Title: Difficulties in Translation of a TV Series Community by Dan Harmon and Proposals of their Solution Author: Ewa Drab Citation style: Drab Ewa. (2014). Difficulties in Translation of a TV Series Community by Dan Harmon and Proposals of their Solution. „Między Oryginałem a Przekładem” (T. 23, 2014, s. 45-60), DOI: 10.12797/MOaP.20.2014.23.04 DOI: 10.12797/MOaP.20.2014.23.04 Ewa Drab University of Silesia [email protected] Difficulties in Translation of a TV Series Community by Dan Harmon and Proposals of their Solution The TV series industry has been having an immense impact on the devel- opment of the audiovisual translation field and, therefore, it has attracted attention of translation theorists, who find it important to study the dif- ficulties generated by the television input. As Pilar Orero puts it in her article Audiovisual Translation: A New Dynamic Umbrella [2004: vii- -viii]: „This made me realize how little is known and how much is to be done to put Screen Translation, Multimedia Translation or the wider field of Audiovisual Translation on a par with other fields within Translation Studies”. But she also pinpoints the fact that with technological progress the field deserves a crucial place within translation studies, since all the changes „have changed paper oriented society towards media oriented society”. And much has been done since then, though research is open and the works progress toward further understanding of this particular field of translation, not only in Anglophone countries, but also in Poland. The best example would be the work by Michał Garcarz about the trans- lation of slang in TV productions, Przekład slangu w filmie. Telewizyjne przekłady filmów amerykańskich na język polski (2007). Television, and especially sitcoms, or in other words situation comedies, „a comedy series involving the same characters in various day­‑to­‑day situations” [„Sitcom”, on­‑line], with live audience response, has made translators study the enormous amounts of text spiked with 46 Ewa DRAB jokes, cultural commentaries and allusions, especially difficult to render in translation. Therefore, it seems essential for the study of the field to look into the difficulties and strategies available in the process of translat- ing a sitcom filled with cultural and humorous references. The example which is to serve the purpose of illustrating the analysis is Dan Harmon’s Community, launched in 2007. The reason for using the series is connect- ed to its linguistic richness and style opulence, hence perfect to present the possible difficulties of this particular show’s translation. The cultural references in the series which might cause problems are usually connota- tions of popular culture – films, music, games, media, celebrities, famous quotes – and of the characteristics of the American reality, such as edu- cational system, holidays, politics, geography, cuisine. It is then crucial to choose the right method of translating such a cultural item in order to establish a bridge of understanding between two cultures. Audiovisual translation may be defined as a translation type effectu- ated on a material merging text with image, which means mainly films, but also video games or any other visual presentations, like theatre or multimedia, for example audiodescription. The same techniques help translating radio auditions as well [Orero, 2004: viii]. Audiovisual trans- lation corresponds to subtitling, dubbing and voice over, the last being popular exclusively in Poland and Russia [Belczyk, 2007: 7­‑10 or To- maszkiewicz, 2007: 106­‑116]. The present study focuses on subtitles since they remain the most popular and universal way of translating the film or television dialogues. Subtitles include text written at the bottom of the screen, which must be adjusted to how fast human eyes can follow it [Tomaszkiewicz, 2007: 112]. Consequently, audiovisual translation poses difficulties usually due to the lack of space. The limited number of characters which can appear onscreen makes it impossible for the translator to use footnotes, defini- tional extensions, explanations or other space­‑taking methods of dealing with translational difficulties. Fortunately, the image helps in expressing what is expected to be expressed in language, consequently allowing the translator to refer to the onscreen events. But still, it is not always pos- sible, especially when cultural references and humor hinder the produc- tion of an adequate translation, equal in spirit and character. In a written text the difficulty of translating those elements would be diminished and depend on the translator’s experience. It would be so Difficulties IN Translation… 47 thanks to the possibility of applying techniques, which, unfortunately, become useless in the film translation. When approaching cultural items in the text which is deprived of a direct equivalent in the target language, it is possible to use several helpful strategies. One of the solutions at hand is a footnote or a commentary, which develops the thought in- cluded in the main text and explains the relations between the contents of a given passage and the cultural background providing the extended meaning. The thought can get elaborated in the main text as well, not in a form of an isolated commentary, but as a definitional extension [To- maszkiewicz, Pisarska, 1996: 127 or Vinay, Darbelnet, 1995], yet its use is limited to definitions and brief development of the main reflection since this particular technique allows to extend the utterance in order to provide, usually after a comma, an explanation within the text. Footnotes, commentaries and definitional extensions are valid solely in the translation of works consisting only of text. However, there are strategies which prove suitable both in written translation and audio- visual translation. It is possible to use generalization, explanation through paraphrasing, items addition or extension, adaptation and omis- sion [Belczyk, 2007: 96­‑103]. To generalize is to employ a wider cat- egory which determines the designate, yet does not indicate exactly the same spectrum of meaning, for example a product brand unknown in the target culture may be called by the general name of the product’s category, which remains universal. Usually the method of generaliza- tion has many common elements with explanation through paraphras- ing. It means a replacement of a problematic term or name with a pas- sage which would clarify what the character speaking had in mind. In the same group of strategies is included items addition or extension, which refer to adding a brief illustration of the main term. It might ap- pear helpful especially with abbreviations, or more precisely acronyms, especially those less common, such as SAS, an acronym to which it is recommended to add an explanatory word, for example komandosi in a Polish version or soldats in a French version, which would narrow the understanding of the word to soldiers, a special force unit. Therefore, it is close to definitional extension in written texts, but adapted to the demands of audiovisual translation. Adaptations [Tomaszkiewicz, Pisarska, 1996: 131] and omissions should be deemed avoidable as the first one erases the exotic flavor 48 Ewa DRAB from the original contents and makes it more familiar, which is not a solution when the priority remains to highlight the otherness; and the second one appears to be the easiest way of shedding the burden of responsibility for the translated text, also a part of work as a transla- tor. Nonetheless, adaptation sometimes seems inevitable, especially if it is not the foreign culture which triggers humor and stands in the center of the focus. Omission is equally permitted, usually in cases of interjections or elements which bear no great value to the meaning nor to the humor. They are close in use to summaries, applied to pas- sages in dialogues which can be summarized with a short expression compiling everything that has been said and providing space and time for viewers to absorb the meaning. It is then important to remember that even without adaptations or omissions the translation will always suffer from losses or shifts of meaning. The main task is to make them as little as possible. The tool of achieving it might be rooted in the awareness that translating means joining two cultures with the means of the language, the knowledge of culture and by assuming a role of the mediator. As Juan José Martínez­‑Sierra claims in his article Building Bridges Between Cultural Studies and Translation Studies: With Reference to the Audiovisual Field [2010] the translator’s role as an intercultural expert or mediator is even more visible in audiovisual translation than in any other culturally­‑angled text. In consequence, in order to translate Com- munity or any other movie or TV show, it is of vital importance not only to be familiar with cultural references and the cultural background of the show, also present in language itself, but to be, as Sierra puts it an in- tercultural expert, which means that focusing on investigating a foreign culture does not suffice. Definitely, translators, if they want to excel in delivering equally funny and witty dialogues as they are in the original version, must also probe into their own culture and language so that they are able to link meanings, juggle with references, choose swiftly the best options. And this way translators fulfill the premise formulated by Hans­‑Georg Gadamer [1993: 324] who called the process of translating getting from one river bank to the other, crossing from one land to the other. The pas- sage remains a feat, yet still feasible. Therefore, the translator connects two cultures and makes the otherness understandable, at the same time Difficulties IN Translation… 49 taking care not to destroy what it is prioritized to convey. It was also Mary Snell­‑Hornby who called the process of translation a cross­‑cultural process.