Why jokes are hard to translate
A joke is more fragile than most kinds of speech. Many depend on a surprise that arrives at exactly the right moment, and many rely on features of one language that do not exist in another. Wordplay translation is therefore one of the most demanding parts of the work, and it is a good example of why translation is rarely a matter of swapping each word for its equivalent.
There are several kinds of humor, and they fail to travel for different reasons.
- Puns. A pun plays on a word that has two meanings or sounds like another word. The second meaning usually does not exist in the target language, so the joke simply disappears.
- Sound-based jokes. Rhymes, alliteration and jokes based on a mispronunciation depend on the sounds of one language.
- Cultural references. A joke about a local politician, a television show or a food may mean nothing to viewers elsewhere. This overlaps with cultural considerations more broadly.
- Register and tone. Sarcasm, understatement and playful insults depend on how people in a given place speak. Some languages are blunter than others, and a rude joke in one may sound shockingly harsh in another.
- Visual and verbal combinations. Some gags rely on what is on the screen at the same moment, such as a sign, a gesture or a lip movement.
The extra constraints of subtitles
Translating a joke in a book allows a footnote or a longer sentence. A subtitle does not. The text is on the screen for only a short time, it has to fit within a small space, and the viewer must read it while following the picture. Reading speed and line length leave little room for explanation.
Timing is the other limit. A joke depends on its punchline arriving at the right instant. A subtitle that shows the whole line at once can give the punchline away before the actor says it, because viewers read ahead. Subtitlers sometimes handle this by splitting a joke across two subtitle cues, so the setup appears first and the punchline appears as it is spoken. How that works is discussed under subtitle timing and the idea of a subtitle cue.
Another special feature of subtitling is that the original audio is still audible. A viewer who knows a little of the source language, or who simply hears the laughter of the cast, can compare the subtitle with the speech. That makes it harder to hide a missing joke and places a premium on an honest, careful solution.
Options translators weigh
When a joke cannot be carried over directly, translators usually consider a short list of strategies. None is always right; the choice depends on the scene and on what the production wants.
1. Translate literally. If the literal meaning is clear and amusing on its own, a direct translation may be fine. For a pun, this usually leaves the viewer with a line that sounds odd, but where the context makes the meaning obvious it can still be the best option.
2. Find an equivalent joke. The translator writes a different pun or joke in the target language that does the same job in the scene, even if the words differ. This can work well but demands creativity, and it must fit what is happening on screen and match the speaker’s character.
3. Compensate elsewhere. If a joke cannot be rescued where it occurs, the translator may add a bit of humor in a nearby line that can carry it. The overall effect on the audience is kept, even though the individual jokes differ. This strategy has to be used carefully, because adding jokes that are not in the original can change the tone.
4. Explain briefly. Occasionally a short gloss makes the point. In standard subtitles this is rare, because of the space limits, and it tends to kill the humor, but it may be acceptable in educational or documentary material.
5. Keep the foreign word. If the pun rests on a particular word that the audience can learn from context, the translator may keep it and let the scene explain. This is related to the question of what to do with untranslated speech.
6. Omit. If nothing fits and the joke is not important to the plot, dropping it is a legitimate decision. A well-timed omission is better than an awkward line that confuses viewers.
Questions that help decide
Experienced translators tend to ask the same questions about each case:
- How important is this joke to the scene, the character or the plot?
- Is the audience likely to know the reference, or can the scene make it clear?
- Does the picture show something that the line depends on?
- How much time and space does the subtitle have?
- Will the target audience find the replacement natural, or forced?
Because answers differ, two good translators can handle the same joke differently, and both can be defensible.
Working with the writer and the client
Humor often matters more to the people who made the program than the translator may realize. For comedy, it helps to have a conversation with the production team or at least to receive notes on intent. A scripted source can help here: translators working from source material in text form can see the writers’ wording and spot wordplay that might be misheard. Notes about running jokes, catchphrases and recurring references help translators across a long series stay consistent, and they can be stored in a term glossary.
When many translators work on one project, an agreed decision about how a recurring joke is handled prevents the same pun from appearing in three different versions across episodes.
Where machines fall short
Automated systems that perform machine translation tend to translate the literal words and miss the joke. They also cannot check whether the replacement fits the picture. Their output can serve as a first draft, but comedy is one of the areas where human reviewers have the clearest advantage. Reviewers who are native speakers of the target language can tell at once if a line lands or falls flat.
A note on tone and offense
Humor that is acceptable in one place can offend in another, particularly jokes about religion, ethnicity, gender or politics. A translator should translate the intent of the joke accurately, without softening or sharpening it on personal initiative. If a line might cause a problem for the intended audience, the right step is to flag it to the project’s editor or client rather than quietly change it. Standards for what may be shown or said differ between countries and platforms, so decisions of this kind are best made with the commissioning team.
The short version
Jokes depend on language, timing and shared knowledge, and subtitles offer little room to explain them. The translator’s task is to recreate the effect where possible, to compensate or drop the joke where not, and to avoid awkward lines that stop the viewer. There is no formula, which is one reason this part of subtitle writing is regarded as a craft.