The reception of humor in the original and translated versions of the narrative of Naguib Mahfuz: Empirical analysis applied to the case of Khān al-Khalīlī
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Abstract
Our aim is an empirical analysis of humor reception in the Spanish translation of Khān al-Khalīlī by Naguib Mahfuz. We intend to measure its degree of transmission of humor with regard the original version and reveal any possible relationship between this degree and the ease of reproducing the hilarious mechanisms in the target language. Two questionnaires consisting of 20 segments extracted from this novel and its translation to Spanish were submitted to the judgment of native speakers of both languages. The results have shown a rate of transmission of only 30% in the translated version. The existence of any relationship between this rate and the ease of reproducing the hilarious mechanisms in Spanish has not been demonstrated. There are two factors that can contribute to the decrease of humor: a) an inaccurate translation and b) an empathy that the receiver may have regarding the subject that motivates laughter.
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