Working on an academic abstract can be a straightforward task sometimes, but this recent project, co-authored with Luciano Moreira, proved to be both challenging and rewarding. Together, we decided to explore the topic of humor and translation for submission to the 2nd FLUP Research Meeting: Interdisciplinary, Collaborative, and/or Digital Practices in the Humanities and Social Sciences, set for November 18-19, 2024, at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto. The process of writing this abstract took me into new academic territory definitely.
We wanted to examine how humor functions in translation, a process that often involves a lot more than just finding the right words. Humor depends heavily on context, timing, and cultural references, which can be difficult to carry over from one language to another without losing its original effect. Our goal was to use digital methods to map out how certain elements of humor might or might not translate well, depending on the context. This type of study called for a systematic approach, and that was where the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) stepped in.
TEI was entirely new to me, and I quickly realized it would require a steep learning curve. TEI allows researchers to tag and encode elements within texts for closer analysis but adapting it to something as subjective as humor has its unique challenges. It wasn’t easy to decide how to break down humorous phrases or where to place tags in ways that made sense for our study. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in learning this new skill: Jaqueline Pierazzo provided me with an excellent foundation in the basics of TEI, helping me get a grip on the essential parts of the framework. Her guidance, along with Luciano Moreira’s support, made the entire experience much more manageable than I initially thought. Working with both of them gave me confidence in this endeavor of learning and applying an entirely new method.
The abstract, in very broad terms, focuses on elements of humor in Shakespeare’s work Love’s Labour’s Lost, and we will have the opportunity to work with Shakespeare Translation Memory – a database set up as an initiative with CETAPS, where Portuguese and English concordances of many of Shakespeare’s works can be found. It’s an incredibly useful tool for those who have an interest in translation and literature and further information about it can be found here.
With the FLUP Research Meeting just around the corner, we are thrilled that our submission was accepted for the event. I’m also very excited to share our findings and see how others in the field respond as well as learning about new digital methods. This project taught me so much, from teamwork to new skills – not to mention being reminded that academic solidarity can be very precious when you are exploring new fields.
Click here for more information on the 2nd FLUP Research Meeting: Interdisciplinary, Collaborative, and/or Digital Practices in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Click here to explore the Shakespeare Translation Memory Project.