Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Barbora Vágnerová

Cultural Substitution in the Dubbing Translation of The Simpsons Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph.D.

2015

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Author’s signature

I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph.D. for her valuable advice, support and guidance.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1 2. The Significance of the Culture in The Simpsons...... 4 2.1. American Culture in The Simpsons ...... 4 2.2. The Family of the Simpsons ...... 10 2.2.1. Homer Jay Simpson ...... 11 2.2.2. Marge Simpson ...... 11 2.2.3. Bart Simpson ...... 12 2.2.4. Lisa Simpson ...... 13 2.2.5. Maggie Simpson ...... 13 2.3. The Simpsons as the US Society Probe ...... 13 2.4. The Conclusion on the Cultural Value of The Simpsons ...... 15 3. Audiovisual Translation ...... 16 3.1. Dubbing ...... 17 3.2. Domestication And Foreignisation ...... 18 3.3. Culture Transferred Through Dubbing ...... 20 3.4. The Specifics of Dubbing in The Simpsons ...... 21 4. Food substitution ...... 23 4.1. Applesauce ...... 24 4.2. Bagel ...... 26 4.3. Brownies ...... 28 4.4. Cupcake ...... 32 4.5. Doughnut ...... 39 4.6. Muffin ...... 44 4.7. Conclusion on the Food Substitutions ...... 45 5. Episode Titles Analysis ...... 47 5.1. Season 1 ...... 47 5.1.1. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire ...... 48 5.1.2. Homer’s Odyssey ...... 49 5.1.3. There’s No Disgrace Like Home ...... 50 5.1.4. Moaning Lisa ...... 50 5.1.5. The Call of the Simpsons ...... 51

5.1.6. The Tell-Tale Head ...... 51 5.1.7. Life on the Fast Lane ...... 52 5.1.8. The Crepes of Wrath ...... 52 5.1.9. First Season Conclusion ...... 53 5.2. Season 23 ...... 53 5.2.1. The Falcon and the D’ohman ...... 54 5.2.2. Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts ...... 55 5.2.3. Replaceable You ...... 55 5.2.4. The Food Wife ...... 56 5.2.5. The Book Job ...... 56 5.2.6. The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants ...... 57 5.2.7. The Ten-Per-Cent Solution ...... 57 5.2.8. Holidays of Future Past ...... 58 5.2.9. Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson ...... 58 5.2.10. The D’oh-cial Network ...... 59 5.2.11. Moe Goes from Rags to Riches ...... 60 5.2.12. The Daughter Also Rises ...... 60 5.2.13. At Long Last Leave ...... 61 5.2.14. Exit Through The Kwik-E-Mart ...... 61 5.2.15. How I Wet Your Mother ...... 62 5.2.16. Them, Robot ...... 63 5.2.17. Beware My Cheating Bart ...... 63 5.2.18. A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again ...... 64 5.2.19. The Spy Who Learned Me ...... 64 5.2.20. Lisa Goes Gaga ...... 65 5.3. Conclusion on Episode Titles ...... 65 6. Conclusion ...... 68 7. Bibliography ...... 71 8. Summary ...... 73 8.1. Summary ...... 73 8.2. Resumé ...... 74

List of Tables

Table 1 ...... 6 Table 2 ...... 7 Table 3 ...... 8 Table 4 ...... 8 Table 5 ...... 8 Table 6 ...... 19 Table 7 ...... 25 Table 8 ...... 25 Table 9 ...... 25 Table 10 ...... 26 Table 11 ...... 28 Table 12 ...... 28 Table 13 ...... 29 Table 14 ...... 30 Table 15 ...... 33 Table 16 ...... 34 Table 17 ...... 35 Table 18 ...... 36 Table 19 ...... 37 Table 20 ...... 37 Table 21 ...... 38 Table 22 ...... 38 Table 23 ...... 40 Table 24 ...... 41 Table 25 ...... 42 Table 26 ...... 42 Table 27 ...... 43 Table 28 ...... 48 Table 29 ...... 54

1. Introduction

In the recent years the television production has become more and more global. The TV channels in the Czech Republic often broadcast shows which are not originally Czech.

The vast majority of the shows which are imported into the Czech Republic come from

Anglophone countries. Apart from their entertainment value these programmes introduce new cultural background. The Czech audiences experience the Anglophone culture through the movie production and the television shows. Nevertheless, the shows need to be translated and in the process of translation much of the cultural value the shows include can get lost.

The following thesis deals with substitution in the translation of cultural aspects of one of the longest running shows in Czech television history with Anglophone origins: The Simpsons. The reason for which this particular show was chosen for the purpose of the analytical part of the thesis and as a source of examples is that most of its humour is based on the cultural aspects of life in the United States of America.

Also, this show appeared on Czech television for the first time in 1993 and the new episodes are still being made (and translated) and therefore it is well suited for the diachronic research. The main aim of the thesis is critical analysis of the original scripts and their translated versions.

First, the theoretical part of the thesis will introduce the cultural aspects of The Simpsons and explain why it is so vital to transfer as much from the original meaning as possible into Czech. The problems arising from the culture gap between

Czech and Anglophone cultural backgrounds will be demonstrated on several examples from various seasons and episodes. Also, the development of the substitution will be described and discussed using not only The Simpsons as the source of the examples but

1 also the more up-to-date show The Big Bang Theory which shows the more modern approach to the translation of culturally specific jokes.

The second part of the theoretical part of the thesis will introduce dubbing, describing its direct implications to this particular show. The specifics of cartoon dubbing will be mentioned and direct implications for the show will be discussed.

The aim of the theoretical part of the thesis is to provide a background for the analytical part and to outline the problems which will later be addressed in the analytical part, rather than to present too much of a secondary-sourced theory.

The analytical part of the thesis will use the ideas of the theoretical part and implement them in praxis showing how much of a source culture is transferred into

Czech in two specific topic occurring in the translation. First area with which the thesis deals is the American food and the specific kinds of food which tend to reappear throughout the show. Since these kinds of food do not have an equivalent in Czech

(or did not have when the show appeared on Czech TV for the first time in 1993) there are several different substitutions used for each kind of food. The substitutions will be discussed in detail and the pros and cons of each substitution will be described. The lack of consistency in the substitution of individual terms will be discussed and the possible outcome of it as well.

The second area on which the thesis focuses in its analytical part is the titles of the episodes, their cultural significance and their Czech equivalents. A very high percentage of the episode titles have more than one meaning, one of them referring to the plot of the episode and the other one referring to a piece of American (or in some cases global) culture. The translated titles of the episodes do not always transfer both meanings into Czech and very often the culturally related meaning gets lost

2 in translation (and the joke it provides). The first season and the 23rd season of The Simpsons will be compared in order to prove that as the knowledge of the source culture grows within the Czech audience, it is easier for the translators to translate both meanings of the titles rather than only the one referring only to the plot of the episode.

The main sources used in this thesis are “Dubbing The Simpsons: Or How

Groundskeeper Willie Lost His Kilt In Sardinia” by Chiara Ferrari, “Read My Lips: Re- evaluating Subtitling and Dubbing in Europe” by Miguel Mera, New Trends in

Audiovisual Translation by Jorge -Cintas and “The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family” by Paul A. Cantor. Another source which will be broadly used in the thesis is an interview with Petr Putna, who translated The Simpsons from the 11th season through the 18th season and who, with his ideas and comments, provides an original insight into the actual translation process. Also, the Czech translations of several cookbooks will be used as secondary sources to support the claims on the usage of American vocabulary concerning food (e.g. “muffin”, “cupcake”,

“brownies” etc.) in Czech cookbooks.

The information presented in this thesis should prove useful to any academic research concerning the culturally specific references in The Simpsons and the gradual development of the translation of the references from the beginning of the broadcasting of The Simpsons until the 24th season (which is the last season which was finished and completely translated by the time this thesis was being written).

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2. The Significance of the Culture in The Simpsons

The following chapter explains to what extend the U.S. culture takes part in The Simpsons and what problems might the translators encounter when translating the dubbing of the show. It also shows that (due to the length of the show) the attitude of the translators towards the audience and the show as such changes. The specific examples from the show The Simpsons and other temporary American sitcoms are used in order to support the claims.

2.1. American Culture in The Simpsons

The Simpsons more than any other cartoon or sitcom draws the inspiration for its jokes from the culture of the United States of America. It mocks every aspect of life in the U.S. starting with politics and politicians, morals, religion, love and family life and ending with issues as simple as the eternal struggle between Apple and other IT companies, neighbourhood relationships, comic book culture and American football culture. Paul Cantor (1999) sums up the cultural relevance of The Simpsons in his essay

“The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family” and says:

The Simpsons may seem like mindless entertainment to many, but in fact, it offers some

of the most sophisticated comedy and satire ever to appear on American television.

Over the years, the show has taken on many serious issues: nuclear power safety,

environmentalism, immigration, gay rights, women in the military, and so on.

Paradoxically, it is the farcical nature of the show that allows it to be serious in ways

that many other television shows are not. (Cantor 734)

The fact that most of the episodes and dialogues are centred on US culture, however, makes it difficult for the translators to maintain the meaning and still make

4 the translation understandable for the audience which might not be very familiar with the source culture.

[…], language and culture are deeply intertwined, and translators obviously do

not translate individual words deprived of context, but whole texts which are

culturally embedded and based on a community of references predictably shared

by most members of the source culture – thus creating „moments of resistance‟

for translation. (Ramière 152)

Obviously, nowadays the Czech audience (and especially young people who are the target audience of this particular show) are quite familiar with the basic aspects of Anglophone cultural backgrounds (and this knowledge comes mainly through films and TV shows) but very few people are familiar with the source culture in such a great detail as to be able to understand all the references and hidden jokes of the original.

Also, The Simpsons is one of the longest running shows in television history.

There are already 24 seasons translated into Czech by the time this thesis is being written and new episodes are still being made. It appeared on Czech television for the first time on 8th of January 1993 and therefore the process of translating this show into Czech started more than 20 years ago. Obviously, the audience and its perception of the source culture changed and the amount of the cultural substitution changed as well. What needed to be substituted in 1993 is no longer unknown to Czech viewer and it is no longer necessary to substitute these references with some local term.

The translators are aware of that and therefore many terms which used to be substituted no longer are. This ends up in inconsistency of the translation which will be described in detail in the analytical part of this thesis.

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In the interview for Prima Cool website, Petr Putna explained some of the difficulties the translators face when translating The Simpsons. He specifically mentioned culturally based problems arising from the cultural gap between Czech and

American environment and how these problems affect the final impression the translation makes on the viewers:

It is quite difficult to deal with the American cultural facts - e.g. American shows which

never appeared on Czech television, famous figures in business, culture or sports which

Czech people do not know etc. Sometimes, the Czech alternative can be found, but I do

not agree with violent implantation of Czech cultural facts into the American show. So I

always try to find another way or come up with some other adequate joke. Very often

though, things get lost in the translation. The wittiness of the original cannot be

transferred into Czech 100 percent. I think we cannot get higher than 70-80 percent

even though we do our best1. (Putna)

A fitting example of this problem can be found in the twelfth episode of the very first season of the show, which is titled “Krusty Gets Busted”. There appears a classic

American joke: Why did the chicken crossed the road? Nevertheless, because the joke is part of Krusty‟s show, it is paraphrased as the following table shows:

Table 1

S01E122 Original Text Translation Krusty: Why Krusty: did the Víte, proč clown klauni crossed the nakupují? road? (The Simpsons, season 1, episode 12: “Krusty Gets Busted”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 12: “Je Šáša vinen?”)

1 my translation 2 the number following letter S stands for the number of season and the number following letter E stands for the number of episode 6

The translator of this episode decided to omit the original joke and replace it with the local joke even though the essence of the original is not connected with any particular aspect of the American culture. Concerning the period in which this episode was being translated (early 1990‟s) it is more understandable that the translator decided to replace it rather than use a calque presuming that the audience will be familiar with the original American joke and understand that it is a paraphrase. Nowadays, the word- by-word translations of this joke can appear in the translation of a TV show.

The following table shows how the similar paraphrase of the same joke, used in the eighteenth episode of the third season of The Big Bang Theory, was translated:

Table 2

S03E18 Original Text Translation Sheldon: Why did Sheldon: Víte, proč the chicken kuře přelezlo crossed the Möbiovu pásku? Möbius' Strip? To Aby se dostalo na get ot the same stejnou stranu, side, bazinga! bazinga!

(The Big Bang Theory, season 3, episode 18: “The Pants Alternative”) (Teorie velkého třesku, season 3, episode 18: “Alternativní sundávání kalhot”)

From these two examples it can be observed that nowadays audience (or rather the translators‟ perception of nowadays audience) is different from the audience of the 1990‟s when the first seasons of The Simpsons were introduced. The translators of The Big Bang Theory decided to use a calque rather than to replace it knowing that the audience will understand it.

A fitting example of the change of perception of the audience can also be observed in a couple of episodes of The Simpsons which deal with the comic book culture. This is a big part of American culture but so far not a major part of Czech

7 culture. When The Simpsons were introduced for the first time in the Czech environment in early 1990‟s, the Czech audience was not familiar with the comic book culture and its biggest heroes. It is not surprising though that in the 21st episode of the second season of The Simpsons, which deals broadly with the comic culture, most of the names of fictional characters from the comic book culture were substituted with the fictional names the translators made up just for the purpose of the episode.

The following tables show a few examples of the substitution:

Table 3 Table 4

S02E21 S02E21 Original Text Translation Original Text Translation Martin Prince: Has Martin Prince: Bart: You only buy Bart: Pro tebe jsou anyone turned in a Prosím vás, Casper the dobrý Kašprlíčkovy left Vulcan ear? nenašlo se tu Whimpy Ghost! omalovánky! někde upírkovo levý ucho?

Table 5

S02E21 Original Text Translation Bart: Now Bart: A co Radioactive Man Radioaktivní rules! Hugo?

(The Simpsons, season 2, episode 21: “Three Men and a Comic Book”)

(Simpsonovi, season 2, episode 21: “Drobné kiksy nad komiksy”)

The original text in the first table obviously refers to the American cult science fiction series Start Trek. However, this episode of The Simpsons had its premiere on

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Czech television on 23rd of August 1993 and Star Trek was only broadcasted for the first time in Czech Republic in 1994. Therefore the audience for which the episode was adjusted would not be familiar with the character of Spock, who is from the planet

Vulcan and whose costume Martin Prince is wearing. The translator decided to use the fictional character of the vampire which is a part of Czech culture and adjust the word by adding a suffix to it which makes the character sound children-like. There is a significant shift in the meaning since Star Trek is a science fiction series and belonging to its fandom often connotes belonging to the group of nerdy, highly intelligent but usually very unsociable people. Martin Prince possesses all the previously mentioned traits and therefore his belonging to the group helps defining his character. In the Czech translation Martin sounds more childlike and the definition of the character is not handled so well.

The second table shows that the translators decided to replace a paraphrase of the existing comic book about Casper the Friendly Ghost. In Czech the paraphrase does not appear because the character of Casper only appeared on Czech television in

1995 when the movie Casper was introduced. The translators decided to come up with a fictional name of the fictional character, who does not actually exist, which corresponds with the paraphrase of the original.

The third table refers to the very broad group of American superheroes who always use the same title compounding of the word “man” (or “woman”) and the different adjective3. Here the original paraphrases this classic phenomenon of the Comic book culture using the fictional character of Radioactive Man. In the Czech translation the reference is partially maintained by the usage of the same adjective but instead of using the word “man” which in original is used in order to highlight

3 e.g. Superman, Spider-man, Batman, Wonder Woman etc. 9 the anonymity of the hero, the name Hugo is used. Later in the show the character of Radioactive Man appears again and the substitution is no longer used. The title

Radioactive Man is used even in Czech in order to maintain the paraphrase and reference to the original characters of American comic book culture which are generally better known in the Czech environment than they were in 1990‟s.

2.2. The Family of the Simpsons

The family of the Simpsons consists of five members. Cantor decides to define them by a mathematically precise definition: “[…], The Simpsons portrays the average

American family: father (Homer), mother (Marge), and 2.2 children (Bart, Lisa, and little Maggie)” (Cantor 735). The way in which he defines the number of the children highlights the stereotyping at the bases of The Simpsons. The head of the family is

Homer Simpson, who is the only provider of the money for the family. His wife Marge

Simpson is a typical American house-wife who does not work (and never did) and spends her life at home taking care of the children and the household.

Homer and Marge have three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live in the suburban area of the town of Springfield (the state is never specified in the entire show) surrounded by families very similar to their own. This whole concept reminds the viewer of the classic 50‟s American family which was often used in the first

American sitcoms (e.g. The Honeymooners). Even the main family therefore embodies a culturally significant unit which was created to connote certain aspects of the culture and the history in American viewers.

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2.2.1. Homer Jay Simpson

Homer Jay Simpson, the 38-year-old man working at the Springfield Nuclear

Power Plant, embodies the typical member of the American working class.

He possesses all the negative traits which are usually associated with this: laziness, ignorance, loudness, obesity and poor cultural taste. Cantor defines him as “dumb, uneducated, weak in character, and morally unprincipled” (Cantor 738). He is very close to being an alcoholic and he spends every afternoon in Moe‟s tavern with his friends

Lenny, Carl and the bartender Moe. He does not appreciate any culture only the one performed on TV, e.g. sitcoms and reality shows. Nevertheless, he has a tender heart and loves his wife and children dearly.

His language is very close to Bart‟s. He uses vulgar expressions and substandard forms of English which are associated with low education and low social status.

In the Czech translation this is marked by his usage of substandard Czech.

The substandard Czech nevertheless does not mark his low social status and low education the same way it is marked by his language in the original. Since the show is usually aired in evenings or in mornings the vulgar expressions cannot be translated word by word and the language must be softened.

2.2.2. Marge Simpson

Marge Simpson embodies an American archetype; a housewife. After finishing high school, she got married, had her first child and ever since she stays at home and maintains the household while her husband provides money for the family. She is a devoted mother and wife and always puts her family‟s needs above hers. When she does not, she feels guilty. She is usually good-tempered and tries to obey her husband

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(even though it is often not possible because he behaves stupidly). She is also very positive and tries to see the best in other people.

Her language is not very special and does not possess any challenge for the translator. Nevertheless, she very often cooks and bakes typical American meals and pastry. The translation and substitution of these references will be discussed later in this thesis.

2.2.3. Bart Simpson

Bart is the oldest child of Homer and Marge. He is 10 years old and is in the 4th grade. His role in the show is very important because he embodies a certain aspect of classic American culture. Cantor explains the role of Bart as an archetype of American boy:

[…]Bart's rebelliousness conforms to a venerable American archetype and that this

country was founded on disrespect for authority and an act of rebellion. Bart is an

American icon, an updated version of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn rolled into one. For

all his troublemaking-precisely because of his troublemaking-Bart behaves just the way

a young boy is supposed to in American mythology, from Dennis the Menace comics to

the Our Gang comedies. (Cantor 738)

His role in The Simpsons is highlighted by his speech and word choice. He often uses vulgar expressions (e.g. “Bitchin”, “Bitch”, “Wank”, etc.) which are a challenge to the translators. The show is always broadcasted before 10:00 PM in the Czech

Republic (usually afternoon or early evening) and therefore the vulgarism mustn‟t be used. This is a potential problem for the translators, who must soften his speech and therefore let part of Bart‟s features get lost in translation.

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2.2.4. Lisa Simpson

“Lisa is in many ways the ideal child in contemporary terms. She is an overachiever in school, and as a feminist, a vegetarian, and an environmentalist, she is politically correct across the spectrum” (Cantor 738). She hardly ever acts as a child and rarely speaks as one. Her speech is rather adult. She uses difficult constructions and words of Latin origin by which she marks her intellectual superiority. In Czech dubbing she uses standard Czech more often than for example Bart and Homer, who use substandard variations to mark their relaxed and even rebellious attitude.

2.2.5. Maggie Simpson

Maggie Simpson is the youngest child in the family. She is still an infant and she spends her days with her mother. Even though her age is not specified in the show she appears to be old enough to be able to speak or at least produce some sounds but despite that she is basically a mute character. Even in the episodes which portrait a possible future of the family and the children are grown up people, Maggie does not speak.

She therefore poses no challenge for the translators.

2.3. The Simpsons as the US Society Probe

The Simpsons in many aspects simplify the American society. In the show a broad range of minor characters can be found and each of them represents a certain aspect of the society. Starting with Marge as an embodiment of the classic American housewife and ending with Fat Tony, the mafia boss representing the ingrained prejudice about Italian Americans, the minor characters of The Simpsons represent all sorts of American archetypes. These archetypes obviously are a challenge for the translators because many of them have very specific, culturally oriented features.

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Fat Tony or Luigi as Italians do speak with Italian accent, the Groundskeeper Willie speaks in the Scottish dialect and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon uses distinctive Indian

English. Chiara Ferrari (2009) explains how the Italian translators deal with the specifics of individual minor characters into Italian:

The series is filled with minor figures who represent the entire population of Springfield

in all its idiosyncrasies and stereotypical institutional roles: the reverend, the chief of

police, the school principal, the bartender, and others. Whereas the original US

voiceovers tend to play more with the tone of the characters‟ voices, often inspired by

the famous actors and actresses who play them, the Italian translation adds regional

accents to the characters, reterritorializing them across Italian geographical and

stereotypical lines. (Ferrari 21)

The cultural connotations in the show are supported by using many different accents and special ways of speech of individual characters and because there are so many minor characters, it is very challenging for the translators to deal with the problem. The Czech translator Petr Putna explains his approach towards the individual speech of minor characters:

Mr. Burns for example uses very distinctive vocabulary because he speaks very

formally using unnecessarily difficult sentences and it is necessary to transfer this

adequately into Czech. And there is the captain who speaks the seamen‟s jargon.

Groundskeeper Willie speaks with the Scottish accent which unfortunately cannot be

reflected in Czech (I respect the style of the former translators who made Willie speak

common Czech)4. (Putna)

The Simpsons use the minor characters in order to highlight (and simplify) many of the culturally oriented problems. Even though these characters might seem

4 my translation 14 unimportant (some of them only appear in one episode e.g. the character of the Japanese girl Kumiko, who only appears in the episode “Married to the Blob”), they have their big impact on the overall message the show is communicating and their distinctive cultural aspects need to be translated (or substituted) adequately.

2.4. The Conclusion on the Cultural Value of The Simpsons

The cultural aspects of the show play a significant role in its humour and the image it aims to create in the minds of its viewers. The translators have to respect the original culture to a certain level but they also need to adjust it to the needs of the local viewer. As Mr. Putna explained, it can never be done 100 percent and a lot of the original meaning gets lost in translation.

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3. Audiovisual Translation

The growing popularity of Anglophone culture shows significantly in the field of television and cinema production. In the Czech Republic the significant amount of programs on TV and in cinemas comes from Anglophone countries. The majority of the Czech viewers are not capable of understanding the source language to the extent, where the translation of the films and TV programmes is not necessary. Therefore the translation of the above-mentioned is important and must be provided. Audiovisual translation (AVT) offers two most widely used possibilities: subtitles and dubbing.

Mera (1999) in his essay explains that the preferred form differs in each individual country:

Countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain all have a long history of re-voicing

foreign language material, whereas countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece

and the United Kingdom prefer to use subtitles. These marked preferences mean that

each nation‟s audience expects foreign film to be presented in the nationally dominant

mode to which they have become accustomed. (Mera 74)

In Czech Republic the vast majority of TV programs are re-voiced because

Czech dubbing has a long tradition starting in 1930‟s. However, similarly to Châteauvallon experiment5 which Mera mentions in his essay, Prima Cool has recently started to broadcast some of its programs (mostly sitcoms e.g. The Big Bang

Theory, How I Met Your Mother etc.) in re-voiced versions and in subtitled versions

5“[…] in 1987 the United Kingdom‟s Channel 4 questioned the idea of a single dominant form by broadcasting twenty-six episodes of the French soap opera Châteauvallon twice weekly, once with subtitles and once in a dubbed version. This was the first time in the history of British television that such a long foreign language series had been shown and that a programme was transmitted with a choice of the language transfer method. The audience response to this experiment was gauged and the results were fascinating and completely unexpected. In a country that generally looks down on dubbing as being inferior, a significant preference was shown in all age groups for the re-voiced version” (Mera 74). 16 in another times. This however does not include The Simpsons even though the genre and the footage of the show are the same as in the case of above-mentioned sitcoms.

The possible explanation for The Simpsons being excluded from this is according to the author of this thesis that the The Simpsons were firstly broadcasted in

Czech environment in 1990‟s and the Czech audience is already used to the re-voiced version. The sitcoms which Prima Cool now broadcasts in both subtitled and dubbed versions are relatively new. Also, both versions (dubbed and subtitled) appeared on

Czech television in nearly the same time (both were introduced for the first time in

2009). Moreover, the modern audience more extensively watches the popular shows online in the original language with the subtitles (mostly fan subtitles) before the show is officially introduced by some television channel in their home countries whereas

The Simpsons were introduced to the Czech audience in 1993 exclusively via television.

3.1. Dubbing

A dubbing as a form of AVT has obviously its pros and cons. Unlike the subtitles it creates a more authentic feeling for the viewer who does not need to divide the time of watching the movie between reading the subtitles and watching the actual scenes. Mera supports this idea in his essay:

Dubbing is often perceived to be less «authentic» than subtitling, because the original

performance is altered by the addition of a different voice. However, it could be argued

that re-voiced film and television comes closer to the usual viewing process where only

decoding of the moving images and sound is required and that this is, in fact, more

«authentic». (Mera 80)

On the other hand the translation of dubbing is much more demanding than the translation of subtitles because it needs to respect the lip-synchronisation. “With

17 dubbing, all of the usual problems of translation are multiplied by the need to synchronise specific words with specific lip-movements. Most important, with subtitles viewers still have access to the original sound-track. By eliminating the original voice track, dubbing simply destroys part of the film” (Bordwell,

Thompson, 353-354). The amount of emotions present in the original voices of the actors is hardly ever adequately transferred into another language using dubbing.

Also the lip-synchronization limits the translator of the dubbing because apart from dealing with the meaning equality s/he also has to adjust the words to the lip movements of the character of the show.

The Czech dubbing, however, has a long tradition starting in 1930‟s and it maintains a high quality. This claim is supported by the fact that Czech-dubbed versions of films and TV programmes are used e.g. in Slovakia. In this, however, even the economy plays its role since the translation of a dubbing is a costly process (the dubbing translation is more expensive than the subtitling) and since the Czech and

Slovak are rather similar and mutually understandable languages it is cheaper for the Slovak TV channel to buy Czech dubbed versions of films than to make their own dubbing.

Despite all the above mentioned problems, The Simpsons has always been broadcasted in dubbed versions only and the high quality dubbing was appreciated in

2013 when the show was awarded The František Filipovský award for dubbing of the 23rd season.

3.2. Domestication And Foreignisation

When translating any culturally specific text the translator faces the choice of whether to substitute the culturally specific fact with a local fact known to the local

18 audience of whether to introduce the new feature of the foreign culture to the local audience. “The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious; belief, a social custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as 'culture-specific'” (Baker 28).In her article “Reaching a Foreign Audience:

Cultural Transfers in Audiovisual Translation”, Natalie Ramière (2006) defines domestication and foreignisation and says that: “the two extremes of the spectrum represent tendencies or general strategies in relation to which each translation procedure

(explanation, calque, cultural substitution, omission, etc.) is situated according to its degree of cultural mediation” (Ramière 152).

In dubbing of The Simpsons domestication is used much more than foreignisation. In the analytical part of this thesis the way in which some aspects of the show are domesticated will be discussed. The following table shows an example of domestication (cultural substitution in this case) in The Simpsons:

Table 6

S14E05 Original Text: Translation: Bart: Oh man, I Bart: No nazdar, can't wear this. I tohle přece look like Buster nemůžu nosit! Brown…whoever Vypadám jako that is. Kája Mařík! A to nevím, kdo to byl.

(The Simpsons, season 14, episode 5: “Helter Shelter”) (Simpsonovi, season 14, episode 5: “Zkáza domu Simpsonů”)

19

The translator here substituted the name of Buster Brown – the main hero of 1902 comic strip and later mascot of Brown Shoe Company – with Kája Mařík, who is a character from a popular Czech series of novels for children titled Školák Kája

Mařík written by Felix Háj (which is a pseudonym of Marie Wagnerová). Both the novels and the mascot (also a character from a TV commercial) are connected rather with previous generations rather than Bart‟s one and the one of young people of early

2000‟s when this particular season was broadcasted for the first time6. Bart himself admits that he does not know who Buster Brown is and it is understandable for the viewer because the comic strip starring the character of Buster Brown ceased from existence in 1921 and was used in commercials and advertising of Brown Shoe

Company for the last time in 1990‟s. The character of Kája Mařík is quite similar to the one of Buster Brown because the original stories were written in 1926 and the popularity of the novels was revived in 1990‟s when the books were issued again.

Buster Brown is connected rather with a generation of Bart‟s parents and grandparents and so is Kája Mařík in the Czech environment. The advantage of this approach is well explained by Baker (1992) who in her book In Other Words a Coursebook on

Translation speaks about cultural substitution as says that: “The main advantage of using this strategy is that it gives the reader a concept with which s/he can identify, something familiar and appealing” (Baker 40).

3.3. Culture Transferred Through Dubbing

As has been stated in the previous chapter, the cultural aspects of the show must be taken in account when translating The Simpsons. One of the challenges which is very difficult to deal with (and which can only be communicated through dubbing not

6 5th episode of 14th season was broadcasted for the first time in 2002 in USA and in 2004 in the Czech Republic 20 subtitles) are the local accents. In some languages to which The Simpsons are translated, the original accents and their meaning (sociological, geopolitical etc.) can be replaced with local accents which have the same or similar connotations. Ferrari speaks about regionalized characters in The Simpsons and explains that in Italian translation of The Simpsons the Italian accents were used in order to substitute the originals:

“These characters are localized and domesticated for the Italian context through the use of familiar Italian regional accents, which also directly correspond to the American stereotypes employed to create the original characters” (Ferrari 26). The same, however, cannot be done in Czech because Czech does not have many significant accents and the accents do only have geographical meaning for the Czech audience, they do not have the sociological and possibly even economic background such as those used in the original. Nigel Armstrong (2004) describes the same problem in his article “Voicing

The Simpsons from English into French: a story of variable success”, where he explains how The Simpsons‟ regional accents are transferred into French. He speaks about

“the relative lack of social variation in French pronunciation and grammar”

(Armstrong). The same problem appears in Czech where very few accents appear and none of them has such a specific connotations such as Fat Tony‟s Italian accent in the original voice-over which immediately connects him in the minds of American viewers with the Italian-American mafia to which he actually belongs.

3.4. The Specifics of Dubbing in The Simpsons

The Simpsons do meet all the requirements for the dubbing as any other show but there is one special feature in which The Simpsons differ from other shows popular in the Czech Republic (e.g. The Big Bang Theory, Friends etc.) – The Simpsons is a cartoon. When translating other popular TV shows with actors, the translators need to

21 adjust the translated sentences to the original lip movements of the actors. In case of

The Simpsons, however, lip-synchronisation is not a problem because the characters in the show do not move their lips the way real-life people do. Jorge Días Cintas (2009) explains this phenomenon in his book New Trends in Audiovisual Translation:

“Because of it being a cartoon, lip synchronisation in the dubbing into Spanish seems to be a low priority. Even in the original version, lip movements do not always coincide with the actual voiceover” ( -Cintas 143). In this one aspect The Simpsons (and all the cartoons) differ from the regular TV shows where the dubbed voices and the translations need to be adjusted to the lips of the original actors. Also, the fact that the lip-synchronisation does not need to be adjusted so meticulously gives the translators more freedom when translating.

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4. Food substitution

The following chapter examines the substitution of culturally specific kinds of food in The Simpsons series. Since the same dishes and pastry appear throughout the whole show, it is convenient to demonstrate the changes in the substitution in diachronic perspective using those as examples. Many of the typically American dishes became familiar in Czech environment during the time when The Simpsons was broadcasted and therefore the substitutions which were necessary in the early 1990‟s are usually not necessary any more.

What appears to be problematic in the process of translation of such a long- running show is maintaining the consistence of the translation. The following subchapters will show how many times the substitution was changed for another one before the translators reached an ultimate and most fitting substitution. In some cases, however, the ultimate solution has not been reached; hence varying references can be found in the latest translations. Obviously, this problem appears not only because the show is long-running but also because the translators often alternated and each season is translated by more than one person. As Mr. Putna explains: “[…], always at least three translators working on each season (there are 22 episodes in one season)”

(Putna)7.

The kinds of food that are mentioned in this chapter were chosen because they often reappear in the show and are mentioned in various seasons. The development of the substitution can be observed well on them. The foods that were chosen for this chapter are: the applesauce, the brownies, the bagel, the cupcake, the doughnut and the muffin. These were specifically chosen because the various substitutions used for them often overlap and the author of the thesis would like to highlight how significantly

7 my translation 23 this might confuse the audience. In each subchapter, the different substitutions will be listed in order of appearance.

4.1. Applesauce

The first type of food which is specifically American is applesauce. Not only is it unfamiliar in its meaning to the Czech audience, also it has more than one usage in the show each of them requiring different substitution. In the show applesauce is used with the pork chops as well as a dessert or as a snack for Maggie. There is no such thing that would fit the meaning in Czech. Therefore there are several substitutions used in the show.

Most of the substitutions include the word apple in Czech and therefore try to substitute the meaning precisely. The substitutions are: “jablečný křen”, “jablečný protlak”, “jablečná šťáva”, “jablečný džus”, “jablečná přesnídávka”, “jablečný kompot”, “jablečná pěna”, and “jablečný sirup”. All of these carry a very similar meaning to the original word. They refer to apples which are the main ingredient of the applesauce; the only thing in which they differ is the consistence of the final product.

However, there are frequently used substitutions which do not have anything in common with the actual applesauce. The following tables show these substitutions:

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Table 9 Table 8

S01E07 S02E15 Original Text Translation Original Text Translation Homer: Could I Homer: Dal bych Homer: Hello cook, Homer: To je have some si buchty. sorry to bother you kuchař? applesauce? so late, but I got a Promiňte, že hankering for- obtěžuji, ale That's right! Don't právě jsem dostal forget the chuť na- To je ono applesauce! a smažený brambůrky! Table 7

S14E15 Original Text Translation

Homer: Lisa a Homer: Lízo, já deeply resent -- kategoricky with a big ball of žádám -- a velkou applesauce! mísu bramborového salátu!

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 7: “The Call of the Simpsons”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 7: “Volání přírody”) (The Simpsons, season 2, episode 15: “Oh, brother, Where Art Thou?”) (Simpsonovi, season 2, episode 15: “Ach, rodný bratře, kde tě mám?”) (The Simpsons, season 14, episode 15: “C.E. D‟oh”) (Simpsonovi, season 14, episode 15: “Ředitel XXL”)

As obvious from the tables above, in none of the cases was used the substitution which would be the closest to the original word. However, in none of the scenes mentioned above the applesauce is physically present and therefore the viewer cannot be misled by the translation. The words substituted in these three cases in order to replace the original American food, are typically Czech kinds of food. For a sensitive viewer this might cause doubts about the reliability of the translation because the typically Czech meals will most probably not appear in American show about an American family.

25

4.2. Bagel

A bagel is a bread product of Jewish origin which is very popular in North

America. It has a similar shape as a doughnut but the making process differs (bagels are not fried but baked). It can be made of various doughs and in various flavors. Unlike doughnuts, bagels are not sweet pastries.

In the show the bagel appears ten times (for the first time in the third season) and several substitutions are used. The substitutions are: “rohlík”, “žemle”, “kobliha”,

“bageta”, and “houska”. Translation by omission is used in three cases and also once (in the 12th season which was aired in 2003) “bagel” is not substituted at all and the original word remains in the Czech text with the Czech pronunciation8. However, in the next episodes and seasons “bagel” is substituted again so the translators probably decided that the Czech audience was not as yet familiar with the term enough.

For the first time “bagel” appears in The Simpsons in the 15th episode of the third season. Here, the word “bagel” is substituted with the Czech word “rohlík” as the following table shows:

Table 10

S03E15 Original Text Translation Arnie Pie: And Arnie Pie: A dejte look out at the pozor na rohu corner of 14th sedmé a Jilmové - and Elm because I právě mi tam just dropped my upadnul rohlík. bagel.

(The Simpsons, season 3, episode 15: “Homer Alone”) (Simpsonovi, season 3, episode 15: “Homer sám doma”)

8 [ˈbʌgel] 26

The Czech word “rohlík” is quite close with its meaning to the original word “bagel”. The two pastries are very similar, both eaten with ham, vegetables etc. rather than being considered sweet pastry and therefore the substitution fits the original well, however because the bagel is shown during the scene the shape of it is a problem.

The Czech pastry is not round-shaped but straight.

The word “bagel” is substituted as “žemle” in the 11th season of The Simpsons.

The substitution is quite similar to the previous one because “žemle” has very similar connotations for the Czech audience as “rohlík” does. The shape, however, matches the original pastry better because “žemle” is a bun rather than a straight, narrow piece of pastry as “rohlík” is.

In the 17th season “bagel” is substituted with the word “kobliha”. This probably happens due to the similarity of the shape of bagel and doughnut which by this time in the show is already exclusively substituted with the word “kobliha”. The substitution misleads the audience in recognition of the pastry because the shape and the Czech term used for it in this season connote another pastry often used in the show.

In the 21st season the word “bagel” appears twice - in the 4th and 11th episodes.

In the first case it is translated by omission. The translations by omission will be dealt with later in this chapter. In the second instance it is substituted with the word “bageta”.

Interestingly, the word of American origin (or rather a term associated with American culture) is substituted with the word of French origin (therefore originally unfamiliar to the Czech audience). The substitution here does not bring a domestic word of the local language but substitutes on foreign term with another. However, the substitution as such is close to the first one where bagel was substituted with “rohlík”. The pastry meets all the requirements of the original but the shape.

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The last substitution which is used for the word “bagel” is “houska” and this appears in the 22nd season of The Simpsons. “Houska” is in its shape very similar to

“žemle” (it is also a bun) and therefore the connotation will be similar as in the case of “žemle”.

The translation by omission was used two times as the following tables show:

Table 12 Table 11

S19E15 S21E04 Original Text Translation Original Text Translation Too smart for the Pro blbce moc Bart: Slice her like Bart: Ušmikni jí corndog crowd, too intoušský, pro a bagel! kebuli! dumb for the bagel intouše moc blbý. bunch.

(The Simpsons, season 19, episode 15: “Smoke on the Daughter”) (Simpsonovi, season 19, episode 15: “Není kouře bez tance”) (The Simpsons, season 21, episode 4: “Treehouse of Horror XX”) (Simpsonovi, season 21, episode 4: “Speciální čarodějnický díl XX”)

In neither of those scenes the bagel is actually present during the scene and therefore the viewer will not be confused by the omission. Also, in both scenes bagel is not the main idea of the sentence; it is only used for the comparison and as a trait which explains the intelligence level of the group to which the ballet teacher in the first table refers.

4.3. Brownies

A brownie is a flat dessert made of chocolate (or cocoa powder), flour, butter, eggs and sugar. It has no equivalent in Czech cuisine and therefore it needs to be substituted with some local terms. However, in 2005 the cookbook titled Americké pečivo - muffins, brownies, bagels, doughnuts & Co was issued using the word

28

“brownies” in its original, untranslated form in its Czech title which suggests that the word is already known in the Czech Republic (together with other originally

American kinds of food which are also part of this chapter) and probably in the near future will not be substituted anymore.

The substitutions used for the brownies in The Simpsons are: “dobroty”,

“sušenky”, “perník”, “rozinkové sušenky”, “rakvičky”, “koláč”, “dortík”, “perníčky”,

“moučník”, “koláček”. None of the above mentioned substitutions has a majority in the substitution for the word “brownies”. The most popular substitutions are “perník”

(which was used in order to substitute for the word “brownies” four times out of fifteen appearances of the word in the show) and “koláč” (which was used three times).

The first substitution that appears in the show in order to substitute for the word

“brownies” is “dobroty”. It is a very vague expression which only refers to delicious food rather than a specific kind of food. The following table shows the first appearance of the brownies in the show:

Table 13

S04E01 Original Text Translation Kowalski: My Kowalski: brownies! Mý dobroty!

(The Simpsons, season 4, episode 1: “Kamp Krusty”) (Simpsonovi, season 4, episode 1: “Vzhůru na prázdniny”)

However, in the scene children are given the packages which their parents sent them to the summer camp and the brownies themselves are not shown during the scene so the vagueness of the expression is not so problematic.

29

In the very next episode of The Simpsons the brownies are mentioned again and this time the plate with brownies on them is shown during the scene. The substitution

“sušenky” is used as the following table shows:

Table 14

S04E02 Original Text Translation Marge: I Marge: made some Upekla jsem peanut butter všem brownies for máslové everyone. sušenky.

(The Simpsons, season 4, episode 2: “A Streetcar Named Marge”) (Simpsonovi, season 4, episode 2: “Tramvaj do stanice Marge”)

Unlike the first appearance of the brownies in the show, this time the viewer can see the plate of brownies. What Czech audience understands as “sušenky” will be discussed later in this chapter in the subchapter concerning doughnuts. The viewer might be confused by seeing something that does not at all correspond with his/her idea of “sušenky” which for the Czech viewer represents biscuits or cookies. Also,

“sušenky” is used as a substitution for “doughnut” and it is also a major substitution for the word “cookies” which will not be discussed in this thesis.

The substitution used most frequently (even though the majority is not singificant) is “perník”. In Czech it is also a flat dessert made from similar ingredients; it is served sliced in small pieces like the brownies. This substitution seems to fit the original best. It is used throughout the whole show in the fifth season (twice), the 16th and the 22nd season.

30

In the 12th season “brownies” are substituted with the term used for a Czech dessert “rakvičky”. This dessert has very few in common with the brownies. It is a coffin-shaped dessert (which is empty inside) made of sugar and eggs. The colour of the dessert is beige or white. It seems unfitting for the brownies which do not carry any of these traits.

In the same season the brownies are substituted with the word “koláč” as well.

This substitution appears again in the 22nd season and 24th where the word “koláč” is used with a different suffix and the substitution as such is “koláček”. As in the case of “sušenky”, the word “koláč” is used in order to substitute more than just brownies which can be confusing for the viewer. Other kinds of food which are also substituted with the word “koláč” are: “cupcake” and “doughnut”. Also, “koláč” is in the Czech

Republic mostly used in order to refer to a small piece of pastry made of yeast dough with which can have various toppings (and always has some) therefore it does not have many similar traits with the brownies. However, some people also use the word “koláč” in order to refer to a larger dessert, served sliced into small pieces made of dough which is similar to the one used in the brownies. It can have two connotations for the Czech viewers and only one of them fits the original meaning.

In the 16th season the brownies are substituted with the term “dortík”. This substitution is again problematic because it is used in The Simpsons in order to substitute for the words “cupcake”, and “muffin”. It works better for those kinds of food than for the brownies because “dortík” is a small piece of dough with some cream topping rather than a large dessert.

The substitution “perníčky” is used in the 18th season and it appears only once in the show. In Czech “perníčky” are small sweets made of spiced dough and served

31 typically during the Christmas period but can be served during the year as well.

However, they are produced in various shapes as it is not of a traditional simple rectangular shape so they cannot be mistaken for the brownies.

The last substitution that is used for “the brownies” is “moučník”. This substitution seems well fitting because it can be basically used for any kind of dessert.

Its vagueness enables it to be a substitution for any kind of a dessert and it does not matter whether it is used in the show to substitute for another kind of food as well because the meaning of the word “moučník” includes various sweet deserts of different shapes and flavour.

4.4. Cupcake

Cupcake is a traditional American pastry which can be defined as a muffin with frosting. The main ingredients are: flour, butter, eggs, sugar and milk. The topping flavour differs according to the recipes but it is usually some sort of cream. These are very popular in the U.S. and therefore they appear very often in the show. Since no such pastry could have been encountered in the Czech environment by the time first seasons of The Simpsons were translated the term had to be substituted. Nevertheless, the translators were very inconsistent throughout the show and the term chosen to substitute the term cupcake differs basically from episode to episode. The terms used for substitution are: “koláč”, “cukorví”, “košíčky”, “dortík”, “koláček”, “muffin”,

“linecký koláček”, “zákusek”, “koblihy”. The examples for each substitution will be provided.

The term “cupcake” appears for the first time in the second episode of the very first season which is titled “Bart the Genius”. In the scene one of Bart‟s new classmates offers him his cupcake, therefore the cupcake is physically present during the scene and

32 the viewer can see it. It is substituted with “koláč”. The following table shows both transcripts:

Table 15

S01E02 Original Text Translation Uh, Bart, Ty, Barte, would you dám ti svůj wage your koláč, když cupcake mi against my- vypočítáš-

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 2: “Bart the Genius”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 2: “Malý genius”)

In the same season the cupcake appears again in the fifth episode called “Bart

The General”. Here, it is substituted with the Czech terms “cukroví” and “košíček”.

The term cupcake appears 9 times during the episode and the translator decided to substitute it 5 times and use translation by omission 4 times. The following table shows all occurrences and their Czech equivalents:

33

Table 16

S01E05 Original text Translation Homer: Do I smell cupcakes? Homer: Čichám ňákou dobrotu! Homer: A cupcake here, a good grade Homer: Dáš dáreček a máš jedničku. there.

Bart: My sister here made a whole Bart: Představ si, že ségra napekla pile of cupcakes to butter up her pro úču cukroví, protože si u ní chce teacher, and she won't give anybody šplhnout, a nechce nikomu dát ani else even one measly little crumb. kousek.

Lisa: Cupcakes. Líza: Tohle jsem upekla sama. Bart: So give her back those cupcakes Bart: Okamžitě vrať to cukroví nebo before I knock you block off ti natrhnu triko!

Bart: My sister was making cupcakes Bart: Má ségra napekla cukroví- this morning and--- Lisa: Bart, here's that cupcake you Líza: Tohle jsem upekla pro tebe. wanted. Marge: Then here's some cupcakes. Marge: Fajn, tak si vemte cukroví. Homer: Cupcakes. Homer: Hm, košíčky!

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 5: “Bart the General”)

(Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 5: “Bart generálem aneb Kdopak by se Nelsona bál”)

The first two translations are translations by omission. The cupcakes are physically present during the scene so the viewer understands what the characters are talking about. In the third case however, the cupcakes are not physically present and are being referred to as “cukroví” which is a very confusing term for the Czech audience. In the Czech environment the term “cukroví” is very closely associated with the period of Christmas9.Therefore the viewers might be confused by the chosen substitution because what they previously saw on the screen was most definitely not what they understands as “cukroví”. However, this substitution is however used throughout most of this episode.

9 “Cukroví” is a plural term for small pieces of dough shaped in various shapes and flavoured differently. 34

In the fourth and seventh case of the appearance the translator uses translation by omission. The most interesting, however, is the ending of this episode where suddenly a new term appears in order to substitute the term cupcake. The translator used the term

“košíčky” which is definitely more closely related to what the viewer can see during the scene but the previous usage of different substitution makes the translation confusing for the viewer who has seen the cupcakes referred to as “cukroví” during the whole episode s/he has just seen. So not only do the translators not maintain the consistency of the substitutions thorough the show but there is a lack of consistency even within one episode.

Another substitution used for cupcakes is “dortík” and it appears in the 13th episode of the 8th season. “Dortík” is quite close to the original meaning of “cupcake” because what Czech audience understands as “dort” is some sort of dough with cream topping. The suffix -ík makes it explicit that the pastry is small and therefore it corresponds with the idea of a cupcake.

Table 17

S08E13 Original Text Translation Bart:I got a Bart: Znám better game. lepší hru, It's called říká se jí whippin' házení cupcakes. dortíků.

(The Simpsons, season 8, episode 13: “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-Annoyed-Grunt-cious”)

(Simpsonovi, season 8, episode 13: “ Himlhergotdonerveterkrucajselement”)

The substitution “koláčky” is used in the eleventh episode of the seventh season.

The word is used in the slogan and therefore the substitution is affected by the translator‟s desire to produce rhyming translation. The word “koláč” has already

35 been used before and was already discussed; this substitution is basically the same, only with a change of suffix.

Table 18

S07E11 Original Text Translation And by Li'I Koláčky, Sweetheart pro naše Cupcakes, a miláčky z subsidiary of přidružené ILG. společnosti ILG.

(The Simpsons, season 7, episode 11: “Marge Be Not Proud”) (Simpsonovi, season 7, episode 11: “Nemáš se čím chlubit, Marge”)

It is quite interesting that the translator decided to substitute the word “cupcake” with the word “muffin”. It appears in the seventeenth episode of the twelfth season.

The reason for this is probably the closeness of both kinds of pastry, also both of them are of American origin but the word muffin was used by Czech people sooner than the word cupcake. There are several publications on the market providing recipes for muffins in the Czech language which use the word muffin in its English form10.

The English term here is substituted by another English term for the first time.

10 for example the cookbook 1 těsto 100 muffinů by Susanna Tee (translation by Marie Pásková) 36

Table 19

S12E17 Original Text Translation Lisa: My teacher Líza: My said I need potřebujeme cupcakes- do školy cupcakes to muffiny jako learn. pomůcku.

(The Simpsons, season 12, episode 17: “Simpsons Safari”)

(Simpsonovi, season 12, episode 17: “Simpsonovi v Africe”)

The substitution “linecké koláčky” only appears once. It is in the twentieth episode of the fifteenth season and it is a part of a paraphrase of medical jargon. When

Homer faints the teacher asks for cc‟s which is in Czech replaced by “lk” which the teacher explains as the table shows. However, the adjective is added only in order to fulfil the requirements of medical jargon.

Table 20

S15E20 Original Text Translation Teacher: And by Učitel: Tím cc's, I mean myslím cupcakes. linecký koláčky.

(The Simpsons, season 15, episode 20: “The Way We Weren‟t”) (Simpsonovi, season 15, episode 20: “Takový jsme nebyli”)

The substitution “zákusky” is used only once in the show in the first episode of the 20th season. The substitution “zákusky” is used in the same scene where cupcakes are being referred to as “košíčky”. Once again, this is confusing for the viewer. Moreover, the term “zákusky” connotes desserts rather than pastry for the Czech audience.

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Table 21

S20E01 Original Text Translation Mr. Fairley: Pan Give back Fairley: the ladies Vraťte paní cupcakes, ty zákusky, you don't stejně na have the ně nemáte teeth for it. zuby.

(The Simpsons, season 20, episode 1:“Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes”) (Simpsonovi, season 20, episode 1: “Sexy koláčky a hlupák v nesnázích”)

Once in the show (in the 22nd episode of the 24th season) the word “cupcake” is substituted with the word “koblihy”. This is very confusing for the viewer because the word “koblihy” has already been used in the show to substitute the word

“doughnuts”. During the scene transcribed below, however, the cupcakes are not physically present and therefore the confusion will not be so significant.

Table 22

S24E22 Original Text Translation Marge: Trust Marge: me, Homer Věřte, že doesn't care Homerovi where the je jedno, cupcakes odkud mu come from. ty koblihy přijdou.

(The Simpsons, season 24, episode 22: “Dangers on a Train”) (Simpsonovi, season 24, episode 22: “Výročí ve vlaku”)

In order to make the argument more explicit, the following table shows all the substitutions used in the 24 seasons of The Simpsons in the singular form. As obvious, no substitution is dominant and translation by omission is used quite often.

38

Therefore, there is a big difference between the substitution of the term “cupcake” and e.g. the term “doughnut” where the dominant substitution exists and hardly any other variants are used.

It is however questionable whether it is necessary to substitute the term even nowadays in the most recent episodes. The target audience of the sitcom is quite familiar with the concept of cupcakes. This dessert is getting increasingly popular among people and it is possible to find many recipes for cupcakes on the famous Czech cooking portals such as Apetitonline.cz or Vareni.cz. The F.O.O.D.11 magazine used the term Cupcakes12 on its cover of the issue that was released in May 2013. It proves that the term cupcake is already a part of Czech culture and therefore its substitution is no longer necessary.

4.5. Doughnut

Doughnut is a sweet pastry made of flour, sugar, eggs, milk and yeast, which is deep-fried and often topped or filled. It can be ring-shaped or ball-shaped and usually there is a hole in the middle. This cake appears in the show very often because it is one of the Homer‟s most favourite pastries. Since the 6th season the well-established substitution of this term is “kobliha” but throughout the first five series the substitutions vary from episode to episode.

There are 5 main substitutions used throughout the show for the word

“doughnut”. The Czech words used to substitute for the word doughnut are: “koláč”,

“sušenka”, “kobliha”, “koláček” and “koblížek”. For each word one example of

11 Czech monthly magazine that provides recipes and tips for nonprofessional audience interested in cooking 12full title: “Pečení s dětmi CUPCAKES” 39 the substitution will now be provided and the pros and cons of the possibilities will be discussed.

For the first time the word “doughnut” appears in the very first episode of The Simpsons titled “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”. The following table shows the original sentence and its Czech substitution:

Table 23

S01E01 Original Text Translation Homer: Hey, Homer: I couldn't Hele, afford lunch. neměl sem Give me a voběd. Dej bite of that mi doughnut. kousnout.

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 1: “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 1: “Vánoce u Simpsonových”)

In this case the word “doughnut” was translated by omission. It is not surprising that the translator decided to omit the name of the originally American pastry because it had no adequate counterpart on Czech market and the term was unknown to the Czech public of the early 1990‟s when the episode was broadcasted for the first time.

In the third episode of the same season titled “Homer‟s Odyssey” the word

“doughnuts” was substituted with the Czech word “koláč” as the following table shows:

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Table 24

S01E03 Original Text Translation Terry:It means he Terry: To spends more znamená, že furt time yakking and jen kecá a baští scarfing down koláče, místo, doughnuts than aby dělal. doing his job

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 3: “Homer‟s Odyssey”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode 3: “Homerova odysea”)

What Czech people understand as “koláč” is in its structure and process of making nowhere near the doughnut. The dough is different, the topping is different and also the topping is placed differently on the dough. The Czech pastry is baked rather than fried and the final appearance is very different from the one of doughnut because “koláč” does not have a hole in the middle. Since the pastry is not physically present during the scene the viewer cannot be misled by its appearance but in other cases where “koláč” is used in order to substitute for the word doughnut and the doughnut is present in the scene, the viewer might be confused by the inadequacy of what s/he sees and what s/he hears.

The next episode where the term “doughnuts” appears is the eleventh episode of the first season “The Crepes of Wrath”. Here the translator decided to substitute the term with the Czech word “sušenky”. This substitution might work well but since the doughnuts are translated as “koláče” only 8 episodes ago it might again make the viewer confused by the inconsistency of the substitutions. As mentioned above,

“sušenky” is also used in order to substitute words “brownies” and “cookies”.

In the case of cookies the substitution suits the original better because the structure and the size of the cookies are very close to the Czech substitution. Also, when

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“doughnuts” are substituted with the word “sušenky” it is necessary to substitute even the following traits ascribed to them as the following quotation from the eleventh episode of the first season shows:

Table 25

S01E11 Original Text Translation Homer: See, Homer: Koupil American jsem sušenky - doughnuts - ovocný, glazed, mandlový a powdered and oříškový. raspberry filled,

(The Simpsons, season 1, episode 11: “The Crepes of Wrath”) (Simpsonovi, season 1, episode11: “Kyselé hrozny sladké Francie”)

The translator was forced to substitute even the traits of the doughnuts because

“sušenky” are usually not glazed, powdered or filled. The author of this thesis provides her own suggestion of the translation in the following table which she thinks would fit the original meaning better:

Table 26

S01E11 Original Text Translation Homer: See, Homer: Koukej, American naše Americký doughnuts - koblihy – s glazed, polevou, powdered and cukrovaný a raspberry filled, malinový.

Since in the scene Homer shows the Nuclear Power Plant to the exchange student from Albania and wants to convince him that America is better than Albania

42 because there are many sweets to choose from, the emphasis on the American origin of the doughnuts should be preserved to highlight his intentions.

Currently the most frequently used substitution (and the one that basically overruled the rest of the substitutions) “kobliha” suits the needs of the original best.

What Czech audience understands as “kobliha” undergoes nearly the same making process as the doughnut, has the same traits and can have the same flavored fillings or toppings.

The following table shows the first use of the word “kobliha” in order to substitute for the word doughnut.

Table 27

S02E04 Original Text Translation Homer: Oh, Homer: man! Plain Ach jó, zas cake jen doughnuts. koblihy.

(The Simpsons, season 2, episode 4: “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish”) (Simpsonovi, season 2, episode 4: “Kdo s koho”)

Since the words “koblížek” and “koláček” carry the same meaning as the words

“kobliha” and “koláč” (the suffix only indicates the smaller size or emotional bond) these will not be discussed separately.

The words “koláč” and “kolbiha” are both used as a substitution for the word doughnut throughout the first five series and starting with the sixth season the word

“kobliha” dominates the substitutions and is used exclusively for the rest of the show translations.

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4.6. Muffin

Similarly to cupcake, muffin appears quite a lot thorough The Simpsons. Also, muffin is one of the pastries which became known to the Czech audience in the last 20 years and there are already books written in Czech about muffins where the word muffin is not substituted any longer (e.g. cookbook Morbidní muffiny: z temného hrobu přímo na váš stůl by Zilly Rosen). However, that was not the case when The Simpsons first appeared on Czech television and therefore many substitutions were used in order to substitute the originally American pastry. These substitutions are : “vdoleček”,

“košíček”, “piškot”, “buchta”, “kobliha”, “zákusek”, and “dortík”.

It is not surprising that muffin shares some substitutions with cupcake (because it is very similar kind of pastry) e.g. “košíček”, “dortík” and “zákusek”. The former two fit the original meaning best with its shape and the connotations they have for the Czech viewer (the sweet, small pastry) but “dortík” connotes some topping so this would fit cupcake better. “Zákusek” was discussed in the subchapter concerning cupcake and all that has been said about it before is relevant even to this case. For the Czech viewer the word “zákusek” connotes rather a dessert than a pastry.

Also, as well as in the case of cupcake, muffin was repeatedly substituted with the word “kobliha” which not only does not fit the meaning the way the previous substitutions do but also is widely used in the show to substitute the word “doughnut” and this leads to the confusion of the viewer.

“Vdoleček” also seems like a fitting substitution for muffin even though what

Czech people understand as “vdoleček” usually has a topping so it would better fit as a substitution of the word “cupcake” and considering the making process (which is very

44 similar to the making process of “kobliha”) it might also serve well as a substitution for doughnut.

“Piškot” on the other hand does not connote the required meaning in the Czech viewer because what Czech people understand as “piškot” is either a white cake made of sugar, flour, milk and eggs or it is a very small sweet pastry made of flour, eggs and sugar usually only served to children.

“Buchta” is also a typically Czech pastry which is made of dough filled with different fillings (jam, marmalade, cottage cheese etc.) and it has a similar shape to muffin, therefore the reader will not be confused. This substitution is also once used in order to substitute for the word “applesauce” in the show as it was stated above but the applesauce is not shown during the scene and therefore the viewer does not get confused.

4.7. Conclusion on the Food Substitutions

As obvious from the above mentioned kinds of food and their substitutions, there is rarely only one substitution used in order to substitute for a specific kind of food (it is only so in the case of “doughnut”). The substitutions vary often from episode to episode. Also, one Czech word is often used in order to substitute for more than one

American term. As a result, there is a lack of consistency which might confuse the viewer.

This phenomenon is, however, possible mainly due to the fact that the functions of the food references in The Simpsons vary. Very often the translation does not correspond with the original meaning (e.g. the cause of “applesauce”) but the functional

45 equivalent is supplied (especially in the scenes where the food is not physically present and therefore the audience cannot get confused).

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5. Episode Titles Analysis

The following chapter deals with the titles of the episodes of the show and their significance. The names of episodes very often paraphrase well-known songs, film titles, sayings, quotes etc. In the following chapter two seasons were chosen and the original titles and their translation will be provided. The analysis should prove that in the first season which was translated in 1993, the audience‟s knowledge about the source culture was not broad enough to understand the references which were therefore either substituted or omitted. The second season chosen for the analysis is the

23rd season which was translated in 2012 and therefore its translation is more contemporary. In this season it is expected that the higher percentage of culturally oriented references should be transferred into the target language since the audience‟s knowledge about the source culture is more advanced.

5.1. Season 1

The following table transparently shows all the titles of the episodes of the first season of The Simpsons together with their translations into Czech.

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Table 28

Original Title Translation S01E01 Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire Vánoce u Simpsonových S01E02 Bart the Genius Malý génius S01E03 Homer's Odyssey Homerova odysea S01E04 There's No Disgrace Like Home Taková nenormální rodinka S01E05 Bart the General Bart generálem aneb Kdopak by se Nelsona bál S01E06 Moaning Lisa Smutná Líza S01E07 The Call of the Simpsons Volání přírody S01E08 The Tell-Tale Head Mluvící hlava S01E09 Life on the Fast Lane Ve víru vášní S01E10 Homer's Night Out Světák Homer S01E11 The Crepes of Wrath Kyselé hrozny sladké Francie S01E12 Krusty Gets Busted Je Šáša vinen? S01E13 Some Enchanted Evening Hezkej večer

As obvious from the table, some of the episode titles do not refer to any generally known cultural feature and therefore it is not necessary to discuss these (e.g.

Bart the Genius, Bart the General). The rest of the titles will now be discussed in separate subchapters.

5.1.1. Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

The very first episode of The Simpsons is titled “Simpsons Roasting on an Open

Fire”. This title paraphrases the famous Christmas song “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”. In Czech the same episode is titled: “Vánoce u Simpsonových”.

The song which the episode title paraphrases is not known in Czech context and therefore the translator could not simply replace the original paraphrase with the paraphrase of the Czech version of the song. However, the Czech title does not include any paraphrase at all. The reference (and the joke) gets lost without any compensation for it. The episode title does not need to be adjusted in order to fit the lip

48 synchronisation and therefore the translator is not limited in nearly any way when providing fitting translation.

The author of this thesis provides her own solution using a paraphrase of a well- known Czech Christmas song with a very similar idea involved and suggests the title

“Tiše a ochotně Simpsonovi na plotně voní”. The Czech song “Purpura na plotně” has approximately the same position in Czech culture, it also is a slow, Christmas song which does bring Christmas atmosphere without profoundly mentioning many

Christmas stereotypes and also the title does paraphrase the song inserting the name of the family where the name of the object which is being heated should be.

5.1.2. Homer’s Odyssey

The third episode of the first season is titled “Homer‟s Odyssey” where the word

Odyssey obviously refers to the famous ancient Greek epos. The original title also benefits from the resemblance of the name of the show main character – Homer – and the author of the epos. “Homer‟s Odyssey” therefore refers to the actual epos as well as to the difficulties of life of the main character of the show.

In Czech, however, the pronunciation of Mr. Simpson‟s name Homer and the Greek writer‟s name Homer13 is not the same. In Czech the last vowel is long and therefore the resemblance of the names is not that clear. The Czech title “Homerova odysea” therefore loses half of its meaning because it only refers to the life difficulties of the character and the reference to the Greek epos is not that recognizable.

13 in Czech Homér 49

5.1.3. There’s No Disgrace Like Home

The fourth episode of the first season is titled “There‟s No Disgrace Like

Home”. The title paraphrases well-known saying “There‟s no place like home”. In

Czech the episode is titled “Taková nenormální rodinka”. Whereas the original title refers to a famous saying the Czech substitution refers to the famous Czech sitcom

“Taková normální rodinka”.

Even though there is a saying very similar to the original one in Czech “Doma je doma” it would be difficult to paraphrase it in any way in order to maintain the original joke. The substitution, on the other hand, brings Czech well-known features into an American environment which helps the viewers to adapt to the unknown culture.

This process of introducing Czech cultural phenomena into American show was, nevertheless, criticised by the translator Petr Putna.

5.1.4. Moaning Lisa

The sixth episode of the first season is titled “Moaning Lisa”. The title refers to both the depression Lisa experiences in the episode and the famous painting “Mona

Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci. In Czech the episode is called “Smutná Líza”.

The original title uses the similarity between the words Moaning and Mona in order to refer to both the painting and Lisa‟s sadness. In Czech however there is no adjective that would fit the requirements of the original. Only one of the references can be translated into Czech. Here, the translator decided to adjust the title in order to match the plot of the episode rather than to refer to the famous painting.

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5.1.5. The Call of the Simpsons

The seventh episode of the first season is titled “The Call of The Simpsons”.

The title refers to the famous novel by Jack London The Call of the Wild. Also, the title refers to the plot of the episode – the family of the Simpsons spends some time alone in the forest.

The Czech audience is familiar with the novel The Call of the Wild under the title: Volání divočiny. Yet, the episode is titled “Volání přírody” in Czech and the reference to the famous novel is lost. However, the reference is substituted because for Czech audience “Volání přírody” is not connected with the famous novel but rather with the biological needs of human body. This corresponds with the plot of the episode and therefore substituted the original title well. The original reference, however, could be transferred into Czech, because the novel title Volání divočiny is generally known in

Czech culture. The author of the thesis would therefore suggest the episode title “Volání divočiny”.

5.1.6. The Tell-Tale Head

The title of the eighth episode of the first season “The Tell-Tale Head” refers to the short story by Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Also the motive from the short story appears during the episode where the head talks to Bart after he destroys the statue of the city founder Jebediah Springfield and therefore is feeling very guilty.

Not only does the title refer to the plot of the short story but so does the episode itself.

The Czech title: “Mluvící hlava” does not refer to the short story which is in

Czech titled “Zrádné srdce”. However, it still refers to the plot of the episode and the reference to Poe‟s short story can be recognized even from the plot itself.

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5.1.7. Life on the Fast Lane

The ninth episode of the first season paraphrases the song “Life in the Fast

Lane” by Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. The paraphrase refers to the bowling lane because the main topic of the whole episode is playing bowling.

The Czech translation of the episode is “Ve víru vášní”. This phrase, which is very common in the Czech language, substitutes the original name of the song quite well and also refers to the plot of the episode even though it refers to another aspect of the plot. While playing bowling, Marge meets a man and as the episode goes on she becomes quite close with him. The Czech title therefore refers to her relationship with the new man in her life and the passion he has for her rather than to her new hobby of playing bowling. The bowling itself and the reference to playing bowling is omitted from the Czech title.

5.1.8. The Crepes of Wrath

The eleventh episode of the first season of The Simpsons titled “The Crepes of Wrath” clearly refers to the novel by John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath. In the episode, Bart goes to France as an exchange student (which is his punishment for his school misbehaviour) and is actually forced to tread grapes. In Czech the title “Kyselé hrozny sladké Francie” does refer to the plot but not to the novel which the original title paraphrases.

However, the Czech substitution for the original title uses phenomenon called

“kyselé hrozny” which is a saying used for underperforming where one intended to achieve something. Also, it is an allusion to a fable by Aesop which is very popular in the Czech culture and especially among children. However, that does not correspond

52 with the plot of the episode which is basically only about Bart being abused in France and forced to work without any compensation. The phrase “kyselé hrozny”, which could be understood as an idiom by the Czech viewer, only refers to the actual grapes.

The title refers to the plot of the episode but does not refer to the novel by John

Steinbeck.

5.1.9. First Season Conclusion

In conclusion, most of the episode titles in the first season of The Simpsons paraphrase famous literary titles, song titles, painting names or well-known sayings.

The paraphrases to those were in most cases not translated into Czech word-by-word

(apart from “Homer‟s Odyssey”) but rather substituted with Czech equivalents of the paraphrases. Since the title usually has at least two meanings - one is the word play and the paraphrase itself and the other is the connection between the title of the episode and its actual plot - the translators were forced to choose only one meaning they wanted to maintain. In most cases, the translators decided to primarily translate the meaning which corresponds with the plot of the episode rather than the one which refers to some famous aspect of American (or global e.g. “Moaning Lisa”) culture. Also, in the first season the tendencies to imply Czech culturally specific references appear when the title of the Czech show “Taková normální rodinka” is paraphrased in order to replace the reference which would not be understandable for the viewer in 1993 period.

5.2. Season 23

As a counterpart for the first season‟s titles translation the 23rd season was chosen because a very high percentage of this particular season‟s titles works as a reference. There are 22 episodes in this season and only 2 of them refer to nothing else

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but the show‟s plot. The following table presents all the original episode titles and their

Czech translations:

Table 29

S23E01 The Falcon and the D'Oh Man Dravec a fešák S23E02 Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts Bartův nový hrdina S23E03 Treehouse of Horror XXII Speciální XXII. Čarodějnický díl S23E04 Replaceable You Mé nahraditelné já S23E05 The Food Wife Dobrá manželka S23E06 The Book Job Velká knižní loupež S23E07 The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants Muž v modrých flanelových kalhotách S23E08 The Ten-Per-Cent Solution Krustyho comeback S23E09 Holidays of Future Passed Duch Vánoc příštích S23E10 Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson Otázky Homera Simpsona S23E11 The D'oh-cial Network Asociální síť S23E12 Moe Goes from Rags to Riches Vočko na hadry S23E13 The Daughter Also Rises Fiesta s Lízou S23E14 At Long Last Leave Konečně zmizte S23E15 Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart Zavíráme krám S23E16 How I Wet Your Mother Jak jsem prospal vaši matku S23E17 Them, Robot Oni, roboti S23E18 Beware My Cheating Bart Mé srdce patří Bartovi S23E19 A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again Super věc, kterou Bart už nikdy neudělá S23E20 The Spy Who Learned Me Špion, který mě poučil S23E21 Ned 'N Edna's Blend Tajnosti Neda a Edny S23E22 Lisa Goes Gaga Líza a Lady Gaga

Now the individual substitutions will be discussed separately.

5.2.1. The Falcon and the D’ohman

The very first episode of the 23rd season is titled “The Falcon and the D‟ohman”.

The title refers to the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman directed by John

Schlesinger. The Czech translation of the film title is Dravec a feťák and the episode

of The Simpsons is in Czech called “Dravec a fešák”. The reference here is very clearly

translated and paraphrases the Czech film title in the very same way the original episode

54 title paraphrases the original film title by only changing a few letters in the last word of the title in order to change the word and refer to the episode.

5.2.2. Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts

“Stop and smell the Roses” is an English expression which means to relax and enjoy the life. Also, it is the phrase that the title of the second episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons paraphrases. It refers both to the known idiom and to the plot of the episode where Bart for the first time in his life starts to enjoy studying when he discovers an interesting life story of the 26th president of the United States Theodore

Roosevelt Jr.

In Czech, however, the episode is titled “Bartův nový hrdina”. The title refers clearly to the plot of the episode but not to the original phrase because in Czech there is no phrase having the same meaning (both literal and metaphorical) where one word might be easily replaced with the surname of the famous family. The reference therefore gets lost in translation.

5.2.3. Replaceable You

The title of the fourth episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons “Replaceable

You” refers to the 1948 film Embraceable You directed by Felix Jacoves. The film has never been translated into Czech and therefore the Czech episode title has no film title to paraphrase. The episode is therefore called “Mé nahraditelné já” and half of the meaning gets lost in translation. This, however, is not so problematic because the

Czech audience would most probably not understand the reference to the film.

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5.2.4. The Food Wife

The Good Wife is very popular TV drama of USA origin and it also is the show to which the title of the fifth episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled

“The Food Wife” refers. The show is also broadcasted in Czech by Prima Love channel and it is titled Dobrá manželka. The Czech title of the episode of The Simpsons does not paraphrase the title of the show but uses it and the episode is titled “Dobrá manželka”.

Even though the original reference is maintained the joke gets lost in translation because in the episode Marge and the kids visit different ethnic restaurants around the city of Springfield and blog about their experience. It is a very rare example when the translator decided to translate the reference to the show rather than the reference to the plot of the episode.

5.2.5. The Book Job

The title of the sixth episode of 23rd season of The Simpsons “The Book Job” refers to the 2003 film The Italian Job directed by Felix Gary Gray. In the episode

Homer, Bart, Lisa and a couple of minor characters decide to write a fantasy saga for children together in order to gain a lot of money. The process of forming a gang where everyone has a specific role resembles the first part of the film where the main characters meet in order to talk each other into the crime they plan to commit.

In Czech the film is titled Loupež po italsku. However, the translator decided not to paraphrase the original film but rather substitute the film The Italian Job with Czech and German cartoon from 1986 called Velká sýrová loupež. The Czech cartoon‟s plot also deals with the crime and therefore the plot reference remains functional in both translations. Also, the Czech viewer would be more familiar with the Czech cartoon

56 than with the original film title. The Czech title of the episode is “Velká knižní loupež”.

It is the first case of local substitution in this season. The Czech word “loupež” used in the title (and the title of the film as well) refers to the intentions of the gang, which forms in the episode, to write the novel for children only in order to get as much money as possible which is repeatedly referred to as morally wrong throughout the episode.

5.2.6. The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants

The seventh episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons is titled “The Man in the

Blue Flannel Pants”. This title refers to the 1956 American drama called “The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit” which was translated into Czech as “Muž v šedém flanelovém obleku”. The episode title maintains the original reference paraphrasing the translated title and is called “Muž v modrých flanelových kalhotách”. Since the episode deals with

Homer‟s blue pants both meanings were maintained.

5.2.7. The Ten-Per-Cent Solution

The title of the eighth episode of the 23rd season refers either to the 1974 novel

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H.

Watson, M.D. by Nicolas Meyer or to its 1976 film adaptation titled The Seven-Per-

Cent Solution directed by Herbert Ross. The Czech title of the film is Sherlock Holmes ve Vídni.

The episode of The Simpsons is called “Krustyho Comeback”. The infiltration of English vocabulary into Czech is visible here because the English word – comeback - is used as a part of the Czech title of the episode. However, the reference to the original

57 film is not maintained because the Czech translation of the film title does not fit the plot reference of the episode.

5.2.8. Holidays of Future Past

The title of the ninth episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons refers with its title either to the 1967 music album “Days of Future Passed” by the band The Moody

Blues or to the 1981 X-Men storyline of the same title. The X-Men storyline was made into film in 2014 using the same title X-Men: Days of Future Past and the Czech title of this film is X-Men: Budoucí minulost but the episode of The Simpsons was translated in 2012 and therefore the translators could not use this translation in the same way the original title uses the original storyline title.

The Czech title of the episode is “Duch Vánoc příštích” which in a Dickensian way refers to the plot of the episode where the characters see themselves in the distant future. The reference to one aspect of the Anglo-American culture which would not be comprehensible to the Czech viewer was replaced by another better known aspect of Anglo-American culture – the reference to a famous A Christmas Carroll by Charles

Dickens. It also fits the plot of the episode which has many traits of A Christmas

Carroll in it.

5.2.9. Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson

Politically Incorrect, with Bill Maher is an American talk-show that was broadcasted since 1993 to 2002. The title of the 10th episode of the 23rd season refers to this very talk show in its title: “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson”. In the episode

Homer becomes TV talk-show presenter and gains popularity doing it.

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In Czech Republic, the original talk-show has never been broadcasted and therefore the reference needed to be substituted. The translator decided to imply the Czech talk-show of a similar genre into the American environment and the title of the Czech episode is: “Otázky Homera Simpsona”. The original Czech show to which the translation refers is called Otázky Václava Moravce and the scheme of the show is very similar to the original one, most importantly there is always the same host which in the case of this episode of The Simpsons is Homer Simpson.

5.2.10. The D’oh-cial Network

The 11th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled “The D‟oh-cial

Network” refers to the 2010 film The Social Network directed by David Fincher. In both the film and the episode of The Simpsons the main theme is a social network. The film narrates the story of Mike Zuckerberg and the social network called Facebook and the episode of The Simpsons narrates the story of Lisa Simpson establishing

Springfield‟s social network called Springface. Since the episode is clearly a parody of the film the title reference is very important. The episode title bends together Homer‟s most used interjection “D‟oh” and the original film title.

The Czech translation of the episode title “Asociální síť” clearly refers to the title of the film which is in Czech called “Sociální síť” or “Social Network –

Sociální síť” and it also plays with the word in the same way the original title does. It refers both to the film and to the plot of the episode where Lisa gets more friends on

Springface but becomes more and more isolated from the real people.

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5.2.11. Moe Goes from Rags to Riches

The title of the 12th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons refers to the idiom “going from rags to riches” which means to be poor and then become wealthy. In the episode Moe‟s rag which he uses in this bar to clean the bar and tables tells a story of its life. It started its life as a tapestry and then went through the history being abused and ended up as Moe‟s rag in his bar. Also, it sees the end of its life with

Moe as its top because Moe is the first person who really appreciates it and loves it.

As obvious, the title is mainly important because it includes the word rag which is also the main character of the episode. This word appears even in the Czech title

“Vočko na hadry” which as well as the original refers to the character of the rag.

The original idiom however carries very different meaning14. From the Czech title it is not obvious that the rag‟s life conditions improved.

5.2.12. The Daughter Also Rises

The 13th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled “The Daughter Also

Rises” refers with its title to Ernest Hemingway‟s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.

The reference to Hemingway is very important for the plot of the episode where Lisa falls in love with a boy who adopts some of Hemingway‟s manners of behaviour and speaks about Hemingway rather often. Direct Hemingway‟s quotes appear thorough the plot. Also when Lisa finds out that he is a liar and rethinks their relationship, ghosts of Hemingway‟s wives appear and tell her how difficult it is to live with someone like

Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway himself therefore is the most important theme of the episode.

14 in Czech the idiom means to be destroyed or damaged or heavily drunk 60

In Czech the episode is titled “Fiesta s Lízou”. The novel The Sun Also Rises is in Czech titled Fiesta (I slunce vychází) therefore the reference to Hemingway appears even in the Czech translation. However because the Czech title of the novel is not literally the same as the original novel the wordplay does not work the same and the reference is not as clear as the original one is.

5.2.13. At Long Last Leave

The title of the 14th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons “At Long Last

Leave” refers to 1975 musical romantic comedy directed by Peter Bogdanovich called

At Long Last Love. In the episode the family of the Simpsons is banished from

Springfield and set up their living elsewhere. After a while their friends from

Springfield begin to move one by one to the same place where the Simpsons live now.

The episode therefore has not much in common with the film.

The Czech title of the episode refers to the Czech translation of the film title

“Konečně láska” and the episode is called “Konečně zmizte”. The translation features a film reference.

5.2.14. Exit Through The Kwik-E-Mart

“Exit Through The Kwik-E-Mart” is a 15th episode of the 23rd season and by its title it refers to the 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film directed by

Banksy (the street artist whose real name is unknown for the public). Both the film and the episode deal with the topic of street art and graffiti (in the episode Bart becomes a street artist) so the plot of the episode and the title both refer to the film.

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Unfortunately, in Czech the film title has not been translated and the movie was introduced under the original title in Czech cinemas. The translators therefore had no

Czech title to use in order to achieve similar reference. The Czech title is therefore:

“Zavíráme krám” which does not refer to the original film. However the title does refer to the plot of the episode because apart from Bart‟s story there is another plot line dealing with the health-food store trying to replace Kwik-E-Mart in Springfield.

This can be compared with the previously discussed ninth episode of the first season where the original title refers to the different plot line than the Czech title but both refer to the plot in a way.

5.2.15. How I Wet Your Mother

The 16th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled “How I Wet Your

Mother” refers to a very popular modern sitcom How I Met Your Mother. In the episode

Homer experiences bedwetting caused by the post traumatic shock he experiences when he is reminded of a childhood experience of finding a dead body.

The Czech title “Jak jsem prospal vaši matku” does refer clearly to the Czech translation of the show title Jak jsem poznal vaši matku but it does not refer so clearly to the theme of the episode which is bedwetting. Homer does not have problems with sleeping; his problem is quite the opposite. He wakes up in the middle of the night to check whether he wetted the bed or not.

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5.2.16. Them, Robot

The 17th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons refers with its title “Them,

Robot” to a 2004 science fiction film I, Robot directed by Alex Proyas. The main topic of the film and the episode is artificial intelligence and clearly by its title (and the plot as well) the episode is a parody of a film.

In Czech the film is titled Já, robot and the episode title “Oni, roboti” respects that and refers to the Czech title.

5.2.17. Beware My Cheating Bart

The 18th episode of the 23rd season is titled “Beware My Cheating Bart” and the title refers to the 1949 American film titled My Foolish Heart directed by Mark Robson.

The title of the episode refers to the plot line of Bart in which Bart becomes a chaperone of Shauna – a girlfriend of a school bully. He takes good care of her and she starts to realise that she wants a man like Bart in her life instead of her current boyfriend Jimbo who does not care about her at all. The plot of the episode is not a parody of the original film.

The film has never been translated into Czech and therefore there is again no

Czech title the translators could work with. The Czech title of the episode is “Mé srdce patří Bartovi” which corresponds with the plot. Since the plot of the film is not connected with the plot of the episode in any significant way, the lost reference is not problematic.

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5.2.18. A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again

The 19th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled “A Totally Fun Thing

Bart Will Never Do Again” refers to a 1997 collection of nonfictional stories by David

Foster Wallace titled: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essay and

Arguments. In the episode the Simpsons get to a cruise in a luxurious ship and Bart tries to convince the whole crew that the Earth was stroke by an unknown virus and therefore it is unsafe to get back to the shore. He does that in order to postpone the return from the vacation and to prolong the holiday. The collection of stories also deals with the main character being on a cruise and turning into a spoiled brat.

The book to which the title of the episode refers has never been translated into

Czech and it refers to many cultural allusions that are unfamiliar to the Czech audience.

Therefore the translators decided to translate the title word-by-word and call it: “Super věc, kterou Bart už nikdy neudělá”.

5.2.19. The Spy Who Learned Me

The 20th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons titled “The Spy Who

Learned Me” refers to a 1977 Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me directed by Lewis

Gilbert. In the episode Homer and Marge experience some marital problems and Homer images a secret agent Stradivarius Cain who helps him deal with those problems.

The agent has many traits similar to a popular agent James Bond (courage, style, etc.).

The Czech title of the Bond movie is “Špion, který mě miloval” and therefore the Czech title of the episode is “Špion, který mě poučil”. The reference to the original film is clear and so is the plot reference to the Bond franchise.

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5.2.20. Lisa Goes Gaga

The last episode of the 23rd season “Lisa Goes Gaga” refers to the famous pop singer using the stage name Lady Gaga (her real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina

Germanotta). Also “to go gaga” is an idiom which means to be very enthusiastic about something. In the episode Lisa is very depressed about how unpopular among her peers.

Lady Gaga (as a guest star of The Simpsons) visits Springfield and helps Lisa to regain self-confidence.

There is no such idiom in Czech that would fit both meanings the original title has. The first one is a reference to Lady Gaga‟s stage name and the second one refers to the idiom and to the plot. Therefore, only one meaning could be translated successfully into Czech. The Czech title of the episode is “Líza a Lady Gaga” from which it is obvious that the translators decided to maintain the reference to the famous singer and omit the idiomatic meaning of the original title.

5.3. Conclusion on Episode Titles

As we can see from the above-discussed episode titles, a very high percentage of the episode titles in each season have more than one meaning. In the first season 61.5% of all episode titles included a reference to some other aspect of culture (film title, song title, known saying, painting etc.). In the 23rd season it was 81% of the episode titles.

At first, obviously, each episode title refers in some way to the plot of the episode. Since The Simpsons hardly ever have only one plot line in the episode the title refers to only one of them. In the case of episodes “Life on the Fast Lane” and

“Exit through the Kwik-E-Mart” the translators used this and replaced the reference of one plot line with the reference to another plot line. Mostly, however, the translators refer in the Czech titles to the same plot line the original titles refer to.

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Secondly, though, a vast majority of the episode titles refer to a film, song, well- known saying or other piece of culture (e.g. painting such as in the case of the episode titled “Moaning Lisa”) and mostly it is American culture that is referred to. In some cases it is impossible to include both meanings in translation (such as in the case of the episode “Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts” or “Moaning Lisa” etc.) and only half of the meaning (the one that refers to the plot of the episode) is communicated.

In the first season as stated above 61.5% of all episode titles included a reference not only to the plot of the episode but also to some other cultural aspect. However, none of the culturally oriented meaning was transferred into Czech. Only the meaning referring straight to the plot of the episode was translated, the other references got lost in the translation. In one case the substitution of a local cultural fact was used

(in the title of the episode “Taková nenormální rodinka”).

In the 23rd season however the numbers differ significantly. From all the episode titles in this season 81% carry two meanings – plot oriented and culturally oriented.

The substitution was used twice (in the titles of episodes “Otázky Homera Simpsona” and “Velká sýrová loupež”). In 41% of the episode titles the culturally oriented meaning was lost in translation but in 41% of the episode titles both meanings were communicated and both references are recognizable in the Czech translations of original titles.

As obvious from the above mentioned numbers, the percentage of successful translation of both meanings of the titles increased significantly. The first season was translated in 1993 and the 23rd season was translated in 2012 so the awareness of the Czech audience of the American culture increased and also more of the American films and novels (to which most of the episode titles refer) are translated into Czech and

66 therefore the translators can paraphrase the Czech film titles in the same way the original episode titles paraphrase the original film titles.

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6. Conclusion

This thesis has attempted to prove that the cultural references in The Simpsons vary from season to season and in some cases (e.g. food references) even from episode to episode. When the show appeared for the first time on Czech television, the translators faced many difficulties and substitutions were necessary for more culturally oriented facts than now because the Czech audience grew accustomed to the Anglophone culture.

In the theoretical part the main characters were defined as the archetypes of American culture, each of them carrying some important traits that have specific connotations for American audiences (e.g. Marge being a classic 1950‟s housewife,

Homer being a caricature of a member of American working class etc.). These traits also cannot be successfully translated because these stereotypes are not something to be communicated verbally. However, the traits are reflected in the vocabulary or dialects of the characters (e.g. Homer‟s and Bart‟s dialect containing a lot of vulgar and non- standard expressions) and therefore they need to be reflected in Czech translation as well. The ways in which this is accomplished were explained using the interview with

Petr Putna as the main secondary source.

Apart from what the characters in the show say, even the ways in which they are saying it are culturally specific and can be demanding for the translator. Many minor characters in the show speak with regional accent or dialect which cannot be successfully translated into Czech because Czech does not have many regional accents.

The accents available in Czech are usually only geographic and do not determine one‟s social or economic position (at least in the minds of the audience) the way the accents used in the original show do (e.g. Homer‟s working class dialect, Willy‟s Scottish

68 accent etc.). As Petr Putna explains it, these accents get lost in the translation because there is no adequate equivalent in Czech.

The theoretical part also explained in which way the dubbing of a cartoon is specific compared to the regular dubbing process. Since lip-synchronisation does not need to correspond 100 percent with the original lip movement (because the original voice-over does not always correspond with the lip movement either), the translators have more freedom when translating the individual sentences. The less the translators need to focus on the lip-synchronization, the more they can focus on meaning.

The analytical part of the thesis analysed the cultural references in two specific areas of The Simpsons. The first part of the analysis was focused on the food which is originally American and is not part of the Czech culture (or was not when the show was introduced for the first time). In the third chapter of this thesis the kinds of food which often reappear were discussed alongside their different substitutions. It was shown that never only one substitution is used to substitute one American food. The substitutions vary and the adequacy of the substitutions and the original food vary as well.

The episode in which one food is substituted with several different substitutions proved that there is a noticeable lack of consistency which might lead to a confusion of the viewer. Also, one Czech term is often used to substitute for several American foods (e.g. “kobliha” is used in order to substitute for “doughnut” as well as for

“muffin”, “bagel” and “cupcake”). It was proven in this chapter that the terms used as the substitution are not stable but they tend to vary from episode to episode (with an exception of “doughnut” being substituted with the word “kobliha” ever since the end of the sixth season).

However, many originally American kinds of food are now common in the Czech Republic (e.g. muffins, cupcakes etc.) as is evidenced by the Czech

69 cookbooks and magazines concerning food and recipes including originally American terms in their Czech titles.

The second chapter of the analytical part of the thesis was focused on the episode titles. The titles of most of the episodes refer to some aspect of American or global culture. The references are usually in the form of a word play which is very difficult for the translator to transfer into another language. The trend of the audience getting more accustomed to the source culture can be observed on the episode titles quite well (as shown in the fifth chapter). In the first season of The Simpsons most of the culturally oriented references got lost in translation because the Czech audience would not understand the references to the pieces of culture which was not known by then in the Czech Republic. Some of the jokes in the episodes were substituted with the local equivalent (e.g. “Taková normální rodinka”) but some got lost in the translation without any compensation (e.g.“Vánoce u Simpsonových”). However, in the 23rd season, most of the references were successfully transferred into the target language and the jokes were adequately translated without the loss of meaning.

The translators used the Czech translations of American films or novels to which the original refers and created similar wordplays as the original authors of the episode titles knowing that the audience is familiar with the films or novels to which they refer. This proves that the Czech audience (and the translators‟ perception of Czech audience) has changed since the 1993 when The Simpsons were broadcasted for the first time.

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7. Bibliography

“Alternativní sundávání kalhot.” Teorie velkého třesku, Prima Cool, Prague. 30

December 2010. Television.

Armstrong, Nigel. “Voicing 'The Simpsons' from English into French: A Story of

Variable Success.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 2 (2004): 97-

109. JoSTrans. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Baker, Mona. In Other Words a Coursebook on Translation. London: Routledge, 1992.

Print.

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 6th ed. New York:

McGraw Hill, 2001. Print.

Cantor, Paul A. “The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family.” Political

Theory 27 (1999): 734-49. JSTOR. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

Ferrari, Chiara. “Dubbing The Simpsons: Or How Groundskeeper Willie Lost His Kilt

In Sardinia.” Journal Of Film & Video 61.2 (2009): 19-37. Film & Television

Literature Index with Full Text. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

-Cintas, Jorge. New Trends In Audiovisual Translation. Briston, UK: Multilingual

Matters, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

Mera, Miguel. “Read My Lips: Re-evaluating Subtitling and Dubbing in Europe.” Links

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& Letters 6 (1999). Print.

Putna, Petr. “Rozhovor S Překladatelem Simpsonů Petrem Putnou.” Iprima.cool.cz. 2

Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Ramière, Nathalie. “Reaching a Foreign Audience: Cultural Transfers in Audiovisual

Translation.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 6 (2006): 152-166.

JoSTrans. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.

Simpsonovi. Groening, Matt, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright,

Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer. Prima Cool, Praha. January

2010 - present.

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Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer, Fox, Los Angeles. January

1989 -present.

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8. Summary

8.1. Summary

The purpose of the thesis is to examine the cultural substitution in the show

The Simpsons. The thesis deals with the cultural substitution in two areas of the show - the traditionally American food translations and the translation of the episode titles which include a reference to American (in some cases global) culture.

The theoretical part of the thesis provides sufficient informational background on the topics of the importance of culture in The Simpsons and provides relevant information on audio-visual translation. It explains to the reader why it is important to transfer as much of the source culture into the target language and provides specific examples from The Simpsons to support the ideas.

The analytical part deals with two specific topics - the traditional American kinds of food translation and episode title translations. In the chapter regarding food references, the kinds of food which tend to reappear throughout the show are discussed and the various substitutions used for each kind of food are compared. In the chapter regarding episode titles translations, the two seasons‟ (first and 23rd) episode titles are compared and the changes in the usage of cultural substitution in translation of the episode titles in the nineteen years in between the translation of the two seasons are discussed.

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8.2. Resumé

Účelem této práce bylo prozkoumat kulturní substituci v seriálu Simpsonovi.

Práce se zabývá substitucí ve dvou oblastech seriálu a to v překladu tradičních amerických pokrmů a v překladu názvů epizod, které obsahují odkaz na americkou

(v některých případech světovou) kulturu.

Teoretická část poskytuje dostatečné množství informací o významu kultury v seriálu Simpsonovi a rovněž shrnuje nejrelevantnější informace o audiovizuálním překladu. Vysvětluje čtenáři, proč je důležité přenést co nejvíce ze zdrojového jazyka do jazyka cílového a demonstruje teze na příkladech ze seriálu Simpsonovi.

Analytická část se zabývá dvěma hlavními tématy - překlady názvů tradičních amerických jídel a překlady názvů epizod. V kapitole týkající se překladů názvů jídel byly vybrány ty druhy jídel, které se během seriálu často opakují. Jejich substituce jsou prodiskutovány a porovnány. Kapitola týkající se překladů názvů epizod porovnává názvy epizod dvou vybraných sérií (první a dvacáté třetí) a zjišťuje, zda se použití kulturní substituce při překladu názvů epizod za devatenáct let, které překlady těchto sérií dělí, nějak změnilo.

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