Translation Strategies of English Humor幽默英语的翻译策略

Abstract： English humor is affected by culture， history and religion. And analyzing English humor can improve one’s humor sense and learn many practical ways of expressing humor. This chapter introduces four common translation skills of English humors.

Key words： humor sense； translation strategies； English humor

摘 要：幽默英语深受文化，历史和宗教的影响。对幽默英语的分析能够帮助提升幽默感并且掌握表达幽默英语的实际方法。本文着重介绍四种主要的幽默英语翻译策略。

关键词：幽默感 翻译策略 幽默英语

1. Literal translation

Literal translation means translating literally. Situational English humor refers to the humor whose words don’t have humorous factors， but if put them in a special situation； it will produce its unique humor charm. For example：

The doctor says， “Ah， I’m glad you are awake. I am afraid that I have some mixed news.”

The man says， “Don’t hold back， Doc， tell me the bad news.”

The doctor says， “It was worse than we thought； we had to amputate your leg.”

The man then asked， “What is the good news then？”

The doctor replies， “The man in the next bed wants to buy your slippers.”

译：医生：“很高兴你终于醒了。我有一个好消息和一个坏消息要告诉你。”

病人：“告诉我实情吧，医生。我先听坏消息。”

医生：“你的病情比我们想象的更糟糕。我们必须对你进行截肢。”

病人：“那好消息呢？”

医生：“隔壁床的病人想要买你的拖鞋。”

In this humor， there is not much background information that misleads people. It is just a simple situational humor. And after target people read it， it will be easy to get the fun.

2. Annotation

Annotation includes two forms： annotation within the text， annotation outside the text. The former means putting the annotated part within the text by using brackets. The latter means adding explained and compensatory texts to the end of the original text by using footnotes.

Donna： He’s so romantic. Every time he speaks to me， he starts with “fair lady”.

Tina： Romantic， my eye. He used to be a bus driver.

（A driver used to say “Fare lady” when he reminds the woman of buying a ticket）

译：多娜：他可真浪漫。每次都叫我淑女。

蒂娜：浪漫？他是个司机。

（注：司机通常在乘客下车提醒乘客买票时说：fare lady。）

In this humor， Donna wrongly listened “fare” to “fair” and thought that the driver is very romantic. If there is not the annotation at the end of this humor， Chinese reader may lose themselves and cannot appreciate the funny effect.

3. Adaptation

Adaptation focuses on purpose language and target people’s language habit by getting rid of original text’s word’s and culture’s bound and adapt the translation to provide target readers fluency verse.

A famed Chinese diplomat attended a gala reception in Washington in the early part of the day. A senate lady， trying to start a polite conversation， asked， “Mr. Wang， what ‘nese’ are you？ Chinese， Japanese， or Javanese？” “Chinese，” he replied， “and you， madam？ What ‘kee’ are you？ Monkey， Donkey， or Yankee？”

译：一位著名的中国外交官出席了上午早些时候在华盛顿举行的招待会。一位女议员喜欢故作文雅，问：“王先生，请问你是什么‘人’？中国人，日本人还是爪哇人？”“中国人。”他回答说，“夫人，你呢？你是什么‘老’？老猴，老驴还是老美？”（王，2006：23 ）

In this humor， translators use adaptation and translate both ‘nese’ and ‘kee’ as people so that target readers can understand this humor.

4. Gain method

Gain method means after translating all original text’s words， gaining some information which are hidden in the original text and the target readers cannot understand. For example：

As I was sitting in a crowded coffee shop， an elderly， well-dressed man walked in and crossed the dining area to where a busy waitress was cleaning dishes from a table. “Where’s a nice place for a retired executive to sit？” the man asked rather pompously. Without looking up and without stopping what she was doing， the waitress answered “Florida” （江，2010：193）

译：我正在一家比较拥挤的咖啡厅喝咖啡，这是一位进来以为穿着体面的男子。他穿过餐厅，走向一个正忙着收拾餐桌的女服务员。“哪里适合一个退休高管坐呢？”他高傲地问道。女服务员低着头并没有停下手中的活，说道：“旅游胜地。”

If Chinese readers don’t know Florida’s hidden meaning， they cannot understand this humor. Therefore， only translate the hidden meaning， to resort， can the same humorous effect be make.

5.Conclusion

With the interesting humor as examples for each translation skill， it is easy to understand every translation skills. If using them correctly， vivid and funny Chinese version of English humors can be seen.

References：

[1] 刘维奇，吕淑文. 话说英语幽默的翻译[J]. 福建论坛，2008（4）

[2] 季传峰. 论英语幽默的不可译性及汉译补偿手段[J]. 安徽文学，2008（9）

[3] 欧阳利峰. 如何翻译幽默[J]. 广东外语外贸大学学报，2002（3）

作者简介：

代奎，男，（1990---- ）四川泸州人，西华师范大学2012级外国语学院硕士研究生，专业：课程与教学论 主要研究方向：英语教学，语言测试。