Subtitling humour, constraints and limitations : case study : Mind Your Language sitcom

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show if the untranslatable exists when it comes to translating humour in an audio-visual text. In order to prove the implication of the picture when it comes to translating a sitcom, a detailed study is conducted on the translation from English into Arabic of different cultural and linguistic jokes in the sitcom "Mind your Language" while providing alternative translations when the solutions presented by the subtitler seemed inadequate. The thesis concluded that stepping away from the source text and resorting to creativity can sometimes save a lot of jokes. Still, while in a written text the untranslatable exists or is non- existent for a lot of alternative strategies can be applied, the untranslatable does certainly exist in audiovisual mediums because the boundaries can sometimes be too overwhelming.