Translating American sitcoms: songs as a challenge for the translator

Abstract

The object of this analysis is the role of songs in American sitcoms and potential translation difficulties with translating song modifications and references to famous lyrics in this genre. The first step of the research was to prove that songs are a recurring element in many American sitcoms. In order to do that, dialogues of six different series were analysed. Next, three different examples of song modifications sung by actors and three verbal references to famous song lyrics were chosen as to illustrate the kind of musical-verbal elements that translators have to face while translating sitcoms. The theoretical part of the paper is devoted to sitcom as a text genre and general aspects of song translation. What follows is an analysis of specific examples taken from Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and their official TV translations into Polish and German. It has been shown that songs in sitcoms function not only as a musical element, but also as a joke. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that different translation techniques can be used while translating lyrics in sitcoms. There are various aspects that have to be taken into consideration, such as music in the background or references to the lyrics presented visually on the screen. The results indicate that it is essential for the translator to be consistent and sometimes to favour the humorous function of the source text over its denotative meaning. The ‘singability’ and song-like form of the target-language lyrics seem also to be of great importance in the reception of translation.