Brief Analysis of English Humor and Its Translation 浅析英语幽默极其翻译.doc

contents1. introduction12. general analysis of english humor12.1 definition of english humor22.2 features of english humor22.3 manifestation of english humor32.3.1 using different forms of figures of speech32.3.2 deriving from the transcultural communication42.3.3 with unexpected endings52.4 classification of english humor52.4.1 english humor caused by phonological ambiguity52.4.2 english humor caused by syntactic ambiguity62.4.3 english humor caused by oral communication73. translation of english humor73.1 translation principles used in english humor73.1.1 transgression of cooperative principle73.1.2 relevance theory83.2 common methods used in english humor93.2.1. literal translation93.2.2 inductive translation103.2.3 functional translation123.2.4 annotation134. conclusion14bibliography15brief analysis of english humor and its translation1. introductionthe connection of china and the world becomes increasingly close, which stimulates frequent communication in politics, economy and culture. language, as a necessary tool for communication, plays an important role in our daily life. english humor is a special language art form that influences our lives deeply. friedrich engels (恩格斯) once believed that humor was consisted of the performance of wisdom and superiority in morals, and it required to be inspired by higher speculative ability and affluent imagination. english humor reflects the english characteristics and rules, which is not only related to the complicated and implicit language expressions, but also some given culture, history and social natural law. the study of english humor has been a long history. most of the scholars both from aboard and home study it from different aspects, such as literature, art, sociology, logic, linguistics psychology and so on. however, not very many scholars specialize in the translation of english humor. as we know, understanding and appreciating of english humor are vital in translation of english humor, which definitely require strong language ability, reasoning ability and profound culture quality. therefore, in order to easily understand and translate english humor, it is necessary to grasp the typical features of english humor. in view of this, the following parts will discuss some strategies and skills in translating english humor.2. general analysis of english humor humor appears in books, magazines, movies, oral communications and tv shows. the successful interpretation of humor can bring laughter, relieve anxieties and improve peoples relationship. generally, when we are confronted with humorous language we dont have the urge to laugh. why? there are three reasons. to begin with, we are not familiar with the english culture. secondly, we are short of the method and mentality to understand and appreciate it. last but not least, we dont understand the characteristics and manifestations of english humor. in order to understand english humor, it relies not only on the understanding of the literal meaning, but also the implied meaning. the former is easy to grasp by native language speaker for it is separated from the language itself. while achieving the latter requires the reason and integration of concepts. in order to appreciate english humor, we should at the very beginning realize the contradiction among speech act, behavior and incident, and then keep appropriate mental distance. finally, we must have a good grasp of reading rhythm. the splendid part of humor is always placed at the end, so in reading or listening, we should pay more attention to having a pause to spare space to understand, which will help to possess the humorous effect. thus humor is an interesting language phenomenon that deserves attention and study. 2.1 definition of english humorresearchers past and present have put forward varied definitions about humor, but there is no consensus about it. its not easy to give coincident definition of humor owing to its abundant denotation and connotation. a good definition includes the quality to release laughter, the perceivers ability to be aware of , humorous effect, and, most importantly, the nature of humor. in longman dictionary of contemporary english (2009), humor is defined as: a. the ability to understand and enjoy what is funny and makes people laugh; b. the quality of causing amusement.where there is an act of humor, there must exist human participants who are capable of producing and noticing what is funny and laughable. besides, there must be something happening or a funny stimulus which can amuse people. i consider that trying to be laughable or amusing is the essence of humor. so a sense of humor may be defined as a mental quality to produce, perceive and appreciate the utterance or action where amusements exist. 2.2 features of english humorhumor is a special language art which decorates our daily life. the language form is concise, and the plot is mild and indirect. the witty and interesting contents make people cannot suppress a smile. english humor not only reflects the features and rules of the language, but inspires reader to contemplate after the laughter, which due to rich and varied national culture that involves profound life philosophic theory. the following examples will show these viewpoints. one day, the king asked avanti(阿凡提), “if gold is placed on you left side and truth on the right side, which one will you choose?” “majesty, i choose gold.” avanti said. “how foolish you are,” the king laughed, “the treasure is nothing. however, it is difficult to get truth. truth values most. if i were you, i would choose truth.” “majesty, you are totally right.” avanti said, “what you lack is what you need. each is in his proper place.” (各得其所) this joke typically presents the artistic features of english humor and its profound and deep connotation. every single sentence itself seems like a puzzle and all the answers are full of extended meanings. the whole meanings reveal the main idea of the hero. we can see that what avanti means is that the king is the pathetic one who is lack of truth (wisdom or brains). he wanted to make fun of avanti. however, avanti realized that and found a way to fight back. on one hand, his answers didnt offend the king so he wont be punished. on the other hand, he satirized the king who hadnt even realized it. however, readers can see through it and end this story with laughter.2.3 manifestation of english humor as we know that english humor is a special language phenomenon. the language itself may be not so humorous, but it will produce humorous effect only when it is used in given language context. it is necessary for us learners to know about the commonly used manifestations of english humor: using different figures of speech; deriving form the translation communication; with unexpected endings. 2.3.1 using different forms of figures of speech language is a tool to express what one thinks and make most of rhetoric which is the art of language expression. the speaker can rely on different figures of speech to make the abstract questions be more specific, symbolizing and deep-going. these polished language art forms are effective ways to create humor. we can find them everywhere. pun: it is an important and common figure of speech used in english humor, which ingeniously uses partial tone and ambiguous words to make the expression more implicit and mild. it takes advantage of one word or sentence that relates to two objects which include two meanings, one is the literal meaning, the other is extended meaning. however, the extended meaning is the main idea. so the humorous effect comes about.eg.1 two fish are swimming in atlantic ocean, suddenly, the great shadow covers them. first fish: “what a shadow! what can it be?”second fish: “thats the bottom of queen elizabeth.”first fish: “god, save the king!”in this example, “bottom” has two meanings. the literal meaning is the bottom of a ship, and the extended meaning is peoples buttocks. the first fish understands that the huge “bottom” is the queens buttocks so thats why the first fish shows its sympathy for the king. we are touched by its cute answers.quick wit: its a kind of art used when people are in trouble, which needs wisdom and quick mind.eg.2 a small boy leading a donkey passed by an army camp. a couple of soldiers wanted to fool the little boy. “why are you holding on to your brother so tightly for, sonny?” asked one of the soldiers.” “so he wont join the army.” the lad answered without blinking his eyes.oh, how brilliant the boy is. the soldiers intended to humiliate the boy by calling him donkey. the boy was so brave and smart that he answered back without straight-forward words. his answer made the soldiers have nothing to say and brought disgrace on the soldiers own head.hyperbole: we can also use hyperbole to express extreme feelings. here is an advertisement which is very impressive.“ahhhh, the jet age. breakfast in paris, dinner in h.k, and luggage in peoria.” it delivers us a message that traffic today is so convenient and high-speed that we can go whatever we want in a very short time. at first sight, we maybe find it funny, but when we think twice, we think its reasonable.2.3.2 deriving from the transcultural communicationwhen people with different cultural background, custom and language communicate with each other, they are inclined to confront cultural shocks and cultural humor owing to their own cultural gap. as a result, many humors are derived from transcultural communication. for instance, in the movie joy luck club, waverlys boyfriend rich is going to visit his mother-in-law who is sharp-tongued and hard to please. for this reason waverly had told him how to behave so as to try and make a favorable impression on her family, especially her mother. at first, everything is smooth, but when dinner time is coming, something goes wrong. waverly forgot to tell rich the chinese table manners. when food is served on the table, he helps himself to the dish and ignores others. to make things worse, the last dish is waverlys mothers best dish but rich blows it. as usual, whenever waverlys mother serves her best dish, she always says that this dish is not salty enough, no flavor, its too bad to eat, but please! but he takes it and thinks that the dish may be really awful. he says,“you know, lindo, all it need is soy sauce.” without any surprise, he get a bad impression.in this example, what impresses me most is the culture gap in daily life. foreigners have little knowledge about our chinese complicated table manners, so they tend to make mistakes during dinner. its chinese tradition that senior starts eating then the others can start, which shows politeness and respect. rich doesnt know it. he helps himself during the dinner. another mistake is that our chinese are modest especially when talking about what we are really good at. however, rich doesnt know that. he thinks lindo said the dish is not salty enough, its true. so he adds soy sauce which totally ruins the delicious dish. at this scene, we burst into laughter and worry about rich.2.3.3 with unexpected endingsno matter what types of humor are, they have something in common, that is, they will lead people to change thinking pattern. in the process of creating humor, speakers will always illustrate a situation from some certain point of view, and then suddenly guide readers to see the situation from a completely converse viewpoint. many humors begin with straight and plain narration which readers are used to thinking it in a normal way. however, when it comes to the end, the writer changes the plot that beyond readers imagination. for example, in the novel the cop and the anthem by o.henry, the hero soapy tries every means to attract the policemans attention in order to be thrown into prison. but he cannot get his wishes come true. finally, he sits in front of a church hearing the anthem and makes up his mind to turn over a new leaf. to his surprise, it is then that he is caught by policeman and sent into prison. this kind of humor not only has a strong sense of satire but also prompts us to deep thought.2.4 classification of english humorthere are many kinds of humor caused by different factors. we can classify them into three kinds in order to get a clear and better understanding: english humor caused by phonological ambiguity; english humor caused by syntactic ambiguity; english humor caused by oral communication.2.4.1 english humor caused by phonological ambiguitythere are so many homonyms in english. we use the same pronunciation of two different words to achieve the unexpected and humorous effect. it is a very common way to generate laughter. eg.1 “my daughter has arranged a little piece for the piano.” “good, its about time we had a little peace.”in this case, “piece” and “peace” have the same pronunciation. in this context, host wants to show off his daughters skill to play the piano for the guest but the guest wants to have a break. maybe it sounds annoying so the guest doesnt want to listen. when the host proposes to have a little “piece” the guest misunderstands it as “peace” so his answer is amusing.eg.2 a teacher was giving all english lesson to a class of adults who had recently come to live in australia. after placing some everyday objects on the table, she asked various members of the class to give her the pen, the book, the ruler and so on. then she turned to an italian student and said, “give me the keys,” the man looked surprised. so she repeated, “give me the keys.” the italian student shrugged his shoulders. then, throwing his arms around the teachers neck, he kissed her on both cheeks. this joke is generated by the fact that the student cannot tell the difference between /i/ and / i:/. the teacher wants the man to give her “keys” but the man thinks the word “keys” as “kiss”. so he kissed the teacher.2.4.2 english humor caused by syntactic ambiguityin some context, what you said have been misunderstood by others so their answers sometimes have nothing to do with your question or even embarrass you. eg.1 a: could i try on the trousers in the window?b: you can if you want, sir, but we do have a dressing room.the customer said “in the window” means the trousers that in the window. but what the salesman thinks is that the customer wants to try on the trousers in the window. so the salesman said “sir, you can if you want.” eg.2 a: “my students appreciate me, do yours?”b: “i wouldnt know, i have never heard them mention your name.” look at this one, we cant help laughing. ellipsis causes a problem. a said “do yours” that intents to mean that do you students appreciate you too. b thinks it means do your students appreciate me? so he replied that answer which may hurt the feelings of a. it is a little embarrassed.2.4.3 english humor caused by oral communicationdifferent people differ in oral english, they have various speaking speed and tone. as the message is passing, listener and speaker have different perceptual skill. that is how humor engenders. eg.1 a: he is a nice man. 他是一个好人。 he is an ice man. 他是一个冷冰冰的人。 a: he is a bee feeder. 他是一个养蜂人。 he is a beef eater. 他爱吃牛肉。 the two examples show that speaking habit may influence others understanding about what you said. “a nice” and “an ice”, “bee feeder” and “beef eater” can describe two different kinds of person. if you misunderstand it, you will make fool of yourself.eg.2 teacher: “suppose there are four flies on the wall. if you swat two of them, how many remain?” john: “none.”in this example, the teachers intention is to solve an arithmetic problem “4-2=?” but the student misunderstands it as a casual question or a brain twister, so he gives a funny answer. of course, if you swat two flies, the rest will fly away, there will be none. 3. translation of english humorwe have known the features and the classifications of english humor which help to make a good preparation for the translation part. in other words, we have found the main direction of translating english humor. but in order to let the translation plays a practical role, we must know other aspects of translation, such as the translation principles, methods and so on.3.1 translation principles used in english humor3.1.1 transgression of cooperative principle cooperative principle is put forward by american linguist h. p. grice in 1967 when he gave a speech in harvard. he believes that in order to achieve a given aim, speakers and perceivers involved in all the language communicative activities have a kind of tacit understanding which both of them should obey. that is cooperative principle. as we know, sometimes when people are communicating with each other in daily life, they go against the cooperative principle. people transgress it out of some certain communicative purpose or meaning. humor is created in this way.eg. customer (angrily): “waiter, there is a dead fly in my soup!” waiter (in a calm and indifferent tone): “yes, sir. we give extra meat rations free of charge on friday.” this is a joke happened in a restaurant. the most important part is the phrase “extra rations free of charge”. the language itself is not funny at all, but the meaning has its wit. “extra rations free of charge” is usually a means of promotion of restaurant business and a fly cannot be regarded as a meat piece. the waiter transgresses the cooperative principle. he avoids the important and dwells on the trivial. under such circumstances the “extra piece” is not welcomed obviously.3.1.2 relevance theoryrelevance theory is of high attention from many aspects and it is put forward by sperker and wilson in their collaborati