There is a serious lack of research in the interdisciplinary field of humour in translation. In order to contribute to this field, this thesis discusses the analysis and translation of a humorous...Show moreThere is a serious lack of research in the interdisciplinary field of humour in translation. In order to contribute to this field, this thesis discusses the analysis and translation of a humorous short story by Douglas Adams. Verbally expressed humour, subdivided in verbal and referential humour, is argued to stem from incongruity and more specifically script opposition (Raskin, 1985; Attardo & Raskin, 1991; Attardo, 1994, 2001). The notion of ‘equivalence’ in the field of humour in translation is discussed and several translational procedures for translating verbally expressed humour are explained. The short story, Young Zaphod Plays It Safe (originally published in 1986), is then subjected to a stylistic analysis based on Leech & Short’s (2007) checklist of stylistic and linguistic categories, which shows that Adams’s style is largely characterised by his use of humour. The translation of the short story is accompanied by annotations commenting on important translational choices that affect the style of the text. Referential humour that is not culturally bound is easily transferred, but verbal humour such as puns and register humour poses a problem to the translator, who needs to choose between stylistic or semantic faithfulness. The thesis concludes with the remarks that humour theory lacks a formal set of guidelines for identifying instances of verbally expressed humour; that research in the field of humour in translation should focus on either verbal humour (puns and register humour) or culturally bound referential humour; and that the field of stylistics might be advantaged by a more in-depth analysis of Adams’s idiomatic style.Show less
Recent years have shown an increase of research into audiovisual translation, but the field of audiovisual translation for children remains severely understudied. Academically, this field is...Show moreRecent years have shown an increase of research into audiovisual translation, but the field of audiovisual translation for children remains severely understudied. Academically, this field is understudied because of the low prestige of subtitling in general and children as the audience in particular (O’Connell, 2003). In practice, subtitles for children are uncommon, because children’s programs are often dubbed (O’Connell, 1999). Rhyme for children is not considered a ‘serious’ area of translation in any medium (Nasi, 2012), but combined with subtitles this field has barely received any academic attention. However, scholars in the field of literary translation argue that style and content together form the meaning of a text and therefore style is important to maintain in translation (Boase-Beier, 2014). Consequently, the purpose of this thesis was to identify the stylistic features present in the English original and Dutch translation of the children’s illustrated book The Gruffalo, before creating new, style-centered subtitles to accompany the movie of the same name. A functional analysis based on Nord (2005) showed that the functions of the texts were to entertain children and teach them new elements of language. A linguistic and stylistic analysis after Leech & Short’s checklist (2007) showed that the most important stylistic features in the book and its translation were rhyme, rhythm and repetition. To recreate the functions in translation, the stylistic features needed to be transferred into Dutch. Style-centered subtitles were created in the form of an annotated translation, but it proved difficult to forget about subtitling’s vulnerability: that the audience can hear the original and see the translation at the same time. Nevertheless, I will argue that it is possible to create style-centered subtitles for children, as the annotated translation does contain rhyme, rhythm and repetition.Show less
This study considers the main research gaps that are important for future studies regarding the improvement of the quality of interlingual live subtitling. To identify these gaps, this thesis...Show moreThis study considers the main research gaps that are important for future studies regarding the improvement of the quality of interlingual live subtitling. To identify these gaps, this thesis provides a literature review of the available research on this topic, as well as an updated outline of the current situation of interlingual live subtitling in the Netherlands.Show less
This thesis consolidates the available literature on game localisation into a single, ideal localisation process and compares this ideal process to the localisation of the Massive Multiplayer...Show moreThis thesis consolidates the available literature on game localisation into a single, ideal localisation process and compares this ideal process to the localisation of the Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game Final Fantasy XIV. The main purpose is to identify and discuss any MMO specific localisation issues. Information on the localisation process of Final Fantasy XIV was gained through an interview with the localisation staff, as well as previously available online material. The results show that the localisation of Final Fantasy XIV even exceeds the ideal localisation on several points, and indicates several MMO specific localisation issues: fluctuating team size, the need for uniformity of visual assets in all language versions, short localisation cycles, and how to incorporate player feedback. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the localised versions of the game have influenced the original version in several ways.Show less
This thesis reports on a small-scale online self-completion survey on the opinions on subtitling conventions by Dutch viewers in order to investigate the growing dissatisfaction among Dutch viewers...Show moreThis thesis reports on a small-scale online self-completion survey on the opinions on subtitling conventions by Dutch viewers in order to investigate the growing dissatisfaction among Dutch viewers while watching subtitled television. The intuitions of Dutch lay viewers were compared to the opinions of scholars and professionals. A better understanding of lay perception of subtitling could assist in providing translations that satisfy both lay and professional evaluators. The theory suggested that while guidelines exist for subtitling, there is an increasing amount of people who are concerned about the quality of subtitling. Aside from acknowledging other causes for dissatisfaction, this self-completion survey focused on the possibility that outdated guidelines could be a cause for growing dissatisfaction. The results from the survey remained open to interpretation as the opinions of the participants on the samples presented to them were varied. However, the results do suggest that while the existence of a subtitling standard is appreciated for the sake of consistency and predictability, some specific examples of audiovisual material might benefit from deviating from the prescribed standard. Yet, the data did not provide a conclusive answer on how to implement any changes, and suggested that the changes suggested in this thesis would provide both solutions and problems for a nearly equal number of people.Show less
