An-Najah National University Faculty of Graduate Studies Audience Types in Translating Humor in TV Shows from English into Arabic By Siham Hassan Abu Ya'qoub Supervisor Dr. Abdel Karim Daragmeh Co-supervisor Dr. Nabil Alawi This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Linguistics and Translation, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine. 2013 iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated with gratitude To: My dear parents who supported me emotionally with their blessings and prayers. My husband, Abdul Jaabir, who was so patient and cooperative until this thesis was completed. My four children Ahmad, Akram, Aseel and Muhammad who were very responsible and supportive until I was granted the MA degree. Anyone who reads and appreciates this work iv Acknowledgements First of all, I thank Allah for giving me the patience and the will to fulfill this study as a completion to my master's degree. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Abdel Karim Daragmeh who was very patient and offered me his assistance, support and guidance for the completion of this work. I would also like to heartily thank Dr. Nabil Alawi who loaded me with hope and support without which this work would not have been achieved. Great love and hearty thanks to my husband and my children without whose patience and understanding I would not have been able to pass this crucial period of my life. I deeply thank my parents who supported me with their prayers and blessings. Special thanks go to my brothers and sisters who were proud of me and always encouraged me to go forward. At last, I thank very much my school headmaster Mr. Awni Abdul Hadi, my school colleagues and my dear students for their understanding, support and cooperation until I successfully got my MA degree. v رارقلإا :ناونع لمحت يتلا ةلاسرلا ةمدقم هاندأ ةعقوملا انأ Audience Types in Translating Humor in TV Shows from English into Arabic ةيبرعلا ىلإ ةيزيلجنلإا نم ةينويزفلتلا لامعلأا يف ةيهاكفلا رصانعلا ةمجرت دنع روهمجلا عاونأ هيلا ةراشلإا تمت ام ءانثتساب ,صاخلا يدهج جاتن يه امنإ ةلاسرلا هذه هيلع تلمتشا ام ناب رقا ثحب وأ ةيملع ةجرد يأ لينل لبق نم مدقي مل اهنم ءزج يأ وأ ,لكك ةلاسرلا هذه نأ و ,درو امثيح .ىرخأ ةيثحب وأ ةيملع ةسسؤم يأ ىدل يثحب وأ يملع Declaration The work provided in this thesis, unless otherwise referenced, is the researcher's own work, and has not been submitted elsewhere for any other degree or qualification. Student's name: :بلاطلا مسا Signature: :عيقوتلا Date: :خيراتلا vi Table of Contents No. Content Page Dedication Iii acknowledgement Iv Declaration V Table of contents Vi List of tables Viii Abstract ix Chapter One: Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The statement of the problem 2 1.3 Purpose of the study 6 1.4 Significance of the study 7 1.5 The questions of the study 7 1.6 Thesis chapters 8 Chapter Two: Scope and Methodology 10 2.1 Review of the related literature 10 2.2 Corpus of the study 14 2.3 Data collection 15 2.4 Methodology 15 2.5 Limitations of the study 17 Chapter Three: Translating Humorous TV Shows 18 for Children 3.1 Translating humor for children aged 2-7 24 3.2 Translating humor for ages 7-11 30 3.3 Translating humor for children aged 11-15 45 Chapter four: Audience types and the loss/ compensation strategies in translating humorous 55 family TV shows 4.1 The main characteristics of family humor 60 4.2 Culture specific references 65 4.2.1 Religious references 68 4.2.2 Sexual taboos 74 4.2.3 Social taboos 78 vii 4.2.4 Rhyming words 81 4.2.5 The verbal irony that is just understood by adults 86 Chapter five: Conclusions and Recommendations 92 5.1 Conclusions 92 5.2 Recommendations 98 References 99 صخلملا ب viii List of Table No. Title Page (1) The verbal irony for children aged 7–11 32 (2) The strategies used in the dubbed TV shows 37 (3) Translating cultural references in children shows 40 (4) Humorous incongruities for children aged 11–15 45 (5) Verbal irony in TV shows for 11–15 years old 47 children (6) Technical names in translating children humor 49 (7) Religious terms 69 (8) The sexual taboos 75 (9) Social taboos 78 (10) The rhyming words 82 (11) Verbal irony 87 ix Audience Types in Translating Humor in TV Shows from English into Arabic By Siham Hassan Abu Ya'qoub Supervisor Dr. Abdel Karim Daragmeh Co-supervisor Dr. Nabil Alawi Abstract This study undertakes the issue of translating humor TV shows in relation to audience types and the translation strategies by examining a corpus of seven English-Arabic humor TV shows. Specifically the study identifies the translation strategies adopted in translating children and family humorous TV shows. It also highlights the problematic issues that face any translator when translating such shows. In analyzing the corpus of the humorous TV shows, the researcher adopted a descriptive and analytic approach in which examples were collected, categorized and explained and, in some cases, more appropriate translations were suggested. The analysis demonstrates that using the formal translation strategies does not always give the intended humorous effect and sometimes causes loss in the intended humor. Consequently, the findings showed that translators tend to add, omit, change, or euphemize the source text terms and references to get the intended humorous effect in the target audience in relation to their ages, cognition and culture. 1 Chapter one Introduction 1.1. Introduction Translation has a very important function in exchanging ideas and experiences between different cultures. It is defined by Briggs (2006: 43) as "a form of writing under constraint. Quite straight forwardly, the translator must write the original text again in a language other than the one in which it was originally composed." Translation is, most of the time, considered a significant form of writing for it exposes the target audience to other nations' cultures, traditions and ways of life. On the other hand, translation sometimes causes problems and misunderstandings between the countries of different cultures and languages. If the translator is not efficient enough to render the intended meaning of the source text (henceforth ST), his translation results in a troublesome cultural misunderstanding. In the recent decades, translation has been nearly exposed to every aspect of human life. It was also conducted between most of the world languages including translations between English and Arabic. As English and Arabic come from two different language families, translation from English into Arabic and vice versa is a big challenge for any translator. That means how-well trained the translator is and how well-informing the translation outcomes are.