El-Tawassol التواصل
Volume 32, Numéro 1, Pages 01-15
2026-01-30
Audiovisual Humor’s Translatability In The Arabic Subtitling Of The Sitcom Friends
Authors : Chahmat Farid .
Abstract
This paper investigates the translatability of audiovisual Humour subtitled in Arabic. Based on the theoretical frameworks from Humour Studies and Audiovisual Translation, the research addresses the inherent conflict between the Source Text’s comedy and the rigorous technical, cultural, and linguistic constraints of the Target Text. The research refers to a descriptive-comparative approach, using Zabalbeascoa’s typology for Humour identification and a strategic model derived from Pedersen and Alharthi for subtitling solutions classification. Findings suggest that while jokes and some forms of Non-Verbal Humour are highly translatable, Language Jokes and Culture-Specific References pose often untranslatable, challenges. Subtitlers frequently resort to domestication/foreignization, generalization, and deletion strategies when subtitling in the Arabic context. The study concludes that the successful transfer of Humourous effect is often achieved at the expense of linguistic or cultural fidelity, confirming the highly adaptive and constraint-driven nature of Humour subtitling.
Keywords
Humour, Audiovisual Translation, Subtitling, (Un)translatability, Translation Strategies.
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