THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DIALECT IN TRANSLATING HUMOROUS TEXTS: COMPARING DIALECT WITH MODERN STANDARD ARABIC TRANSLATION USING THE ANIMATED FILM TOY STORY (1995) AS A CASE STUDY
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Date
2023-01-29
Authors
Omayma Sawalmeh
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Abstract
This research aims to uncover the types of humor used in Toy Story (1995), define the linguistic and cultural limitations in translating the humor in each examined instance, and to finally evaluate the quality of the Arabic translations at the episodic level as well as overall contingent upon the investigation of the available options provided by both versions. The data was collected from the first animated film of the American franchise, Toy Story (1995), along with its two translated versions in Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian dialect translation. The data was sorted into two main categories, language-based humor, with its own sub-categories of wordplays and appellation, and culture-based humor, with two sub-categories of cultural references and swearwords. House’s 1997 model of translation quality assessment is applied on the extracted data, documenting an outline of all humorous instances within the case study in the source text (ST) as well as both target text (TT) versions, and then attributes them according to House’s 1997 model to either a covert or an overt category. The MSA translation shows to favor opting for an overt translation, where maintaining the form of the text is prioritized over conveying the function, i.e., the humorous effect. Whereas in the colloquial version, the translation is classified under covert, where transmitting the humorous function of the text is prioritized over the form. The dialectic translation does not restrict itself to the form, and, therefore, as a relatively free version, it facilitates in familiarizing the text to the linguistic and cultural standards of the target audience, makes the TT translation easier to associate with, and leads to better results in the conveyance of the communicative function as well as the humorous function.
Keywords; Translating humor, Audiovisual, Dialect, MSA, Popular Culture, Covert and Overt Translations.