Abstract

This article examines how humour can be translated between two different languages and cultures in an audiovisual context through studying the strategies that were used in translating the humour scenes of an English-language sitcom into Arabic. The examination is conducted to better understand the types of humour that exist in an audiovisual context and the strategies of translating English humour into Arabic. The examination uses a case study of the Arabic-dubbed version of Netflix’s American sitcom Fuller House (2016). Netflix dubbed the series in an Egyptian dialect. Data for this study has been collected from Netflix’s original version of Fuller House (2016) and from the Arabic-dubbed version. The types of humour identified in the series were language-based humour and reference-based humour. Language-based humour includes wordplay, puns and the use of language variation like accents and dialects. Reference-based humour includes humour that requires the knowledge about the concept or character being referred to. The translation strategies which were used to translate these types of humour include literal translation, paraphrasing, adaptation, substitution, omission, changing the evocation of the joke and changing the script lines.

Key words: translating humour, translating jokes, dubbing humour, audiovisual humour, audiovisual translation