earticle

영어

Humor serves an important function in communication - by easing tension, maintaining concentration of the listeners, facilitating the message delivery to name a few. Increasingly, interpreters are called upon to mediate humor at international conferences which may be a formidable challenge that entails transferring of disparate linguistic and sociocultural elements in a way that successfully evokes an equivalent playful response. Using simultaneous mode of interpreting, in particular, humor may be a challenge for interpreters who need to strategically allocate available cognitive efforts to carry out different tasks all at once. This research investigates the types of humor encountered by interpreters at international conferences and examines what are the sources of difficulty for interpreters. Then, the study analyzes how interpreters strategically interpret humorous expressions to achieve equivalent effect among Target Language audience. Authentic data from an international conference held in Seoul show, contrary to widespread worries, the types of humor expressed at international conferences are “universal” and most times produce equivalent humor effect across languages and cultures. In interpreting humorous expressions, interpreters seem to place priority on literary delivery of Source Language but the target audience successfully figure out the universal humor. Interpreters intervene to bridge the sociocultural gaps only when necessary.