A Study on E—C Sitcom Wordplay Translation from Functional Equivalence Theory

高远++孟晴++王瀛

【Abstract】Nowadays numerous foreign films began to flow into China. With attractive foreign culture and relaxing daily life scene， the sitcom has entertained a large group of Chinese people. How to translate them successfully to make numerous Chinese audiences understand them has long been a debatable topic in the translation circle. This paper will focus on sitcoms wordplay translation under Nadas functional equivalence theory and take classic scenes in Friends as examples.

【Key words】Sitcom； Humor； Wordplay； Translation Strategy

I. Introduction

Sitcom， originating in the West， is popular particularly in Britain， United States and China. Because its three presentation techniques： exaggeration， misunderstanding and coincidence， figures of speech， it triggers laugh， and thus the reason why its popular among native speakers.（Yang Min， 2005） Humor plays a critical role in making and enjoying the general effect of a sitcom. It is very natural that humor in translation becomes the most decisive factor to the translation. Numerous overseas sitcoms are now entering Chinese market， but subtitle translation is still a comparatively new field where few work has been done. Chinese scholars have tried to explore sitcom subtitle translation， but most are too general and vogue and cannot be set as standards.

Functional equivalence is taken as a key criterion for assessing humor translation. If the translation cannot make the target audience appreciate the play in the way the source audience does， it should be regarded as a failure. Therefore， sitcom translators are often faced with the task to translate the seemingly untranslatable humor while not reducing the effect.

II. Functional Equivalence Theory

Eugene A. Nidas “functional equivalence” theory attempts to convey the thought expressed in original text， and avoids strict adherence to the original text in favor of a more natural rendering in the target language. The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it. “Since all communication moves from source to receptor， what is strategically important is the message received by the audience” （Nida， 1993： 116）. The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did. Nidas theory of the functional equivalence places the audiences response above all other elements. In his opinion， it is quite possible to find equivalence between languages and the cultures.

Although it is very difficult to determine how the original readers comprehended the sitcoms， and no translation is ever completely equivalent， different translations can in fact represent varying degrees of equivalence. “Equivalence cannot be understood in its mathematical meaning of identity， but only in terms of proximity， i.e. on the basis of degrees of closeness to functional identity.” （Nida， 1998： 117）

There are four points we can sum up from Nidas theory and implemented in subtitle translation：

1. “Meaning” is more important than “Form”

2. “Style” match

3. Receptors “Natural” response

4. Absolute equivalence is impossible by “Closest equivalence” due to language and culture differences

On basis of Nidas theory， we can now identify the adequacy of translation in sitcoms. The paper will use Friends as an example in the following text.

III. The Translation on Wordplay in Friends

3.1 Wordplay

Wordplay， which is also known as the Language Game， is a game based on the languages characteristic. Different dictionaries and scholars have given various definitions of Wordplay， but one common feature of Wordplay could be “wit”， and just like Gottlieb said in 1997， the definition is quite indistinct. Because of the complexity and diversity， this paper will not discuss the definition of Wordplay， but shorten its range to sitcoms and highlight the following two points.

First， although not all Wordplays have the function of humor， its still a “play of word”. This paper is to investigate the humor of humorous effects or funny Wordplays. The paper will survey the humor of Wordplay by applying of linguistic skills. Second， it is necessary for translators to respectively deal with different Wordplays of various types. During the survey of translating Wordplay， due to its different performing forms， translators have varied trouble in relative confines. The range of Wordplay used by sitcoms is relatively narrow. Meanwhile， because most sitcoms are based on popularity， catering for the taste of popularity and the need that requires the audience to laugh in short time， so the Wordplay always avoids the complexity or too much heavy of audiences understanding of linguistic recognition.

As for the usage， Sweden scholar Schroter conclude nine commonly used Wordplay methods aimed at seven English or American comedies； it includes the misunderstanding， rhyming， the new words made in limited situations and abbreviations of phrases， English grammars， etc.（Schroter 2004） These Wordplays also exist more in sitcoms. This paper mainly surveys the four commonly used Wordplays： pun， rhyme， spoonerism， and dialects and foreign languages.

3.2 Translation Strategies on Wordplay in the Sitcom Friends

Friends， a popular American sitcom with typical New York style. It includes the general characteristics of a sitcom： witty dialogues， pretty characters and their exaggerated performance. For us Chinese people， we appreciate this play not only because we can learn language and culture， but also because we can find the same emotion elements in it. The function of subtitle is to enhance the similarity and change the difference， which is also the same idea as Nida put.

The humor made by wordplay is a challenge to the linguistic culture and association of receivers. Such humor is completely made by characters of languages， and sometimes cannot be interpreted. There is much difference between English and Chinese in aspects of phonetics， language forms and word order， so translation from humor of English wordplay to Chinese is a significant problem.

The different methods translators adopted have a significant effect on humor effects in translation. In few situations， non-wordplay translation may also have expectable effects to audience and similar effects as the source wordplay. However， nothing can bring more into play than the language of translation itself in wordplay that brings humor. Because of the great difference between languages and cultures， if you want to find out the same wordplay to be matched in English， its not practical. So， translators have to utilize other methods， considering firstly how to maintain the same humor effects as much as possible.

3.2.1 Pun

Oxford English Dictionary defines pun as “the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations， or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings， so as to produce a humorous effect”.

Example：

Nina： You wanted to see me？

Chandler： Yes. I was reviewing your data. Youve been postdating your Friday numbers.

Nina： Which is bad. Because？

Chandler： Well， it throws my WENUS out of whack.

Nina： Excuse me， WENUS？

Chandler： WENUS-Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics.

Nina： Oh， right， Gotcha. It wont happen again. I wouldnt do anything to hurt your WENUS.

妮娜：你想要見我？

钱德勒：是的，你迟交了周五数字报告。

妮娜：有什么问题么？

钱德勒：唉，我的WENUS啊。

妮娜：“维纳斯”？

钱德勒：哦，是“周评估净值”的缩写。

妮娜：明白了，我以后会按时交，不会再伤害你的“WENUS”。

In this example， WENUS has two meanings： “Venus”， and “Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics”. Chandler used this word to show Nina what she is to him—as perfect and beautiful as a goddess. He used this way to express that hes not satisfied with her postdated numbers， and wished her never do it again. But to say it straight can be hurting， so he chose to use pun. Apparently， Nina got his message. In this situation， when we aim to emphasis both meanings， we need to keep it the original form. Besides， if we aim to focus on one specific meaning， wed better translate it independently which fits the “Natural” elements in Nidas theory.

3.2.2 Rhyme

As Wikipedia defines， “A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs”. The rhyme in dialogue of sitcom often aims to create the sense of humor through employing alliteration， consonance， and coordination with the rhythm.

Example：

Phoebe： Because at that time you see， I thought everything that rhymed was true. So I thought y know that if Id work with stocks， Id have to live in a box， and only eat lox， and have a pet fox.

菲比：因为我当时还很相信押韵这回事。我觉得要是我做股票，就得住地窖，只能吃安眠药，养三脚猫.

In this example， to express the same humor， the translator used the free translation. Based on rhyme， the weirder the word we choose， the better the effect is， for we need to build a “Phoebe”. This example indicates that， in rhyme translation， free translation is better than literal translation. This can be a very important example to show “Meaning” is more important than “Form” in Nidas theory.

3.2.3 Spoonerism

The exchange of the first syllable is also called spoonerism： speakers exchanged the first syllable or parts of two or more than two words inadvertently， which leads to effects of oral humor. It is common in western languages like English to exchange the first syllable. As a mistaken linguistic phenomenon， it is often used to make japes.

Example：

Joey： Okay， Ross， look-look-look-look， look right here. Thats called a scrum， okay？Its kind of like a huddle.

Ross： And is a hum， kind of like a scruddle？

喬伊：好，罗斯，看，看，看这儿。这叫“对阵开球”，明白吗？很多人挤成一团。

罗斯：恩……这叫“对阵人团”。

Here， Ross changed the meanings between “scrum” and “huddle” on purpose to relieve the tension of attending football. It is believed that the exchange of first syllable is based on the English phonology， “there is no term in Chinese to match” （Xupeng 1996） ， so it is difficult to copy the wordplay by the surface of syllable. The elementary unit in Chinese is character with meanings， and phrase based on characters is the common method to have Chinese humor， same as English， which presents unbelievable effects.

3.2.4 Dialect and Foreign Language

Dialect and foreign language are widely used as most useful means of induced laughter in China's comedy. In the US sitcom. English variants and foreign languages are frequently used by writers as means of speech-induced laughter. Sometimes there are several actors who are native speaker inadvertently or deliberately mimic the use of English variants of the phenomenon. In addition， some dialogue in comedy scenes will also appear to be mixed language. We will take Joeys stage show as an example.

Example：

Joey： （On stage in an Austrian accent） Vell， Eva， weve done some excellent vork here， and I vould have to say， your pwoblem is qviiite clear.

乔伊：伊娃，我们有不凑的进展——version 1

（我们有不错的进展）——version 2

老俗说，你的困老很清此

（老实说，你的困扰很清楚）

If we choose to translate it into version two， the sentences wont be funny at all. In most cases， to translate the original scenes varieties of accents to another language will inevitably lose a certain artistic features of the original. How the Chinese audience feel it depends on their familiarity in source language pronunciation and intonation as well as the recognition of the persons status. In this case Joey has to change into the Austrian accent. Voice-level variation with physical performance will certainly make the audience laugh. The version 1 successfully conveys the message， but it requires some time. So its better to combine version 1 with 2， and audience will laugh in a second.

Conclusion

To achieve good translation of humor by wordplay， we should follow the principle of translation： remaining the original purpose of sources and meanwhile creating the humor effect in Chinese translation version. This paper mainly concerns the wordplay in sitcom and the relative translation devices and discusses the limitation and how to deal with it. The purpose of translation is to decrease the distance between the original text and the target language. The paper uses Friends as a medium， and applies Nidas Equivalence Theory to wordplay translation. It is proved that an excellent sitcom translator should transfer the message of the source text and the humorous effect expressed in the source language at the same time. It is necessary for a subtitle translator to choose translation strategies flexibly and try to enhance the acceptability of the translated version， and should try the best to reach the “maximal purpose” as Nida put： to produce approximately the same impact on the target language receptor as what the original does upon the original receptor.

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