How Well Does Comedy Translate?

[Baburra]

I'm guessing love stories and dramas are probably a lot easier to translate than comedy, since for some reason, we all can understand what makes us cry more than what makes us laugh. I've been meaning to introduce a Japanese friend of mine to some American comedy shows, but since he does not understand English that much, I'm thinking of showing him dubbed versions, but honestly, I'm not too optimistic that the jokes and tones will translate well, and since I don't really understand Japanese, I'm afraid I'll never know if it does indeed translate well or not.

Although, I think it might also just depend on the type of show, as I've also watched a few shows dubbed into my own native language, and even though I don't think they're entirely accurate, they still manage to translate and adapt some of the comedic scripts. Do you agree that comedic dialogue and script is the most difficult thing to translate? Do you appreciate foreign comedy shows, and if so, did you see a dubbed version or a subtitled version?

[Miya]

Unfortunately comedy doesn't translate well at all. I think it's more of like a culture difference and what each community finds funny. For example, in Japan, puns are considered pretty funny (when done right). But you see, when you translate that into English, it's not really a pun any more.  :confused:

Sometimes I'll watch a Japanese drama and it'll insert a few jokes here and there that is supposed to be funny. But when it's translated, it's not funny at all. It just confuses the non-natives who are watching it (like me).

[justusforus]

I think you can compare comedy to our discussions here on idioms.  The "humor" or nuance, the inflection and even slang or grammar can make it hard for a not native speaker to "get it".  A closer example I think may be British and American humor in the same language (essentially).  Although I know some Americans who love British comedy, I have heard many who just can't relate.

[kniera]

It doesn't translate well at all, because alot of it has to do with your culture. I have watched some comedy shows with Dutch subtitles and sometimes the jokes just get changed alot because maybe some terms just don't even exist in that language.

[Guest isabbbela]

I'm inclined to agree with you that dramas are generally easier to translate than comedies. Most jokes are not easy to translate, some are downright impossible!

[Qamra]

It takes a big deal of talent to translate comedy.

My best example is Monty Python films, we had a great great guy in Poland called Tomasz Beksinski and he did a translation. He knew how to transfer all the absurd to our language and he did it wonderfully.

Apart from that, I think translated films are not that good and I often wonder about what I'm missing while watching a translated comedy.

[SpiralArchitect]

It doesn't translate well at all. There is this great Hindi comedy called 'Andaz Apna Apna' that everyone here simply loves but I am yet to meet someone whose native tongue is not Hindi and who liked it. Same goes for a lot of Italian and French comedies I've watched.

[add7]

I have to say that Slovenian voice-overs are usually terrible, because many of the jokes and especially puns lose their meaning, so it is really annoying if you compare the original version and the voice-over version and you find out that most of the jokes are left out.

And our translators are way to literal and people who do understand the movie without subtitles, usually just laugh at the awkward translations.

[Dame6089]

Comedy can be tough. The issue is that a lot of jokes are culture specific and won't make sense or be funny to another culture.

Another issue is that jokes can be based off of language and will obviously not work in a different language.

[JulesX]

I have to agree that comedy does not translate well. This is mainly due to cultural differences. From a linguistic standpoint we have idiomatic expressions and culture specific references to deal with. Without the background knowledge, the joke may seem like mere words. Then there is the issue of what is culturally acceptable. While certain cultures might be open to certain topics, in others it might be seen as taboo or outright offensive.