Translating a text into another language is a process mostly known in
the area of literature. At the same time (even though often disregarded
in this connection), translation is a central part of filmmaking. Since
the emergence of sound films in the 1930s, screen translation (that is,
subtitling, dubbing and voice-over) has become a tradition in Europe. In
Germany, dubbing has been the universalized means of defying language
barriers in the field of movie and television ever since. However, it is
commonly believed that translated movies and television series lack
certain features as compared to their original. Disapproval of dubbed
movies and television shows has become quite frequent in Germany, not
necessarily among linguists and/or multilingual people exclusively. In
the case of dubbed sitcoms which originate in the United States, it is
safe to say that the German audience repeatedly stumbles upon scenes
that are entirely incomprehensible and, even more perplexing, end in the
laugh track which is typically inserted in US situation comedies.
Clearly, the source text contains a joke that has been lost in
translation. But what are the reasons for such ineffective adaptations?
Is it the fact that the original jokes include a culturespecific term
that is only understandable in the source language or is simply the
translators' carelessness to blame? Research in media, humor and
translation studies reveals that wordplays2 are a universal phenomenon
which is generally considered untranslatable. In this paper, I argue
that the German dubbed versions of US American sitcoms lose a great deal
of their humor since language jokes, particularly puns, are rarely
successfully translated. The dubbed versions include a remarkably large
number of literal translations and even direct copies of English words
which not only are no longer funny, but are also incomprehensible in the
target language. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that no research
on English puns and their German
