HUMOUR IN SUBTITLING: THE RENDITION OF EXTRALINGUISTIC CULTURE-BOUND HUMOUR INTO ARABIC IN THE SUBTITLING OF THE AMERICAN SITCOM “F.R.I.E.N.D.S”

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine how the humourous effect in extralinguistic culture-bound references (ECRs) is transferred in the Arabic subtitles of the American sitcom Friends. Quantitative and qualitative analysis is performed to find out how the ECRs were rendered to the target language and whether the humour effects in the ECRs were successfully transferred, partially transferred, or unsuccessfully transferred. Another goal of the study is to also suggest solutions for the ECRs of which the subtitler failed to transfer the humour. Furthermore, a survey is conducted to obtain more information on the American cultural knowledge of Arab viewers; these results helped determine the success of the humour transfer to the Arabic subtitles. General results of the study might help the subtitlers in making better judgement calls in the future concerning their translation strategies. Keywords: subtitles, translation, Friends, Arabic, English, humour, extralinguistic culture-bound references.