaluation and comparison of the two TV- shows. In order to conduct such comparison and analysis reliably, the experiences, anecdotes, opinions and considerations of the professionals themselves who worked on the two TV-shows:

translator (Darryl Clark in the case of Friends), and dubbers for F Is for Family: Antonio Fernández Muñoz (Frank Murphy) and Eduardo Bosch (Vic) – will be mentioned and used as sources.

2.1 Humour Linguistics

Humour linguistics has been of great interest for a substantial amount of time. For this reason, various theoretical models have been proposed in attempt to describe and explain the function of humour within language. One of the most widely adopted was presented by Victor Raskin in 1985, known as the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). Raskin (1985) presented the first detailed formal semantic theory of jokes, from which the GTVH derives from. Such theory provided by Rakin is known as the Semantic Script Theory of Humour (SSTH).

“The SSTH can be summarised as two necessary and sufficient conditions for a text to be funny:

a) Each joke must contain two overlapping scripts (that is, the joke must be interpretable, fully or in part, according to two different scripts);

b) The two scripts must be opposed (that is, they must be the negation of each other, if only for the purpose of a given text), according to a list of basic oppositions, such as real/unreal, possible/impossible, etc.” (Attardo et al., 1993, p.124)

“The two conditions, in their simplicity, hide the complex underlying semantic theory.

This has led to numerous misunderstandings. For example, Raskin’s theory is, very explicitly, a theory of a speaker’s competence, not of their performance. Hence, whether a given person in a given situation does not find a given joke text humorous, for whatever reason, is entirely irrelevant, much like a mispronunciation of a sound by a speaker is entirely irrelevant to the phonemic status of the phoneme /p/ in English. In

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14 other words, the SSTH predicts whether a given joke text has the potential to be perceived as humorous by speakers” (Attardo, 2017, p.3).

The SSTH and the GTVH are considered to be the “two most influential linguistic humour theories of the last two decades” (Brône et al., 2006, p.203).

Not to mention, the GTVH addressed two limitations of the SSTH. The first being that the SSTH did not make a distinction between referential and verbal humour and the second limitation was quite significant, given that the SSTH could not account for the fact that some jokes are perceived as similar to one another. For this reason, the GTVH accounts for the these gaps with the use of six knowledge resources: the script opposition, from the original SSTH;

the logical mechanism, which looks at the resolution of the previously mentioned script opposition; the situation, the context and environment the speakers find themselves in; the target, the punch line of the joke and its audience; the narrative strategy, which applies to the organisation and the delivery; and lastly the language, the linguistic choices that are made and are influenced by the previous components.

Furthermore, it can be argued that the target audience is more important than the type of humour used in terms of appealing to senses of humour.

“Thus, for example, two jokes with different script oppositions (for example, stupid vs.

sex joke) would be felt to be more dissimilar than two jokes with different targets (say, Polish and Belgian jokes). It should be noted that most jokes rely on mythical regional stereotypes, thus both Polish people and Belgian people are supposed to be “stupid,” in the United States and France, respectively” (Attardo, 2017, p.6).

Nevertheless, other approaches are being established and introduced, especially in cognitive and corpus linguistics. In general humour is used in a prosocial way to build in-group solidarity, or anti-socially. Most of the research developed until now has been purely focused on how humour is co-constructed and used among close groups of people and how speakers support it.

However, humour is a social aspect that is continuously changing and evolving; therefore, it is difficult to make a permeant and adamant conclusion from previous studies. In fact, humour has the potential to be a powerful tool of persuasion, but like any potent weapon it should be used with caution.

“One of the earliest linguistic discussions of humour is found in Cicero, who distinguishes between humour “de re” and “de dicto.” The distinction is fundamental and matches precisely modern-day differentiations between “referential” and “verbal”

humour: the former is purely semantic/pragmatic and does not depend on the linguistic form (the signifier), whereas the latter crucially does. In practical terms and simplifying a little, verbal humour is comprised of puns, ambiguity-based humour, or humour that is based on repetition of parts of the signifier (for example, alliteration). All the forms of humour mentioned, exploit characteristics of the signifier to bring together incongruous semantic or pragmatic meanings” (Attardo, 2017, p.2).

In terms of the linguistics of humour, irony and sarcasm are key components – not to mention in the English-speaking world and in the TV shows Friends and F Is for Family. The first problem one encounters when addressing the subject is that such concepts include semantic shifts. In general terms, irony can be considered as saying something with a hidden agenda. In other words, the speaker will say a sentence and it’s literal meaning will be the opposite to the

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15 intention behind the sentence. For this reason, the receiver must interpretate the irony hidden in the message in order to comprehend the humour it holds. Sarcasm on the other hand is similar but may considered to be less subtle and somewhat harsher.

“However, beginning in the early 1990s, the term irony shifted for young American English speakers, mean “something unexpected and unpleasant” and sarcasm became the unmarked term covering the field of irony/sarcasm. To what extent this affects research based on questionnaires and on corpora has not been determined. Needless to say, this does not affect other languages and varieties of English” (Attardo, 2017, p.4).

It is safe to say that the phenomenon of sarcastic and ironic humour is popular and heavily used within English-speaking cultures, not to mention in British culture. Although sarcasm and irony are understood and used within Spanish-speaking countries, not to mention in Spain, it is not the go-to tactic in terms of humour. Even though sarcasm and irony work linguistically in both languages (English and Spanish), sarcasm and irony are key comedic aspects within English- speaking countries due its socio-cultural importance. However, in Spain these two factors to do not maintain the same socio-cultural importance. Therefore, when it comes to audio-visual products, large amounts of sarcasm do not appeal to the audiences’ sense of humour, nor will it receive the same success rate as it would in terms of English-speaking audiences. However, this does not mean that sarcasm and irony are pointless for the Spanish population, it just means that other comedic tactics which are more crowd-pleasing should be considered during the translation process.

Some of the many pragmatic approaches to irony are:

1) The standard pragmatic model (Grice, 1989) and (Searle, 1969). This approach considers irony as a mockery of a complement. Nevertheless, their statement was broadened that such mockery could apply to any saying.

2) The direct access theory (Gibbs, 1994) is a theory which focuses on psycholinguistic investigations. Such pragmatic model demonstrated that speakers do not necessarily have to access the literal meaning of the saying first. In the direct access model, speakers instantly access the ironical meaning rather than the literal one.

3) The graded salience theory (Giora, 2002) states that speakers first access to the principle meaning and then go on to interpretate the lesser meaning. Such theory claims that there is a relationship of negation between both meanings.

4) The mention theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1981) upholds that irony bases itself of a previous utterance while still bring relevant to the original context. Nevertheless, with time the theory lost its significance as irony does not have to solely base its relevance to prior utterances.

5) The pretence theory claims that when using irony, the speaker acts like the speaker talking to them when replying. When doing this, they maintain a strong stance towards the utterance said by the other speaker.

There are many other theories. For example, there have been proposals to view irony as a prototypical phenomenon, rather than as a categorical one, as assumed by all the previously reviewed theories. Furthermore, there have also been proposals that link irony to embodied cognition. However, (Colston, 2000) introduced the idea of contrast. Contrast merges the pretence and mention theories, as well as the standard pragmatic model. The concept of contrast states that any saying may generate irony when used within the context or situation. This concept of contrast can also be relevant to Giora’s negation. Ultimately, such a concept

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16 connects back to the similarity between irony and humour as an “opposition” between two scripts.

Other theoretical approaches such as reinterpretation have been made which focus on the tone and interpretation of the speaker. For example, if we take the phrase “won’t you forget it?”, it can be interpreted in very different ways depending on the tone used. If one says it in a question tone, it makes the receiver interpret the phrase as ‘are you sure you will remember?’. However, if it is said in an angry tone it makes the receiver perceive the utterance as ‘drop it!’.

It can safely be established that the most significant contributions to the study of humour have come from the fields of conversation and discourse analysis, due to its sheer number of contributions.

“Conversation analysis showed an early interest in the humour and jokes in particular, as Sacks (1989) used a sexual joke as an example in one of the foundational articles of conversation analysis. Jefferson (1979) found that the role of laughter in conversation was far from being a passive reaction to humour, but that it was, in fact, used to invite laughter and to affect the structure of the conversation” (Attardo, 2017, p.7).

According to, Chafe (2007), Trouvain & Truong (2017), the study of laughter has since become its own field. There has been many distinctions surrounding the complex relationships with humour such as:

“laughter may occur without humour and humour may occur with laughter, but the two are far from being an adjacency pair, as early speculation maintained” (Norrick, 1993, cited by Attardo, 2017, p.7).

2.2 Audio-visual Translation: Types of Humour

Within the audio-visual field there have been many types of humours within the comedy genre.

First of all, the difference between comedy and humour must be analysed and distinguished.

Firstly, humour is something that makes one laugh in any situation. Its most defining quality is that it just occurs naturally and at any moment in time. It does not even have to be verbal; it can even be an experience one witnesses, lives or sees. Comedy, on the other hand, is a form of planned entertainment in which every word and action has been calculated and chosen in order to make one laugh. For this reason, when comedy does not produce laughter, not only does it not qualify as comedic, but it is outright awkward and uncomfortable.

Secondly, there is also a difference between comedy and humour in writing. Comedy writers write for the sole purpose of making the reader laugh for their entertainment. It could therefore be said that the writer’s objective is laughter. As for writers who use humour such as funny phrases, anecdotes, stories or innuendos use laughter as tool to deliver a message.

“Both the comedy writer and the writer who uses humour may write about war — not typically a funny topic — but their goals will be different. The comedy writer writes about war to get a laugh, as with this military joke:

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20 Teasing “can be conceptualised as a higher‐order concept embracing jocular utterances performing a variety of pragmatic functions (such as mock challenges, threats or imitation) the meaning of which is not to be treated as truth‐oriented and which invariably carries humorous force to be appreciated by both interlocutors” (Dynel, 2009).

Banter occurs when parties engage a long exchange of insults and teasing with the aim of mutual entertainment by bouncing off the previous insult/remark the other has made.

Ultimately, it revolves around coming up with a better comeback on the spot. It should be noted that no matter how harsh some of the comments may be, it is socially recognised and established that there is no intent of offending when participating in banter.

“A crucial quality of banter is that consecutive retorts are added very rapidly, which leads to what can be compared with a match of verbal ping‐pong (Chiaro 1992) played by the two (or more) interlocutors, which is why it is primarily spoken, but can also be produced via instant messaging programmes. Such a coherent sequence of contributions is phased out from the ongoing conversational situation when one of the interlocutors has run out of ideas to outdo the other party” (Dynel, 2009).

Lastly, anecdotes are humorous narratives or stories in which one tells his or her personal experience or someone else’s – in such case, the speaker may tell the story as if it were happening to him or her.

“Anecdotes are delivered in a colourful style abounding in witty lexemes and phrasemes, coupled with rich non‐verbal expression (the tone of voice, facial expression and gestures), which contribute to the humorous effect. It is not uncommon for such stories to refer to events which were hardly humorous and even dramatic, but are, however, recounted jovially to elicit a humorous response in the addressee” (Dynel 2009).

Ultimately, the forms and uses explained above can be approached, analysed and used from various linguistic points. Furthermore, they maintain infinite examples and research topics as society is constantly finding new ways to apply them and even new concepts.

2.3 Evolution of the Translation of Humour within the Audio-visual Field

Over the years the translation of humour has evolved and adapted itself to our current globalised society. As a result, all translators are required to be more flexible and not to mention, more imaginative. Given the fact that a large majority of comedy TV shows are filmed in the United States, the content may refer to various stereotypes, economic, political or social views held by citizens from the United States. Due to the influence the U.S. has in other English- speaking countries, a large percentage of these people should be able to comprehend and relate to such content, even though they are aimed at a different country. However, it must be recognised that a wider social and cultural gap exists when it comes to Spain. Therefore, in the past, translators struggled when it came transferring the information and adapting it to the target audience, as it was very likely that the spectators would not understand the references enough to find the humour within the original comment of the show.

Darryl Clark, translator of Friends gives an example of such a concept during an

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21 interview conducted for this final degree project. When Clark was asked about the difficulties of translating Friends, given the fact that in the English-speaking world sarcasm and puns are widely used when expressing humour. However, the same cannot be said for Spain, nor the Hispanic-speaking world as a norm. Therefore, due to the fact that the TV-show’s humour relies on sarcasm, puns and irony, he explained his opinion and approach on the matter:

“Adapting humour is the hardest thing for a translator. Humour is very territory specific.

I could breeze through other different types of translations. But with humour, you really need to sit down and think about it. Especially in American humour. This is because historically, American humour is purely based on local occurrences; a lot of old TV shows, old commercials or celebrities that people in Spain may not know. When I was translating back then, no one in Spain knew who Oprah was for instance. Now everyone knows who Oprah is. And we didn’t know if we could mention Oprah in a translation.

So, stuff like that is always really hard. But then you can’t go the other way and have these guys hanging out in a New York café talking about well-known Spanish shows such as Sálvame (2009-present, Telecinco). So, you’ve got to reach some type of middle point between the two cultures so people can understand the content and understand humour. That’s why I usually try to charge more money when translate humour because it takes longer.”

Clark highlights a fundamental example of how humour translation has evolved thanks to globalisation. Because of this, content nowadays seems to be a part of global culture and common knowledge. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to every pop culture figure or event.

However, now society as a whole has more access to international information, not to mention information from the United States. Consequently, the growing influence that the United States has within the younger population, humoristic content and references may not need as much adaptation as before.

Another key example of such evolution is The Simpsons as at the beginning of the series the translations tended to be too literal, and many cultural references and jokes were omitted or disregarded.

“The particular sensibility of each group of people based on different historical, social, economic, and, in one-word, cultural experiences widen the gap that makes translation difficult” (Laurian, 1992).

Nevertheless, over the 30 years of the shows airing in Spain (1990-present), such translation errors and omissions, in terms of humour, were constantly decreasing and improving. It can be stated that such improvements can be seen over time with other series, but given The Simpsons running time, it is a clear example of how gradual the humour within the audio-visual field has improved and is continuing to do so. As a result, the cultural gap has narrowed and will continue to do so in order for translators to achieve their goal in terms of transmitting the message to the audience, facilitating their comprehension and allowing them to enjoy the audio-visual product just as much as the source target does in the original version.

In addition, when Clark was asked about what translation advances have been made within the timeframe since he started translating the first season of Friends in 1997 and the final one in 2005 his response was:

“Of course, there have been a lot of changes, back when I started translating Friends and all its ten seasons, there wasn’t any schools where you could go and study –

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22 specifically audio-visual translation. So of course, things have improved, and things have gone way beyond. Back then there were very few translators, and they weren’t Spanish. I know all of them and there were pretty much just three of us in all of Spain.

Sally Templer for instance, was one of them. Things have definitely changed. I never even studied audio-visual translation specifically.”

During another interview with Antonio Fernández Muñoz, who dubbed Frank in the Spanish translation for F Is for Family, when asked if there have been many advances within translation in terms of interpreting, his response was:

«Yo tendría compañeros que te dirían que cada vez se dobla peor. Pero no es que se dobla peor, pero tenemos menos tiempo. Tenemos menos tiempo porque todo es para ayer. Ósea, yo no vivía en la época que se hacían 20 takes diarios como mucho – se ensayaban por la mañana y se doblaban por la tarde – pero esa época ha existido.

Cuando entré desde luego no íbamos al ritmo que llevamos hoy. Si se hacia 60 takes en una mañana, gracias. Ahora no. Ahora tendrías que hacer 120 o 130 con todos los personajes.»⁴

His answer to the follow-up question to whether he believed the reasoning for this was globalisation was:

«No. Porque las plataformas que tenemos ahora necesitan tener mucho contenido. Yo lo entiendo también y ese contenido tiene que hacerse ya porque el espectador lo demanda lógicamente. Tampoco es una cuestión de paciencia, es que a lo mejor somos pocos actores de doblaje. Mis compañeros me dirían que estoy tirando piedras a mi propio tejado, pero es la realidad. Si queremos sacar mejor el producto, tendríamos mas tranquilidad y daríamos paso a la gente. También tendrían que pagárnoslo mejor.

En el tema técnico hubo muchos avances. Evidentemente ahora todo se puede hacer mucho más rápido también porque antes te equivocabas y tenias que cambiar el magnético y ahora simplemente vuelves a grabar otra vez y ya esta – es el mundo digital.»⁵

Moreover, in terms of if there have been advances in translation within the dubbing sector co- worker and voice of Vic Eduardo Bosh maintains that:

4 “I have colleagues who would tell you that dubbing is getting worse and worse. But it's not that it's getting worse, we just have less time to do it. We have less time because we now have the mentality that everything has to be before the deadline. I mean, I didn't live in the era when they did 20 takes a day at most - they rehearsed in the morning and then dubbed in the afternoon. When I started working, we certainly didn't go at the pace we do nowadays. If you did 60 takes in a morning, that would have been an accomplishment. Now, that is not the case.

Now you have to do 120 or 130 with all the characters.” (Own translation).

5 “No. Because the platforms we have now need to have a lot of content. I understand that too, and that content has to be made now because the viewer logically demands it. It's not a question of patience either, it's just that maybe there are few dubbing actors. My colleagues would tell me that what I'm saying doesn't benefit me, but that's the reality. If we want to make a better product, we would have more peace of mind and we would give people a chance. They would also have to pay us better. On the technical side, there has been a lot of progress.

Obviously now everything can be done much faster because before you could make a mistake and you had to change the magnetic and now you just re-record again and that's it - it's the digital world.” (Own translation).

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23

«El mundo avanza, pero no te podría decir si hay un avance especial de la traducción relativo al doblaje. Según van cambiando los tiempos, van cambiando las tecnologías y van cambiando las formas de hablar. Yo creo que sea lo único. No haya nada que sea raro, cada día existen frases nuevas y cosas nuevas como twittear o como no me rayes, pero eso dependiendo también en qué lo estás utilizando o en qué línea temporal estemos etcétera, etcétera.»⁶

On the other hand, Clark was asked, if he would translate the ten seasons of Friends any differently today after all the changes made in the industry up until now:

“I think there’s some things I would’ve done differently. But I also think that in this amount of time languages change and expressions which are used change in both the States and in Spain or whichever country. I think a lot of the expressions that are used and were used get changed during the dubbing process. But I would probably still use a lot of the expressions. I’m sure there are others I would change so younger people now could understand it better, because they might not understand some of the expressions used back then. I think there are probably things I would change.”

He then later added in reference to whether translated audio-visual products outdate faster than the original audio-visual product:

“I think it’s pretty much the same. That’s why I said I think that I would probably still use a lot of the original expressions that I used in the translation because when you translate you always need to keep in mind what time period you’re talking about and Friends obviously wasn’t taped in 2020.”

However, in the case of F Is for Family, that problem does not arise due to the fact that it is very current and still airing new content. However, the TV-show is based in the 70’s. For this reason, the humour, mentalities and expressions are determined by that timeframe.

Nevertheless, it cannot be ignored that the series was created in 2015. For this reason, it maintains a modern approach, regardless of the timeline that the show bases itself in. It should be noted that even though society was coarse back then, a TV-show created in such an era would not have been able to portray such sexualised content, drug use and coarse language as it would not have passed the social standards at that time and potentially would have been heavily criticised. Thus, would have resulted in poor viewings. Muñoz stated that:

«En cuanto a la serie F Is for Family, creo que el humor usado fue el que se usaría en los años 70. Ósea, es un humor un poco fuerte. El humor se basa en el tiempo.

Realmente, puedes ver una comedia de Shakespeare y te puede hacer la misma gracia, aunque la mayoría de los términos estén en desuso y no tanto las situaciones. Porque lo que realmente crea el humor es la situación, no el lenguaje. Por lo tanto, no creo que el humor de la serie se puede hacer antiguo.»⁷

6 “The world evolves, but I can't really say if there are any particular breakthroughs made in translation in relation to dubbing. As times changes, technologies change and so do our ways of speaking. I think that's all there is to it.

There is nothing out of the ordinary, everyday there are new phrases and new things like Twitter or sayings like 'Okurr'. But it also depends on what you are using it for or what timeline we are working in and so on and so forth”. (Own translation).

7 “As for the series F is for Family, I think the humour used was what would have been used in the 70's. I mean, the humour is quite harsh. The humour is based on that time frame. In fact, you can watch a Shakespearean comedy

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24 Despite Muñoz’s point of view, fellow co-worker and dubber of the show, Eduardo Bosch believes that:

«No, es lo mismo. El tiempo pasa para todos. Y da igual, la ropa que sacan en la película es la misma y es la misma traducción. No creo que suceda más rápido en una versión ni nada».⁸

2.4 Understanding and Differentiating the Culture of the Source Audience and the Target Audience

It cannot go unsaid that adaptation is a key player when translating any content. Adaptation is only possible when one can understand and differentiate cultures and what appeals to each one – especially when it comes to the comedic sector. The concept of adaptation is linked to the breach between the source and target audience. When it comes to humour, the defining feature of whether it is a success or not is if the audience laughed and found it amusing. There is no point having a show classified as ‘hysterical’ in English-speaking countries and then that same show is regarded as ‘corny’ or ‘lame’ in Spanish-speaking countries. For this reason, within the comedic sector, translators are mediators that must not only translate the content but manipulate it in such a way that the target audiences will generate the same reactions as the source ones. In addition, they must take into account external, or extratextual and extralinguistic factors.

However, in order to achieve this effectively the translator has to be more than just bilingual.

An even bigger advantage is that they have a deep understanding and comprehension of both the target and source cultures. Not to mention, the cultures within themselves have several distinguishments and components. Shipley (2007, p.987) provides some examples of external factors that need to be taken into account:

• Time Frame Considerations (TFC) – If the source text contains references to events that are very recent at the time such as specific news programs or cartoons, the doubt arises as to whether the target audience’s culture will be aware of that information as a real event, news or otherwise, and thus will not have the previous awareness of the matter in order grasp the humorous intention of the text. This is a similar point Clark mentioned when it came to the references made of famous TV commercials throughout the series Friends.

• Social-class and Educational Considerations (SEC) – When making a joke, the creator or creators only focus on a certain target audience and applying such humour to their sense of humour. This mainly applies to sophisticated jokes, for example, some of the jokes in the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory (2017-2019, CBS) might be said to have a limited target audience, and one which would necessarily require some educational underpinning to understand the humour as much of it is based on science. Nevertheless,

and it can be just as funny, even though most of the terminology is outdated rather than the situations. Because what really creates humour is the situation, not the language. So, I don't think the humour in the show can become outdated” (Own translation).

8 ‘No, it is the same. Time passes at the same pace for everything. It does not matter, the clothes they wear in the movie are the same and it is the same translation. I don't think it happens any faster in one version or anything like that” (Own translation).

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25 in the case of this show the advance cognitive levels are not an obstacle as they mix the humour with a lot of social awkwardness and comedy which does not require a high level of concentration and scientific knowledge. Not to mention, the show also strategically has characters who do not understand their scientific conversations which appeals to the audience’s humour because they might relate to such characters. In addition, due to some of the characters not knowing about topics gives the script the opportunity to explain it to the character and the audience simultaneously. For instance, a joke about the internet might find a wide target audience in a technologically advanced culture, and a very limited audience in a developing culture.

• Cultural Awareness Decisions (CAD) – If all other elements are readily found and established in the target culture, the language will be the only change required.

Nevertheless, this may also depend on the translator and their judgement and stance on the particular matter.

“A translator working from a text from a Spanish publication may decide, for example, not to change a humorous reference about ‘siestas’ for a publication for the United States, after reaching the conclusion that although siestas are not an element of the lifestyle in the U.S., the majority of the population are aware of what a siesta is and would understand its connotation in the text” (Attardo, cited by Shipley, 2007, p.985).

• Publication Background Information (PBI) – When it comes to content that integrates ideological, political and editorial positions of the media will without a doubt be an influential factor. For this reason, texts should be translated based on such factors and will therefore determine the type of translation it requests from the translator. This is done not only so that some media companies maintain their stance and governance but also, so the translated products comply and appeal to the target audience’s political and ideological beliefs.

This is heavily used in F Is for Family. The news programmes in the TV-show portray the media as very misogynistic and racist. The several news coverages and segments of F Is for Family makes references to key historical events at that time, such as The Civil Rights Movement. By including hints of white privilege and sexism in the news segments, it makes the audience understand what the society is based on, in this particular setting. Furthermore, this is also seen when Frank’s co-worker Rosie stands up for black people’s rights and runs a president campaign.

These factors are to be taken into account in order to satisfy the target audience. Nevertheless, it must be also be considered that it is very difficult to apply a cultures sense of humour to another. For example, even if La que se avecina (2007-present, Antena 3) o Aida (2005-2014, Telecinco) were to be translated into English, it would have to be heavily adapted, because the English public as a whole will not appreciate the humour as much as Spaniards, even if they find the shows somewhat entertaining and funny. However, when adapted properly and appropriately, the translator will take into account that other than being loyal to the text, they must also take into account the aim of the product – which is to be funny. At times it can be almost impossible to translate and adapt a certain part or phrase while also retaining its humour.

Nevertheless, the translator can take the opportunity to add splashes of humour when the product calls for it and when the translator sees fit. Furthermore, it can give the audio-visual content the opportunity to bring out other factors besides the linguistic point of view. For example, certain characters can be portrayed in a different light and may be more or less likeable or funny in certain languages; according to the adaptation given.

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26 Several humoristic resources which are used in audio-visual texts are limited to humour. Such resources are based on language and apply linguistic, personal and cultural references.

Linguistic references can be wordplay, jokes, idioms, loans, ambiguity and neologisms. In the case of situational references, it implies nonsense, craziness or spontaneousness. Personal references range from nicknames, made-up names or physical appearance. Lastly, cultural references revolve around values or political correctness/incorrectness.

Another classification of audio-visual humour distinguishes between international and bi- national jokes. Such jokes can be of a national culture nature which reflects a certain community’s sense of humour, language-dependent jokes and complex jokes. International or bi-national jokes are not related to any language-specific or culture-specific factors. Thus, they rely on knowledge and information common to the source culture. However, if such knowledge and information is internationally known, the humour within the joke can be easily understood and appreciated by the target audience. On the other hand, jokes referring to a national culture are based on culture-specific references which are not widely known outside of that culture and may not be understood by the target culture. Jokes which reflect a certain community’s sense of humour are strictly connected with the sense of humour which is common and appeals to a certain nationality or geographic area. Visual jokes are the type of jokes that rely on information that is conveyed visually. They are rather universal and since they are based on visual images, they are not of concern to translators. A prime example of this is Mr. Bean (1990-1990, Tiger Aspect). However, complex jokes constitute a combination of two or more jokes previously mentioned.

“Humour does not function in isolation. It is not only rooted in its co-text (the dialogue sequence or scene/sequence in which it occurs, for instance), but also in socio-cultural, linguistic and even personal contexts” (Díaz Cintas & Pereira, 2007, p.214).

Lastly, during the interview with translator Clark, it was brought to his attention that in the hit TV show Friends, Chandler Bing was probably one of the most loved characters to the English- speaking audience. His social awkwardness and his corny jokes truly appealed to an English sense of humour. When asked if it was hard to transfer not only his sense of humour, but his personality to the Spanish audience he stated:

“I think and I hope that a lot of his humour got transferred. But I think his personality didn’t. I don’t remember who was dubbing him, it was a long time ago. But the actors and actresses were brilliant. It’s not an easy thing to do. I tried to make a point by asking that his voice was imitated. That is why I like to sit-in in the sessions and I think some of that did get lost. It probably did, but I’m hoping that much of the humour didn’t get lost.”

As a follow up question, he was asked if he believes that, if there was another character that was more loved in Spain in comparison to the English audience, thanks to his translation –

“In my opinion, possibly Phoebe.”

2.5 Translation Techniques

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27 As it has been established previously, the translation of humour is an extremely difficult process. Therefore, in many cases it leaves translators puzzled and causes problems. It must be taken into account that, adapting humour into a different language becomes even more complicated when translating film dialogues for the purpose of dubbing or subtitling.

The aim of this chapter is to analyse translation techniques and strategies which are applied in the process of humour translation when dubbing and subtitling. A portion of the analysis is based on the information provided by the translator of Friends, Clark and the dubbers for F Is for Family, Muñoz and Bosch.

“Translation shifts are frequently involved in humour transfer due to various difficulties connected with it. In order to maintain a humorous effect, translators have to adapt a certain joke to the reality of a target culture, and accordingly, they have to modify the source text” (Bruździak, 2011).

One of the most crucial techniques that structures a good translation, in terms of humour, is adaptation. Adaptation can be defined as:

“…a type of translation which involves a number of changes to be made so that the target text produced be in harmony with the spirit of the source text. These changes are of various types. They are: deletion, addition, explanation, illustration and exemplification” (Dr. Eadarros, 2016, p.783, cited by Bruździak, 2011).

This technique is mostly useful when it comes to culture-specific references such as: references to hobbies, sports, food, drinks, events, celebrities, brands, festivities, commercials, traditions, etc. When a translator encounters such content and identifies that such a reference would not appeal to the target audience’s sense of humour, it is likely that the translator will turn to an adaptation technique depending on the specific case.

When Clark was questioned about what he would consider to be key aspects to take into account in order to successfully achieve cultural and linguistic adaptation when translating humour, his response was:

“This is something that doesn’t happen very often. But the biggest part of translating humour is really understanding the original and really understanding the language you are translating into and the humour of that country. You need to clearly be bilingual.

That for me in fundamental. I don’t think you can get a good translation from a Spaniard who has never lived aboard. And I’m not taking about going to live in England or the States for two years. I mean when you get to the point that you literally think in two languages and dream in two languages. So, until you get to that actual point, it is easy to translate things but not so much humour. It is hard to translate humour if you can’t understand the culture and humour - therefore you should just translate something else.”

In order to grasp an understanding from a dubber and the adaptation from another perspective within the audio-visual field, Muñoz was also asked the question and his point of view was:

«Adaptarlo es el trabajo de quien adapta el texto. Yo siempre he considerado que la clave del éxito de un doblaje es que sea natural. Tenemos un idioma tan rico, podríamos usar dos mil cientos palabras para un solo concepto. En el lenguaje coloquial – lo que normalmente suele ser el doblaje, no puedes usar ese tipo de palabras al ser que sea una serie de época o alguna otra cosa. Esto es cómo se habla en una casa, cómo se

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28 habla en el trabajo o cómo se habla con colegas. Pues lógicamente no vas a usar un registro muy formal y complejo. Entonces el éxito en este tipo de comedias es un lenguaje llano. Ni más ni menos. De vez en cuando un poco agudo, cuando tienes alguna ironía o algo así, pero llano todo.»⁹

Bosh’s answer to the same question was:

«Concretamente de la interpretación del humor igual que a del drama o de una película o de cualquier otra cosa, me da un poco lo mismo - hay que ser fiel a lo que dice el original y creativo a la hora de aportar. Si el original por cuestión idiomática te hace pensar, que solamente tiene esta acepción, pero en este contexto tenemos algo que es más concreto, pues se puede aportar y posiblemente incluso ponerlo en guion y portárselo al ajustador/director. Aunque él dice aquí ‘vaya’, realmente podríamos decir ‘ostras’. Que es una expresión que quedaría bien al personaje. Entonces lo puedes proponer y ya está.»¹⁰

In order to establish translation techniques, one must be able to recognise potential problems when translating humour. One of them is untranslatability. This occurs when the dissimilarities between the source language and target language makes the text practically impossible to translate.

When translating and adapting humour, a translator needs to take certain liberties, but Clark’s opinion on whether there is such thing as taking too many liberties and knowing when to draw the line is:

“Taking too many liberties definitely exists. It happens more now than before as translators were given more time to work. If I know I won’t be able to do a good job on something because of lack of time, I won’t do it. There’s a series that I like called Brooklyn Ninety-Nine (2013-present, Fox). This is nothing against the translator, I have no idea who it is, but I find that when I watch it in Spanish, most of it is not funny to me at all. Therefore, I think a translator really needs to sit down and understand what is being said. This happens in many other shows. I often find that what they say is Spanish isn’t what they actually meant in English. I don’t know if they do that because it’s easier to translate it that way, or if they didn’t understand the original joke. When you get to the point where you actually change the joke, is taking too many liberties.

When you change the meaning of what is being said because it’s easier, or because you’re in a hurry to finish the translation, is taking way too many liberties entirely.”

9 “Adapting it is the job of the person who adapts the text. I've always considered that the key to successful dubbing is that it sounds natural. We have such a rich language (Spanish), we could use two thousand words for a single concept. In colloquial language - what dubbing usually is, you can't use those kinds of words unless it's an old series or something like that. It is like you talk at home, how you talk at work or how you talk to your friends. So logically you're not going to use a very formal and complex register. The key to be successful in this kind of comedy is simple language. No more, no less. Occasionally a bit clever, when you have some irony or something like that, but it's all pretty simple”. (Own translation).

10 “When interpretating humour, just as well as drama or any other film, it doesn’t matter - you have to be faithful to what the original says and creative when it comes to contributing for idiomatic purposes. If you say think that this only has one meaning, but in this context, we have something else more concrete, well, you can contribute and possibly even put it in the script and take it to the adjuster/director. Although he says 'wow' here, we could really say 'Jesus'. Which is an expression that somehow suits the character. You can propose the change and that's about it”. (Own translation).