Translating jokes and puns

Abstract

If a joke is not translated as a joke, the translation is bad. This article asserts that almost all verbally expressed humour is translatable, given appropriate strategies and reasonable criteria for success. It focuses on two problem areas, language-specific jokes (in particular puns) and culture-specific jokes, distinguishing these from more manageable kinds of humour. A brief survey of research on puns is given, followed by practical advice to increase the translator's responses to wordplay, and a systematic way to proceed instead of just waiting for inspiration. Translators of humour (like writers of humour) have a licence to use language creatively, and this enlarges the options for handling outrageous jokes. There follows a shorter discussion of culture-specific jokes and how they differ from ‘universal humour’. Some light must be shed on obscurity, yet obviousness is a killer of humour. Suggestions are made about how to bridge cultural gaps without killing the joke, and also about the cultural problem of obscenity. The article ends with a list of eight strategies available to any translator faced with a joke and keen to rise to the challenge.

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