Translating humour requires an adaptation to the culture of the target countries.
Conveying humour does not consist only in translating a text, but also in understanding
the spirit of the author. Otherwise, a comic situation may be lost in translation. Things
arguably get even more complicated when it comes to translating multilingual texts.
After a review of the main translation theories, extracts from Tom Woolf’s and Kazuo
Ishiguro’s works were analysed together with their Spanish translation during this twoday seminar, revealing that misunderstood humour can be inadequately translated.
16-17 marzo 2022