Translation of humor in subtitling. A case study of the Armenian film “Lost and found in Armenia”

Abstract

The article touches upon the translation peculiarities of humor into Armenian and the ways of their preservation in English through the use of translation strategies. A contemporary Armenian movie “Lost and Found in Armenia” is selected to give the general insight of the transfer of Armenian humor in subtitling. As a result of the study, we can state that from a semantic point of view, the translator was able to convey the meaning, often through partial or complete loss of humor. Deviations were mainly associated with interjections, which were omitted in the English translation. In all the extracted examples, interjections and sound effects, partially providing the humor of the episodes, were omitted. However, their restoration did not create an additional technical obstacle, since it corresponded to the spatial and temporal standards of subtitling.