Universiteit Gent The translation of wordplay in fansubs and original subtitles A comparative study Promotor: Prof. Dr. Klaas Willems Copromotor: Dr. Ludovic De Cuypere Vakgroep Duits, afdeling Algemene taalwetenschap Nakita Verbruggen [email protected] Master Engels – Zweeds (2009-2010) Doolaegepark 8, 9070 Destelbergen Abstract The origin of fansubs lies in anime, a very sophisticated and popular Japanese form of motion-picture animation. As the popularity of anime increased outside Japan a need for subtitles emerged. This need was originally met by American anime fans who were proficient in both Japanese and English. Since the coming of the internet the creation of fansubs has boomed and other types of motion picture are now receiving subtitles by their fans. More and more people venture to translate series or films out of discontent with the original subtitles or just out of interest. This paper investigates the differences between the original Dutch subtitles and the fansubs of the tv-series Fawlty Towers and Monty Python’s Flying circus as well as the movie series Shrek in the hope that it will reveal two totally different approaches to translating subtitles and will result in a greater understanding of fansubs. This might result in a greater appreciation for them and might even lead to some changes in perception of what a subtitle should be and do. I focus in particular on the translation of puns to find differences between original subtitles and fansubs. The wordplay and its various translations are categorised using primarily Delabastita’s categorisation model found in his There’s a double tongue (1993). The central question in this paper is: do fansubs translate more puns into puns than official subtitles or not? The results of this paper suggest first of all that the original subtitles translate more puns into puns than fansubs, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, that there are striking differences between the three different fansubs, which makes it difficult to draw general conclusions about the “typical” fansub. 2 Index 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................5 1.1 Introduction to the corpus...................................................................................5 1.2 The cultural specificity of humour.......................................................................6 1.3 The corpus..........................................................................................................7 1.4 Theoretical and methodological positioning.......................................................8 1.5 Hypotheses.........................................................................................................8 2 Status quaestionis......................................................................................................9 2.1 Subtitling.............................................................................................................9 2.1.1 General..........................................................................................................9 2.1.2 Subtitling humour..........................................................................................9 2.2 Fansubs............................................................................................................10 2.2.1 General........................................................................................................10 2.2.2 Process.......................................................................................................10 2.2.3 Illegal...........................................................................................................10 2.3 Wordplay...........................................................................................................11 2.3.1 Definition and categorisation.......................................................................11 2.3.2 (Un)translatability........................................................................................14 2.4 Translation techniques......................................................................................15 2.4.1 General........................................................................................................15 2.4.2 Translating wordplay: Delabastita...............................................................15 2.4.3 Translating idioms: Veisbergs.....................................................................17 3 Theoretical background............................................................................................17 4 Methodology.............................................................................................................17 5 Research..................................................................................................................18 5.1 Categorisation in general..................................................................................18 5.1.1 Categorisation of wordplay: Delabastita and Veisbergs.............................18 5.1.2 Categorisation of translation: Delabastita...................................................22 5.2 Categorisation of Fawlty Towers......................................................................25 5.2.1 Categorisation of wordplay in Fawlty Towers.............................................25 5.2.2 Categorisation of translation in Fawlty Towers...........................................27 5.2.3 Combination of wordplay and translation in Fawlty Towers.......................31 5.2.4 Combination of all the tables and all the translations in Fawlty Towers.....34 5.3 Categorisation of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (MPFC).................................36 5.3.1 Categorisation of wordplay in MPFC..........................................................36 5.3.2 Categorisation of translation in MPFC........................................................39 5.3.3 Combination of wordplay and translation in MPFC....................................41 5.3.4 Combination of all the tables and all the translations in MPFC..................44 5.4 Categorisation of Shrek....................................................................................45 5.4.1 Categorisation of wordplay in Shrek...........................................................45 5.4.2 Categorisation of translation in Shrek.........................................................47 5.4.3 Combination of wordplay and translation in Shrek.....................................51 5.4.4 Combination of all the tables and all the translations in Shrek...................53 5.4.5 Comparing the Flemish subtitles with the Dutch subtitles in Shrek the Halls ..............................................................................................................................55 5.5 Categorisation of the entire corpus...................................................................57 5.5.1 Categorisation of wordplay of the entire corpus.........................................57 5.5.2 Categorisation of translation of the entire corpus.......................................60 3 5.5.3 Combination of wordplay and translation in the entire corpus....................63 5.5.4 Combination of all the tables and all the translations in the entire corpus. 66 6 Conclusion................................................................................................................69 7 References...............................................................................................................72 4 1 Introduction The goal of this thesis is to examine the differences between the original Dutch subtitles and the fansubs (subtitles made by fans and put on the internet) of Fawlty Towers, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and most of the Shrek movies (Shrek 2, Shrek the third and Shrek the Halls). I will focus in particular on their translation of wordplay. My hypothesis is that wordplay demands a creative approach from the translator and the general notion is that untrained amateurs dare to be more creative than trained professionals. Furthermore, reasons for the differences between fansubs and official subtitles will be proposed. 1.1 Introduction to the corpus My corpus consists of the tv-series Fawlty Towers and Monty Python’s Flying Circus (MPFC) and the movie series Shrek (excluding the first Shrek and including Shrek the Halls). These series are selected on their diversity, on the fact that they contain wordplay and the presence of fansubs on the internet. They are also connected by the person John Cleese, who participates in all three series. Cleese co-wrote Fawlty Towers with Connie Booth and plays the leading role in the series, viz. the hotel owner Basil. He also helped to write Monty Python’s flying circus and plays different roles in the series. In Shrek Cleese is the voice of the king of “Far Far Away”. Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom by the BBC and consists of two seasons of six episodes each. The first series was broadcasted on BBC2 in 1975, the second (on the same channel) in 1979. The show centres around four characters. The first and main character is Basil Fawlty, a snobbish hotel owner who aspires to become part of the higher class by means of his hotel “Fawlty Towers”. His wife, Sybil Fawlty, helps Basil to manage the hotel. She is more effective than Basil in running the hotel, but seems to care less about the hotel as she chats away with friends on the phone during busy hours. A third and important character is