Lost in Translation: Several Challenges in the Interlinugual Communication of Humor

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper discusses several difficulties associated with the interlingual communication of humor from the perspective of Eugene Nida’s dynamic equivalence theory of translation. In particular, it attempts to relate surface and deep cultural aspects of humor with their linguistic markers occurring at what Nida refers to as the referential level, or more specifically signified by the terms semotaxis and connotation.
Working from the perspective of Nida’s theory that a faithful translation requires a response from the recipients which is cognitively and emotively similar to the response of the original audience, this paper focuses on three examples of religious humor which illustrate the range of difficulties involved in the interlingual translation of humor. The first, a homophone, focuses on the linguistic difficulties involved in the interlingual translation of English puns. The second, from the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, explores the necessity of understanding the source culture’s influence on humor scripts. The third deals with the possibility of humor translation becoming offensive by expressing a cultural taboo in the receptor culture.
Such an understanding is a prerequisite for an effective translation. It is also hoped that this paper will provide a stimulus to better understand the influence that cultural norms of both the source and receptor cultures exert on the interlingual communication of humor.

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