Shifts of meaning in humour translation as exemplified
by the Polish translation of Shrek
(Zmiany sensu w przekładzie humoru
na podstawie polskiego tłumaczenia Shreka)

Comparing the original version of Shrek with the Polish translation, one will certainly notice numerous dissimilarities between English and Polish dialogues. Bartosz Wierzbięta, the author of the Polish dialogues, introduces various changes into the film. Some of them are only slight modifications, and the others change the sense of particular utterances radically. However, all of them are a result of a conscious translation strategy.

The specificity of Shrek lies in the fact that it is directed both at children and adults. The movie plot is based on the parody of commonly recognized fairy tales and of the modern American pop culture. The plot is relatively simple and humour of the film is appealing to children. However, at the same time the production is saturated with numerous references and allusions, and with adult-oriented humour, e.g. puns, that will be easily understood only by the adult audience.

Due to the above mentioned features of the film, Wierzbięta encountered a wide spectrum of difficulties during the process of translation. Since the addressee of the Polish version comes from a divergent cultural system, he faced the problem of rendering humour of the film into the Polish language. He had to find a solution to the cultural differences and linguistically oriented humour, as well as a way of producing dialogues amusing both to adult and children audience. Taking into consideration the constraints of dubbing and culture-specific humour,
it was certainly not an easy assignment for the translator.

The need for the source text modifications in Shrek translation may be caused by culture oriented humour. As it was mentioned above, the movie is a parody of the most popular fairy tales and of the modern culture, which manifests itself in numerous references to well-known films, celebrities and to the social realities of the United States. Language-based jokes, such as puns that are not amusing for the target recipient constitute another problematic issue. They may lead to various modifications and sometimes even to omissions. In such cases translators face the problem of cultural and linguistic untranslatability, and they must apply a proper translation strategy.

The use of a certain strategy by Wierzbięta is related to a specific type of humour and to
a kind of translational problem connected with it. By virtue of numerous kinds of humour present in the movie, various types of translation strategies were applied during the translation of Shrek. In many cases departures from the original were unavoidable. The choice of
a certain strategy depended also on the fact that the translator had to take into consideration the constraints of dubbing.

Dialogues modifications in the case of Shrek are possible because of the specificity of Shrek movie. First of all, what enables the translator to interfere in the sense of the characters’ utterances is the fact that Shrek is a dubbed film. The target recipient does not know the original version of the movie, and as a consequence he/she would not notice the eventual dialogue changes. Of course, dialogues can be modified only to such an extent so as not to be in contrast with the image on the screen. They should also fit the context, the plot and the convention of the film. The translation of Wierzbięta meets the above conditions. Please consider the following:

Example 1 (Shrek 2)
I got to get out of here! I got to get out of here! You can't lock us up like this! Let me go!
[Muszę się stąd wydostać! Muszę się stąd wydostać! Nie możecie nas tu trzymać w zamknięciu! Wypuśćcie mnie!]
Błagam, wypuśćcie mnie stąd! Jestem nieletni! Mam chore nerki!

Example 2 (Shrek 2)
That's me: the noble steed. Waiter! How 'bout a bowl for the steed?
[To ja: szlachetny rumak. Kelner! Co z miseczką dla rumaka?]
Nie róbmy draki, od tego są rumaki. Hej, kelner! Marchew dla bohatera!

In the first instance only slight changes can be observed. They do not affect the sense of the utterance. In order to make the dialogue more interesting and funny for the target recipient a piece of new information is added: Donkey claims that he is under-age and has renal failure. The modification is introduced in order to make the target text more amusing for the recipient. The same situation occurs in example 2, but in this case the tone of the statements is changed more significantly.

The overtone of the Polish fragment quoted in example 2 differs from the original. The situation is the following: Donkey enters the chamber where Fiona and Shrek eat dinner together with Fiona’s parents. When the king sees Donkey, he shouts at him, but Fiona explains that Donkey helped Shrek rescue her from the tower. Then Donkey says the above cited line. In the English version Donkey admits that he is the noble steed, as Fiona named him once, and being proud of this fact, asks the servant for the place setting for him. In the source text, by contrast, Donkey does not call himself ‘a noble steed’, he even denies it: ‘Nie róbmy draki, od tego są rumaki.’ Wierzbięta inserts a rhymed witty sentence which changes the sense conveyed by the source text, however, by doing so, he strengthens the comical effect. Another change in this fragment is replacing a bowl with a carrot. That results in increasing the humorous effect as well, since these are carrots that horses are fed on. A carrot creates an association with a horse, in this case with a steed, and consequently evokes laughter.

Translation of such a film as Shrek causes considerable problems. In addition to
language-specific constraints, especially puns, there are culture-specific constraints,
for example allusions. Owing to this fact, translation of Shrek is not a standard process of rendering a given text into another language; it is a cross-cultural transfer from American to Polish culture.

Moreover, the translation of humour in a dubbed film is subject to numerous
restraints. A translator has to take into consideration the constraints of dubbing. Furthermore, the specificity of dubbing translation is that it is connected with high degree of domestication. In order to achieve a successful dubbing production, a translator has to create the impression that the film was made in the target culture. The domestication strategy entails various modifications of the original, and it may consequently result in shifts of meaning.

Translation shifts are frequently involved in humour transfer due to various difficulties connected with it. In order to maintain a humorous effect, translators have to adapt a certain joke to the reality of the target culture, and accordingly, they have to modify the source text.

Shifts of meaning in humour translation are not a negative phenomenon as long as they result in achieving the same humorous effect as the source text does. They are the consequences of linguistic differences and of cultural dissimilarities. That is why, introducing various modifications constitutes a common practice in the translation of humorous dubbed films.


Ewelina Bruździak

Original English dialogues – in bold face, the translation by Bartosz Wierzbięta – underlined, the literal translation of the source dialogues – in square brackets