HANDLING PROFANITY IN LOUIS C.K.'S STAND-UP COMEDY: TRANSLATING SORRY SHOW THROUGH THE LENS OF TWO VOICE-OVER STUDIOS

ОБРАЩЕНИЕ С НЕНОРМАТИВНОЙ ЛЕКСИКОЙ В СТЕНДАП-КОМЕДИИ ЛУИ СИ КЕЯ: ПЕРЕВОД ШОУ SORRY ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИЗМУ ДВУХ СТУДИЙ ОЗВУЧИВАНИЯ

Жакселыкова Эльмира Сабиткызы

студент, кафедра теории и практики перевода, Карагандинский университет имени академика Е.А. Букетова,

Казахстан, г. Караганда

Калижанова Анна Николаевна

научный руководитель, магистр филол. наук, старший преподаватель, Карагандинский университет имени академика Е.А. Букетова

Казахстан, г. Караганда

ABSTRACT

What happens when profanity in standup comedy isn't translated directly, but instead "smoothed over"? And what if, on the contrary, the emotional intensity is fully conveyed, with the comedian's unique style preserved? In this study, we analyzed Louis C.K.'s performance Sorry and compared how two voice-over studios approached the translation of his jokes: Studio Rumble and StandUp Radio. The former chose a path of extreme candour, while the latter opted for a more delicate adaptation. We evaluated 28 phrases, developed a scoring scale, and assessed which studio better preserved the original's style, humour, and boldness. This research raises an important question: is it possible to translate profanity without losing the comedian's voice?

АННОТАЦИЯ

Что происходит, когда ненормативная лексика в стендап-комедии не переводится напрямую и вместо этого ее «смягчают»? И что будет, если, наоборот, эмоциональная интенсивность полностью передаётся, сохраняя при этом уникальный стиль комика? В этом исследовании мы проанализировали выступление Луи Си Кея Sorry и сравнили, как две студии озвучивания Studio Rumble и StandUp Radio подошли к переводу его шуток. Первая сделала ставку на предельную прямоту, тогда как вторая предпочла более мягкую адаптацию. Мы взяли 28 фраз, разработали шкалу оценивания и проанализировали, какая студия лучше сохранила стиль, юмор и дерзость оригинала. Это исследование поднимает важный вопрос: можно ли перевести ненормативную лексику, сохранив при этом стиль комика?

Keywords: profanity translation, stand-up comedy, Louis C.K., Skopos theory, emotional impact, comedic style, cultural adaptation.

Ключевые слова: перевод ненормативной лексики, стендап-комедия, Луи Си Кей, теория Скопос, эмоциональное воздействие, комический стиль, культурная адаптация.

Translating humour, especially in the context of stand-up comedy, presents a unique challenge for translators. As Manzheleevskaya notes, stand-up is "a comic art in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience" [1, p. 3]. An important part of such performances is the use of swear words that enhance the emotional effect and create comic situations. Profanity, often called swearing, is when people use taboo words to express strong emotions [7]. Such words include not only coarse expressions but also words that evoke an emotional response, specifically in stand-up - laughter.

However, the translation of profanity in stand-up comedy is questionable. Of course it is necessary to preserve the meaning inherent in the source material, but unfortunately it is often not possible to preserve the unique style of the author. The usual methods of translation, such as replacing harsh and coarse terms with softer ones or completely removing offensive terms often does not work. It is considered ineffective. It only softens the original text, changing the original style.

The translation of profanity in Louis C.K.'s standup Sorry is of particular interest. This standup is saturated with harsh, but skillfully structured humor, which creates a unique style of the author. When translating profanity, it is necessary not only to convey its meaning, but also to preserve the comedian's style.

Profanity generally covered topics considered taboo, such as sex and physiological processes. Each phrase fitting this definition contained an element of profanity that was intended to enhance the comedic effect and evoke an emotional response.

The following stages of analysis were carried out:

- Recordings of Louis C.K.’s performances were reviewed, and phrases containing profanity, as defined above, were identified.

- Out of the entire material, 28 phrases using profanity were selected for an in-depth analysis of translation approaches.

- For each phrase, a comparative analysis of translations by Standup Radio and Rumble was conducted. Approaches to translating profanity were examined regarding the preservation of the comedian's style and alignment with the cultural nuances of the target audience.

The data analysis method proposed by Huberman and Saldana [5] was applied, encompassing three stages: data reduction (selecting relevant phrases), data display (classification of translation strategies), and conclusion drawing.

This research was aimed at comparing and analyzing the translation of profanity in Louis C.K.'s show “Sorry” by two voice-over studios - Studio Rumble and StandUp Radio.

A qualitative analysis of the translations of the two studios was made, which revealed differences in the approaches to conveying the source text.

Accuracy of profanity translation.

Rumble studio more often preserves the original rudeness and expressiveness of the original, using straightforward and emotionally intense expressions.

Studio Radio demonstrates a tendency to soften the rudeness, sometimes reducing the aggression and intensity of foul language.

Example:

Original: he’s f*cked in the face for life

Rumble: ему п**дец навсегда

Radio: он в полной ж*пе на всю жизнь

Linguistic and cultural adaptation.

Rumble sticks to the localisation of original expressions, increasing the naturalness of perception for the Russian-speaking audience.

Radio leans towards a translation closer to the original.

Example: 

Original: You go to the zoo you fat b*tch

Rumble: Пи**уй в зоопарк жируха

Radio: Иди в зоопарк жирная с**ка

Preservation of comedic effect.

Rumble focuses on conveying crude humour, often enhancing the shock effect through straightforwardness, which increases the comedic effect.

Radio aims to smooth out the crudeness, making the text accessible to a wider audience.

However, this can result in the loss of some of the original comic tone.

To obtain a clearer picture, a quantitative analysis was conducted. The focus was on how each studio preserves the comedian's unique style and the emotional impact of his jokes when adapting the material for the Russian-speaking audience. A total of 30 phrases containing profanity were used for the analysis. To measure the quality of the translation, a rubric was created for five key aspects.

The results show that there are interesting differences between two translation approaches. Rumble Studio, which received higher scores (19 out of 20), placed emphasis on accuracy of translation, preserving comedic effect and cultural adaptation. In contrast, StandUp Radio, which scored 16 out of 20, focused on relevance to the target audience.

This finding allows us to consider the translation by Rumble studio more effective in terms of conveying style.

Our objective was to analyse the effectiveness of two voiceover studios, Studio Rumble and StandUp Radio, in translating profanity in Louis C.K.'s stand-up show Sorry. To be specific, we wanted to identify which approach better preserves the comedian's unique style and comic effect.

To achieve these objectives, we conducted a comparative analysis using a mixed methodology. We selected 28 phrases containing profanity and analysed their translations. The analysis was conducted using Skopos theory to assess the accuracy, comic effect and cultural adaptation of each translation.

What our results showed was that Studio Rumble surpassed StandUp Radio in retaining both the emotional intensity and comic tone of the original. Yet, StandUp Radio's translations proved to be more audience-friendly, which showed a balance between accuracy and accessibility. What our results showed was that Studio Rumble surpassed StandUp Radio in retaining both the emotional intensity and comic tone of the original. Yet, StandUp Radio's translations proved to be more audience-friendly, which showed a balance between accuracy and accessibility.

In line with our hypothesis, we find that the maintenance of the emotional intensity of profanity plays a critical role in preserving the comic effect. The Rumble approach, which favours direct and expressive translations, confirms this finding than the one used by the StandUp Radio.

The results of the research provide insights into the challenges for translating profanity in stand-up comedy while preserving the comedian's unique style. The practical implication of this study can be argued to be that it highlights the importance of balancing accuracy and cultural adaptation in translation, especially for humour-oriented content.

The findings extend existing data on profanity. While previous research has focused on the translation of humour in general, these results demonstrate that the translation of profanity requires a more nuanced study.

Our results show that saving profanity helps to maintain the comedic effect and conveys the original purpose of the material more effectively. We have answered our research question. A more effective approach was made by the Studio Rumble team. We have identified the limitations of our study and suggested directions for future research.

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