Bilingual pun

A bilingual pun is a pun created by a word or phrase in one language sounding similar to a different word or phrase in another language. Bilingual puns are often created by mixing languages, and represent a form of macaronic language.

A general technique in bilingual punning is homophonic translation, which consists of translating a passage from the source language into a homophonic (but likely nonsensical) passage in the target language. This requires the audience to understand both the surface, nonsensical translation as well as the source text – the former then sounds like the latter spoken in a foreign accent.

Examples

English/Chinese

An updated version of the famous Who's On First? comedy routine by Abbott and Costello called "Hu's on First"[1] is based on confusing Chinese and other names with English words.

English/French

Luis van Rooten's English-French Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames (1967), translates the beginning of "Humpty Dumpty":[2][3]

Un petit d'un petit / S'étonne aux Halles

The original English text reads:

Humpty Dumpty / Sat on a wall.

while the translation, which imitates the sound of someone reading the English text with a French accent, literally means:

One little [one] from [another] little [one] / was astonished at Les Halles.

German/Chinese

At the beginning of his short story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town", science fiction author Cordwainer Smith wrote:[4]

Go back to An-fang, the Peace Square at An-fang, the Beginning Place at An-fang, where all things start. Bright it was. Red Square, dead square, clear square, under a yellow sun.

In Chinese, An-fang can mean "Peace Square", while Anfang is the German word for "beginning."

Japanese/Portuguese

In the documentary Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey[5] directed by Tizuka Yamasaki, newly immigratated Japanese agricultural laborers struggle to adapt to Brazilian culture. At mealtime, the Brazilian cook serves up a stew of feijoada to Japanese more used to rice:

Japanese: Kome! (Kome (米), Japanese for rice)
Cook: Come! (Portuguese for Eat!)

English/Spanish/Latin

Pierre Clouthier, Moncton NB, 1968; in Spanish class.

English: An apple a day keeps the doctor away
Spanish/Latin: Manzana (mens sana) in corpore sano (Manzana is apple in Spanish; mens sana is a healthy mind)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hu's on First
  2. ↑ van Rooten, Luis d'Antin (1980). Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames. ISBN 978-0-14-005730-0, originally published London, Angus and Robertson, 1967.
  3. ↑ "Luis d'Antin van Rooten's Humpty Dumpty". The Guardian. 27 November 2009. Archived from the original on 23 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  4. ↑ Smith, Cordwainer (1993). The Rediscovery of Man. Framingham, MA: The NESFA Press. p. 223. ISBN 0-915368-56-0.
  5. ↑ Yamasaki, Tizuka (1980). "Gaijin, a Brazilian Odyssey". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-09-26.