One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation”
A heterolingual text is characterised by the presence of two or more different languages, or two or more varieties of the same language (Corrius & Zabalbeascoa 2011: 115). This article discusses possible methods of translating into English of a text containing two varieties of German: Ottokar Do...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies
2019-05-01
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| Series: | The European Journal of Humour Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/386 |
| _version_ | 1831633968671227904 |
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| author | Mary Catherine Frank |
| author_facet | Mary Catherine Frank |
| author_sort | Mary Catherine Frank |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A heterolingual text is characterised by the presence of two or more different languages, or two or more varieties of the same language (Corrius & Zabalbeascoa 2011: 115). This article discusses possible methods of translating into English of a text containing two varieties of German: Ottokar Domma’s Der brave Schüler Ottokar [The Good Schoolboy Ottokar]. In these stories, about a schoolboy growing up in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the 1960s, Domma creates a zone of friction between child narrator Ottokar’s everyday German and the language of GDR officialdom (“official discourse”). This article first shows that following a conventional method of translating a literary text into English does not allow this satire to be conveyed to the reader. It then presents two alternative translational methods — “thick” and creative — that demonstrate how it is helpful, indeed in some cases necessary, for the translator to adopt a broad understanding of “translation” in respect of texts that exploit multilingualism for humorous purposes. It is argued that methods of translating in which effect is privileged over form — which here included introducing multimodality — can serve well to open up heterolingual humour for speakers of other languages. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:45:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-123274ce4c644fd8945cb303ba9f7050 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2307-700X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:45:27Z |
| publishDate | 2019-05-01 |
| publisher | Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The European Journal of Humour Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-123274ce4c644fd8945cb303ba9f70502022-12-21T20:33:52ZengCracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language StudiesThe European Journal of Humour Research2307-700X2019-05-01719110810.7592/EJHR2019.7.1.frank295One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation”Mary Catherine FrankA heterolingual text is characterised by the presence of two or more different languages, or two or more varieties of the same language (Corrius & Zabalbeascoa 2011: 115). This article discusses possible methods of translating into English of a text containing two varieties of German: Ottokar Domma’s Der brave Schüler Ottokar [The Good Schoolboy Ottokar]. In these stories, about a schoolboy growing up in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the 1960s, Domma creates a zone of friction between child narrator Ottokar’s everyday German and the language of GDR officialdom (“official discourse”). This article first shows that following a conventional method of translating a literary text into English does not allow this satire to be conveyed to the reader. It then presents two alternative translational methods — “thick” and creative — that demonstrate how it is helpful, indeed in some cases necessary, for the translator to adopt a broad understanding of “translation” in respect of texts that exploit multilingualism for humorous purposes. It is argued that methods of translating in which effect is privileged over form — which here included introducing multimodality — can serve well to open up heterolingual humour for speakers of other languages.https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/386official discoursesatire"thick" translationcreative translationmultimodality |
| spellingShingle | Mary Catherine Frank One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” The European Journal of Humour Research official discourse satire "thick" translation creative translation multimodality |
| title | One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” |
| title_full | One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” |
| title_fullStr | One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” |
| title_full_unstemmed | One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” |
| title_short | One text, two varieties of German: fruitful directions for multilingual humour in “translation” |
| title_sort | one text two varieties of german fruitful directions for multilingual humour in translation |
| topic | official discourse satire "thick" translation creative translation multimodality |
| url | https://www.europeanjournalofhumour.org/index.php/ejhr/article/view/386 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marycatherinefrank onetexttwovarietiesofgermanfruitfuldirectionsformultilingualhumourintranslation |