Translating Humor in Multimodal Texts: The Case of the Comics Album Entrechats

Abstract

This study explores the challenges and problems related to the translation of humor in comics, from a semiotic and translational perspective, taking into account the multimodal nature of comics. It highlights the role of diverse semiotic modes in meaning-making – particularly their interplay and intricacy –focusing on verbal and non-verbal signs. In this context, the study offers a comparative analysis between the arabic version of the comics album Entrechats and the original french text, with the aim of examining the translation strategies adopted to address cultural and semiotic particularities. The findings reveal that, in most cases, the translator opted for the strategy of adaptation, applied not only to linguistic elements but also to iconic ones. By relying on the interaction between linguistic and iconic signs, the primary objective is to preserve the humorous function of the message and its impact on the target audience – especially when the translator encounters untranslatable elements due to the lack of cultural equivalents in the target text. Furthermore, this study proposes a new theoretical approach and analytical tools to effectively translate humor in comic books, thereby contributing to the advancement of translation studies on multimodal texts.