Exploring the Rendition of Humor in Dubbed English Comedy Animations into Persian

Abstract

Dubbing is one of the developing areas in Translation Studies, and this study aimed at investigating the translation strategies used in the dubbing of comedy animations from English to Persian. Since colloquial, idiomatic, and humorous expressions have the capacity to elicit laughter and as it is not always easy to draw a clear-cut line between these three types of expressions, this study examines all three types, investigating the strategies used in translating these expressions. The data was collected from five popular American comedy animations dubbed into Persian. The original humorous, colloquial, and idiomatic expressions and their Persian translations were written down and the strategies used in translating them were identified and classified into nine groups for further analysis. The findings from the sample demonstrate that the Persian translators tend to use familiar expressions rather than translate literally and that beside humorous expressions, the translators tend to use idiomatic and colloquial expressions to produce laughter mostly in cases where the original animation has not used them. In short, the Persian translators have frequently and freely used idiomatic and colloquial expressions in their secondary function to elicit laughter which is a strategy that can be used in the translation of comedies, especially for children, where there are numerous linguistic and cultural barriers across the cultures.