Humour is a complex concept which tends to build on the ambiguity of language. When converting
a humoristic program into a different language the translator thus faces many challenges. One
of these is the translation of cultural aspects of the TL (target language). Since every
culture contains its unique form of humour understanding the humour within a culture and all
its cultural elements is essential to producing an adequate translation. The study at hand
focuses on the translation of the British comedy-sketch show Little Britain analyzing how it
has been converted from its SL (source language) which is English to its TL which in this
study will be Spanish. It proved to be highly constructive for the purposes of this research as
the humour is often very culture-specific and thus difficult to translate. For the benefit of
the reader the first part of this dissertation is going to discuss various theories of humour.
Moreover it will discuss how humour is created in the comedy sketch show Little Britain. As
subtitles will be used for the analysis of the case study limitations and constraints will be
discussed as the translator cannot merely focus on the linguistic features and possible
problems like she he would do in any other form of translation. Using Attardo s theory (1994)
the study aims to explore aspects that create difficulties during the translation process
always in relation to humour that is seen in a comedy sketch show. It explores the translation
of humour examining potential problems that translators need to overcome and expands on this
by investigating the difficulties that arise when translating culture-specific issues. In
addition as this is an audiovisual translation potential problems that become relevant in the
case study are highlighted. The study highlights the difficulties a translator faces within the
process and where relevant possible alternative strategies that the translator could have
applied in the translation process.
