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It is a fine work, imperceptible and in which perfection is aspired. Translating jokes and puns in foreign series and movies into Spanish is not an easy task. A bad translation or an inaccurate dubbing they can turn a movie into lousy which in its original version has been acclaimed by the audience. And quite the opposite. Good translations, which in our country are the vast majority, make Spanish viewers die of laughter with ‘Friends’ or ‘The Simpsons’ as much —and sometimes more— than North Americans.
María José Aguirre de Cárcer has an extensive resume in which you can boast of having translated into our language audiovisual masterpieces, such as ‘Seinfeld’, ‘The X-Files’, ‘Borgen’ or ‘Lost’. His longest-lived work, and perhaps the one that has caused the most laughs, is ‘The Simpsons’, where he has been coming up with many of the jokes that are already part of our popular culture since the beginning of the series. As María José Aguirre de Cárcer explains to ABC, the fact that their profession is unknown by the general public is, in reality, a clear sign of good work by Spanish professionals. “The translation must go unnoticed so that the viewer does not notice and enjoy the series or film with total naturalness,” he clarifies. Translating an audiovisual work is far, says the professional, from doing the same with a text: «It is not like translating a manual since we not only translate words but also emotions. The dialogues of a film reflect humor, irony, sadness … you have to know how to transmit it, and it is not easy, ”he clarifies.
This is precisely what the expert achieves in ‘The Simpsons’: «When there is a joke with a play on words and I think that the literal translation is not going to be understood, I use others. I explain to the director why I use that expression and I propose one or more solutions to ‘save’ a joke that will not be understood literally from English to Spanish ».
As the translator explains, the jokes in Matt Groening’s series, in which she has brought a lot of wit, are the result of constant teamwork. “They gave me wide sleeves from the beginning. They even told me that if I could think of something funnier than in the original version, I would introduce it. It’s about enhancing the product with your work. Phrases as popular as ‘Multiply by zero’, by Bart Simpson, are clearly the result of the audiovisual translation by María José Aguirre de Cárcer, although the expert refuses to award a specific one. “We have all contributed expressions that many people remember today. There are things about the director, my jokes … It’s everyone’s job. The jokes of ‘The Simpsons’ do not belong to me, although I do charge copyright for the translation of the series, “he clarifies.
The true ‘nightmare’ of the translator
The ‘boom’ of ‘The Bridgertons’ or ‘Sweet Tooth: the deer boy’, are some of the titles translated by Paula Mariani, with extensive experience in the sector. Comedy, says Mariani, who also commissioned several chapters of ‘Modern Family’, It can generate real headaches for the professional who faces it. «They usually have a lot of dialogue and very long scripts, they combine a lot of jokes, some of which are a nightmare for the translator. There are very simple jokes that translate perfectly because they play with the tone or characteristics of the characters, but there are always others that are puns or, worse, word games that are also related to the image. I think we have all sometimes taken an hour or two to translate a sentence because we can’t find a way to turn it around to make it look funny in our language, “he explains.
In ‘Friends’, Mariani ventures to say, “There is blood, sweat and tears behind each chapter. Joey’s character, for example, is funny because he’s silly and doesn’t get hints or situations. That, in general, does not present much difficulty. The most complicated jokes, word games do require many searches in dictionaries of synonyms, rhymes and similar ideas to find expressions that work in Spanish, “he emphasizes.
In comedies, Mariani also points out, “there is a lot of documentation work on cultural referents for analyze situations and understand why they are so funny. Now we have everything on the other side of the screen, but when ‘Friends’ was translated in its day (and many other series before) the translators were extraordinary, because they couldn’t search everything on the internetThere weren’t that many pages explaining set phrases or slang. They had to be experts in language and culture without a safety net, ”he explains.
The Internet, precisely, has not only facilitated the task of the audiovisual translator but has also brought viewers the realities of other countries, which also significantly improves the understanding of a series or film. “It is true that we all know what Thanksgiving is and we even celebrate Halloween and that makes it easier to manage foreign works. The problem is that audiovisual products have also changed a lot and now add many more cultural references than before, ”says Mariani.
Will Smith imitating Chiquito
The most popular television readers of the 1990s will probably remember with humor those dubbing of ‘The Prince of Bel-Air’ in which Will Smith imitated Chiquito de la Calzada or the comedy ‘Sabrina: Cosas de Brujas’, in which Sallem the cat often made jokes or pronounced phrases from Spanish popular culture that had nothing to do with the environment in which the series took place:
TO HAVE US MATAO pic.twitter.com/kEXIDPH5dF
– Sabrina in Spanish (@SabrinaCdBrujas) November 9, 2017
This trend, known in professional jargon as ‘domestication’, It has not been practiced for years as it is considered negative for the trade. Lucia Rodriguez Corral, one of Disney’s leading translators –‘Buscando a Nemo’, ‘Up’, ‘Toy Story 4’ and the last premiere of the factory, ‘Luca’-, explains to ABC that including references to the country of destination in the translation can greatly clash with the context in which the story takes place. «Putting a man from California to mention Matías Prats, is more than funny, it is disconcerting. In addition, they are dubbing that ages badly, because it is often used references that are in fashion at a given time, but poorly resist the passage of time. In any case, these types of adaptations, which were more fashionable in the 90s, are not made by translators, they are usually decisions made in the dubbing room, ”he clarifies.
This ‘domestication’, Paula Mariani also explains, can take the viewer out of history. «When we watch a movie we are willing to accept non-real things as real (that superheroes fly, that we live in the Matrix), but these kinds of details automatically make you think that what you are seeing is not real, so you have to be careful ».
A sector that demands improvements
From
ATRAE, Association of Translation and Ausiovisual Adaptation of Spain, They constantly strive to ensure that the profession of the translator has the recognition it deserves. In a sector in which the platforms have increased the television offer and in which the work has multiplied, the working conditions have not improved notably. “What is charged in Spain is ridiculous with the amounts handled abroad. Our profession must become more known so that it can be valued as it deserves “, explains María José Aguirre de Cárcer.
“Like so many cultural and artistic sectors, the translation sector is a precarious sector,” explains Paula Mariani. “The workload fluctuates and translators are forced to take on many assignments to ensure long-term financial viability. In addition, the rates that move are, many times, low, “says the translator. «The important thing is the immediacy, so there are few projects that allow us to work with a margin of time, something that can affect quality “, he emphasizes. The same idea underlines Lucía Rodríguez, who recalls that working conditions have deteriorated in recent years. “It is important to associate and be in contact with other colleagues, because often poor working conditions are accepted due to ignorance,” he concludes.
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