The Simpsons -Los Simpson: Analysis of an Audiovisual Translation
The Translator, (2003)Abstract
This paper presente a case study of the Spanish translaüon of the famous American TV series 'The Simpsons', focusing on the translation of humour, which is the dominan! textual function ofthe series (Nord 1997). Our analysis draws on Agost 's theoreücalframework (¡999) for the study of audiovisual produc\'ıs, which is in turn based on Hatim and Mason's model (1990). For the purpos es oflhis paper, we have limited our analysis to the categories for the translation of humour advanced by Zabalbeascoa (1992) and Fuentes Luque (2000). Following these modeis, the analysis is divided into three sections: (a) thepragmatic dimensión, where we analyze the contextúa! focus, intentionality and conversational maxims ofthe source text and their translation in the target lext; (b) the semiotic dimensión, where we concéntrate on the translation of ideological and cultural components and intertextual references; and (c) the communicative dimensión, where we analyze use (field, tenor and mode) and user (socio-linguistic) varieties. Our objective is to describe and evalúate the chosen strategies of translation. Our conclusión seems \'ıo confirm the thesis putforward by theorists such as Toury (1995) and Venuti (1995) that the translator in\'ıefvenes actively and creatively in the text to make i\'ı suit his or her own purposes.