Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of techfest 2020 used by interpreting and translation – majored senior students of felte, ULIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

STRATEGIES OF INTERPRETING HUMOR IN
SPEECHES OF TECHFEST 2020 USED BY
INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATION – MAJORED
SENIOR STUDENTS OF FELTE, ULIS

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thúy, MA.
Student: Phạm Thanh Thúy
Course: QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD

HA NOI - 2021


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH KHIẾU HÀI HƯỚC TRONG
CÁC BÀI NÓI CỦA TECHFEST 2020 ĐƯỢC ÁP DỤNG
BỞI SINH VIÊN NĂM CUỐI CHUYÊN NGÀNH BIÊN
PHIÊN DỊCH – KHOA SPTA, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC
NGOẠI NGỮ

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thúy, MA.

Sinh viên: Phạm Thanh Thúy
Khóa: QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD

HÀ NỘI – 2021


Signature of Approval

__________________________________________________________


ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: Phạm Thanh Thúy, Class QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Translation & Interpreting) accept the
requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s
Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper.
Signature

Phạm Thanh Thúy
Date: May 4th, 2021


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my
supervisor, Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy (M.A), for her wholehearted support, great
encouragement, constructive and detailed comments. Without her guidance I would

not have been able to complete my thesis.
I give my special thanks to beloved five students who spent time answering
the interview questions and filling in the questionnaire responsibly instead of
merely answering the questions. They are also those who have experiences in
rendering humor in TECHFEST 2020, therefore giving me the most accurate
relevant information.
Finally, heartfelt appreciation is also expressed to my family members and
my friends who always stand by my side with their tremendous support to generate
motivation in me for finishing this graduation paper.

i


ABSTRACT
Humor is widely acknowledged as an indispensable catalyst in human life,
which makes life become livelier. The fact is that many studies of this topic have
been carried out carefully and intensively in various fields such as education,
literature and so on. However, humor in conferences, specifically humor rendition,
has not received adequate interest notwithstanding the obstacles it poses to
interpreters. Therefore, the researcher feels the need to conduct this study, which is
entitled “Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020 used by
interpreting and translation-majored students of FELTE, ULIS” with a view to
filling the gap. The main targets of this study are to analyse difficulties students
encounter while interpreting simultaneously humor in conferences and their use of
strategies to render humor. Two speeches of the TECHFEST 2020 were chosen in
order to specify the study’s outcomes. The basis of data collection and analysis was
formed by two main sources: questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The
study found that all participants struggled with transferring humor and these
challenges were posed by internal factors, including interpreters’ lack of vocabulary
and background knowledge. Moreover, the applied strategies to render humor

involving close rendition, reduced rendition, zero rendition, expanded rendition and
divergent rendition were also examined through the interview.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ i
ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................ii
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................. vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study ........................................ 1
2. Research objectives and research questions ....................................................... 2
3. Significance of the study .................................................................................... 2
4. Scope of the study .............................................................................................. 3
5. Organization of the study ................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................. 4
1. Interpreting ......................................................................................................... 4
1.1. Definitions of interpreting ........................................................................... 4
1.2. Simultaneous interpreting ............................................................................ 5
2. Humor ................................................................................................................. 6
2.1. Definitions of humor .................................................................................... 6
2.2. Types of humor ............................................................................................ 6
2.3. The roles of humor ....................................................................................... 7
3. Interpreting humor in conference ....................................................................... 8
4. Strategies used in interpreting humor ................................................................. 9
4.1. Viaggio’s Six Factors .................................................................................. 9
4.2. Gile’s five rules .......................................................................................... 10
4.3. Strategies used in interpreting humor ....................................................... 11

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 15

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1. Research design ................................................................................................ 15
2. Sampling method .............................................................................................. 16
3. Participants of the study ................................................................................... 16
4. Data collection instruments .............................................................................. 16
4.1. Questionnaire............................................................................................. 17
4.2. Semi-structured interview .......................................................................... 17
5. Data collection procedure ................................................................................. 18
6. Data analysis procedures .................................................................................. 18
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................ 19
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 51
1. Summary of the findings .................................................................................. 51
2. Implications of the study .................................................................................. 51
3. Limitations of the study .................................................................................... 52
4. Suggestions for further studies ......................................................................... 52
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 53
Appendix 1: Questionnaire ................................................................................... 53
Appendix 2: Interview questions .......................................................................... 55
Appendix 3: Recordings ....................................................................................... 55
Appendix 4: Transcriptions and interpretation ..................................................... 56
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 65

iv


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

Title

Page

Figure 1

Statement 1: I do not have any difficulties in

27

interpreting humor.
Figure 2

Statement 2: I fail to see the humor of the situation.

28

Figure 3

Statement 3: I cannot interpret the humor.

29

Figure 4

Statement 4: I do not understand speaker’s purposes

30

of using humor.
Figure 5

Statement 5: It takes me a lot of time to find

31

equivalent words in TL to interpret humor.
Figure 6

Statement 6:

I am left behind the speaker when

32

finising rendering the humor.
Figure 7

Statement 7: Speaker’s humor distracts me.

33

Figure 8

Statement 8: I can’t stop myself from laughing when

34

rendering humor.
Figure 9

Specific challenges during humor rendition in

35

speeches of TECHFEST 2020
Figure 10

Strategies applied in rendering humor in TECHFEST
2020

v

50


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FELTE

: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

SI

: Simultaneous Interpreting

ST

: Source Text

TL

: Target Language

ULIS

: University of Languages and International Studies

VEH

: Verbally Expressed Humour

vi


CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
This chapter first describes statement of the problem and rationale for the
study. Then, it discusses the purpose of the study and research questions. After that,
this chapter introduces the methodology and scope of the study, followed by
significance of the present research. Finally, it outlines the organization of the
research paper.
1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study
Along with the development of the 21st century, the process of integration is
happening at an unprecedented pace. As a result, there has been a considerable
increase in the number of formal or informal international conferences, which are
held all over the world and Vietnam is not an exception. According to the statistics,
there are hundreds of international conferences taking place in Vietnam held by

various organizations annually, which necessitates the service of conference
interpreters in order to remove the linguistic and cultural barriers between speakers
and audiences. Consequently, interpretation has played a significant role in
conferences. According to Munday (2001), “Throughout history written and spoken
translations have played a crucial role in inter-human communication.” Humor is an
inextricable part of the human experience and thus a fundamental aspect of
humanity’s unique capacity for language. In fact, it stands as one of the few
universals applicable to all peoples and all languages throughout the world (Kruger,
1996; Trachtenberg, 1979). Indeed, humor serves as an effective way to inform,
persuade and connect with the audience (Xu, 2015); therefore, it is normal to see the
employment of humor in speakers’ speech.
Given the complexities of translating humor in general, rendering humor
under the conditions and pressures in Simultaneous Interpreting is likely to pose a
particular challenge for interpreters. Most students whose major is interpreting and
translation claim that they often struggle with rendering humor and even do not
have the ability to smoothly produce their interpretation. Apparently, the
appearance of humor has enormous impacts on the fluency of interpreters. Although

1


several studies concern humor in conference practically, no systematic empirical
research on the applied strategy to render humor has been carried out.
All these conditions, henceforth, offers an opportunity for new research to be
conducted, which is “Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of TECHFEST
2020 used by interpreting and translation - majored students of FELTE, ULIS”.
2. Research objectives and research questions
The researcher aims at finding difficulties that FELTE students have to
encounter when simultaneously interpreting humor. At the same time, the
researcher also makes endeavor to investigate the strategies employed by FELTE

students to conquer humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020.
Specifically, the research seeks for answers to the following questions:
1. What are some difficulties encountered by student interpreters during
humor rendition process in speeches of TECHFEST 2020?
2. What strategies are applied by FELTE students in interpreting humor in
speeches of TECHFEST 2020?
3. Significance of the study
Pöchhacker (1996) states that “Jokes and funny stories embedded in a speech
are among the challenges most dreaded by simultaneous interpreters”. He adds that
being unable to anticipate whether there will be a punch-line or whether the punchline can be made funny in the target culture, the interpreter is usually doomed to
follow the speaker to a nail-biting finish and hope for the best. More often than not,
humor in one culture is not easily transferable to another. Therefore, conducting this
research, the researcher expects to investigate the dominant strategies used to render
humor and the difficulties that interpreters have to contend with when transferring
humor. Once completed, the study will hopefully be useful for not only professional
interpreters but also trainee interpreters. The result may help interpreters to be better
prepared for unpredictable humor so that they can achieve greater fluency in their
interpreting. Simultaneously, speakers can achieve the aims of bringing laughter to
listeners. Moreover, this research will discuss some salient issues of interpreting
humor and it will pave the way for further and more insightful investigations.

2


Hopefully, this research will be a useful resource for interpreters to read when they
have difficulties in interpreting humor.
4. Scope of the study
In this study, the researcher will not focus on non-verbal but verbal humor.
Regarding the participants, the study consists of 5 ULIS CLC senior students who
major in interpreting and translation and were mainly responsible for interpreting

speeches of TECHFEST 2020.
Considered as the biggest annual event for the innovative startup community
in Vietnam, TECHFEST 2020 was organized by the Ministry of Science and
Technology of Vietnam from November 27 to 29th in Hanoi. Although organized
amid the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, this event surely
presented the dynamic image of Vietnam startup ecosystem to international
partners.
In order to represent strongly the corpus of this thesis, two speakers have
been chosen as they incorporated their sense of humor into their speeches and at the
same time had their different ways of expressing humor. Moreover, the top priority
is selecting humor expressed both in Vietnamese and English.
The two chosen speakers are:
1. Mr. Nguyễn Duy Hồng
Mr. Nguyễn Duy Hồng is the Deputy CEO at Smartlog Vietnam, a start-up
specialized in developing information technology solutions for logistics operations.
Its aim is to build a logistics network in which businesses can share, optimize
resources and enhance competitiveness. Mr. Hồng took part in the conference
“Smart city Creative Hanoi” (TECHFEST 2020) as the representative of Smartlog
sharing about Promoting digital transformation of logistics in Vietnam. Although
his topic is quite abstract, his way of expression with intriguing examples and sense
of humor helped to attract audiences’ attention. He did not use note in his
presentation and most of the important information was shown in slides.

3


2. Mr. Shawn Lee
Mr. Shawn Lee is the CEO of SM Sino Technology Investments which was
founded in 2015 by venture capitalists, doctors, and entrepreneurs. SM-Sino
Technology Investment is a healthcare sector specialty venture capital based in

Seoul, South Korea. In the conference “Enhancing the innovation ecosystem to the
next level” (TECHFEST 2020), he delivered a speech about How Korean Investors
take Startups to IPO. Mr. Lee also used slides as the visual aid. Because he is
Korean, he speaks English quite slowly which makes it easy for interpreters to catch
up with what he was saying.
5. Organization of the study
The following chapters are organized correspondingly in this research paper.
Chapter 1: Introduction – shows research problems, rationale, research
objectives, significance and research methodology.
Chapter 2: Literature review - provides definitions of key terms and the
review of related studies.
Chapter 3: Methodology - describes the application of a specific process to
collect data.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion - presents and discusses the findings of
the three questions.
Chapter 5: Conclusion - summarizes the findings, significance and
limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies.
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Interpreting
1.1. Definitions of interpreting
According to González & Mejias (2013), interpreting can be defined “as
conveying understanding between two cultures”. It is the tool that the source
language speaker uses to convey every objective or emotion to the target-language
listener. Therefore, interpreters are required to have great language proficiency of
both languages and the ability to achieve accurate rendering.

4


Kohn and Kalina define interpreting as “a special type of communicative

interaction which takes place when members of different language communities
engage in cross-language/culture communication, using interpreters as inter-lingual
mediators” (1996, 118). They further state that the interpreter “produces a
corresponding target discourse which will enable the target discourse audience to
understand what the speaker meant” (Kohn and Kalina 1996, 118).
It can be seen that interpreting is translating what is said in a foreign
language orally, which is different from translation. Besides, a solid command of
mother tongue and good understanding of what is communicated are required.
Interpreters must also possess many other important skills and qualities, including
the ability to work under pressure, good retentive memory, good public speaking
and a considerable degree of flexibility. In addition, they should also be quick
enough to react to and flexibly deal with any unpredictable circumstances because
of the limited interpreting time, unlike translators who have chances to look up
dictionaries and references to deliver the best product.
1.2. Simultaneous interpreting
According to Language Scientific, there are 6 main types of interpreting and
simultaneous interpreting is “one of the most complex language tasks imaginable”
(Christoffels & De Groot, 2009). They define SI as “listening to and comprehending
the input utterance in one language, keeping it in working memory until it has been
recoded and can be produced in the other language, and producing the translation of
an earlier part of the input”. All these steps must be made at the same time.
Oncall Interperters & Translators (a world leader in quality interpreting and
translation service) considers SI as “Simultaneous interpreting, also known as
Conference interpreting, involves the processes of instantaneously listening to,
comprehending, interpreting and rendering the speaker’s statements into another
language”. This form of translating is widely used in international conferences
where interpreters will sit in cabin with a microphone and usually a partner beside.
Undoubtedly, SI is a service of interpreting which is carried out at multi-lingual
meetings and it can be argued to be one of the most complex language tasks because

5


of the vast majority of work done in this mode. This form of interpreting requires
interpreters to undertake simultaneously the tasks of listening, comprehending
source speaker and reformulating precise verbal expressions into the target
language. Due to the unique characteristics of SI, interpreters have to familiarize
themselves with various traditions and cultures and always prepare adequately for
any unforeseen circumstances.
2. Humor
2.1. Definitions of humor
Due to its complexity there is no general theory or even agreed definition of
humor. In fact, there are probably at least 500 definitions, concepts, notions, and
interpretations of humor and laughter (Goodman, 1995).
As Alison Ross ever states one definition of humor in his book – The
Language of Humor (1998) that is “something that makes a person laugh or smile.”
Hurren (2002) defines humor as any message, verbal or nonverbal, which evokes
feelings of positive amusement by others. While Anthony L. Audrieth (1998), from
the linguistic approach, considers humor as “the mental faculty of discovering,
expressing or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.”; Henmen (2001)
claims that “humor refers to a playful frame of mind that gives individual a feeling
of well-being, better thinking skills and a relief of pain feeling” (p.17). Crawford
asserts that “humor is a verbal or nonverbal activity eliciting a positive cognitive or
affective response from listeners” (1994, 57). He continues that it is “a dynamic
symbolic communicative act that links people” (1994, 66).
Consequently, humor is widely used in every field of life and speeches in
conferences are not exception, as it gives speakers a great advantage at linking
themselves to audiences. However, while the benefits that humor offers audiences
and speakers are considerable, the problems in interpreting that humor creates are
also acute, which are not studied intensively.

2.2. Types of humor
The way of classifying the humor is diverse.

6


Humor is divided by Marta Dynel (2009) into 11 types involving jokes,
conversational humor, lexemes, phrasemes, witticisms (stylistic figures, puns,
allusions, register clash), retorts, teasing, banter, putdowns, self-denigrating humor
and anecdotes. This classification which is generalized by Marta Dynel (2009) is
obviously not applied in all aspects of life particularly in conferences where formal
and academic environment is required. Based on researcher’s detailed observation
in TECHFEST 2020, the most common types of humor used by speakers are jokes,
self-denigrating humor and anecdotes. These types of humor will serve as sources
of humorous instances for the research.
a. Jokes - Commonly

considered

the

prototypical

form

of

verbal

humor, produced orally in conversations or published in collections.

b. Self-denigrating humor - A most peculiar pragmatic type of humor comes
into being when the speaker directs a brickbat at him/herself.
c. Anecdotes - This is a humorous narrative by means of which the speaker
regales the hearer with a story deriving from his/her personal experience or other
people’s lives.
2.3. The roles of humor
(a) In everyday life
It is undeniable that humor is fundamentally a communicative activity and an
effective tool to minimise the distance between human beings.
As it has been stated in The Ottawa Citizen (2011) that: “Having a sense of
humour also helps us keep things in perspective and numerous scientific studies
have cited the positive effects of laughter on our health. Laughter and humour bring
a lot of joy into our lives and can make the lives of those around us much more
pleasant.” Humor seems to be the only cure to stress and tension that most of us
suffer from in our daily life.
Humor can also be used to strengthen collegiality or bonds of friendship
(Clouse and Spurgeon 1995; Ehrenberg 1995; Hay 1995; Vinton 1 989), or to soften
an instruction or a criticism (Bar-soux 1993; Cox et al. 1990; Morreall 1991, 1997;

7


Ross 1992). It can be used to release tension or defuse anger (Consalvo 1989; Coser
1960).
(b) In conferences
b.1. Setting the scene
At the beginning of the conference, when the speakers and audiences meet
each other at the very first time, significant gap may appear between them. Many
pro tips to deliver a good speech suggest that a joke is the best way to win
audiences’ favor and attention; therefore, speakers often tell a joke with a view to

easing the tension and creating a relaxed atmosphere. According to Pavlicek and
Pöchhacker (2002), by using humor, the speaker thus manages to reduce the
distance between the participants and create a sense of community.
b.2. Dealing with others
When speakers have chances to interact with audiences, verbal attack is
unavoidable. In this circumstance, if speakers respond with humor it will be
considered as a weapon, a shield against this attack.
b.3. Supporting the ideas
All the speakers admit that they would like to create the strong impression
that they possess good skill of public speaking and telling jokes is proved to be one
of the most effective ways to make impressions. Furthermore, by using humor they
make their ideas become more comprehensible to the listeners. Therefore, it is usual
to see a humor in conference speeches with a view to supporting speakers’
presentations.
3. Interpreting humor in conference
González and Mejias (2013) say “Numerous challenges are posed to
conference interpreters, like the speed of the speaker, the topic being dealt with in
the hall and the kind of audience. A consecutive interpreter listens to the speaker,
takes notes, and then reproduces the speech in the target language. The
simultaneous interpreter, on the contrary, has no time at all to organize the message
as it is interpreting “on the go.””

8


Indeed, interpreters have encountered many difficulties in the process of
rendering humor. According to Amato & Mack (2001), there are many intricacies
that simultaneous interpreters have to deal with, such as proper names, figures,
culture-bound references or scripted speeches. Humor then really seems to be the
cherry on top. Translating humor is like solving a Rubik’s cube. Once one side is all

aligned, you move it a little and the rest is still mismatched (Chiaro 2011, 265).
Should the interpreter fail to transfer the humor, they will feel excluded (Viaggio
1996, 180). Antonioni (2010), however, finds that the target audiences often laugh
only because of the source text audiences laughing or due to the speaker’s facial
expressions. Gile also adds that an essential aspect of SI is that the audience’s smile
or laughter will be a “quality check” that the humorous instance has been
transferred successfully (1995, 35).
4. Strategies used in interpreting humor
4.1. Viaggio’s Six Factors
According to Viaggio (1996), the interpreter’s own analysis of humorous
context should ideally cover the speaker’s pragmatic intention and intended
sense, as well as the audience’s needs and expectations, and the relevant
background knowledge of audiences, and their ability to understand and
readiness to accept linguistic calques and verbatim quotations in the original
language.
Viaggio’s analytical framework (1996) consists of six factors which
influence the rendition of wordplay and other stylistically marked features of
speech:
(i) Degree of spontaneity of the original: As opposed to impromptu humor
(intended or unintended), non-spontaneous wordplay (scripted style) may pose great
challenges if it is so sophisticated.
(ii) Structural and/or lexical differences between the specific languages:
The more similar the forms available to the interpreter, the lesser the effort required
to recreate or reproduce the original puns.

9


(iii) Degree of interpretation of the respective languages and cultures:
The linguistic and cultural background knowledge that the interpreter’s audience

can be presumed to share with speaker and/or interpreter.
(iv) Situational relevance of form: (in terms of the Gricean maxims) A pun
may be inappropriate in the original in which case the interpreter is advised to
forgive and forget it.
(v) Interpreter’s knowledge of the source language culture(s) and
literature: Humor can only be recognized if the alluded sayings or idiosyncrasies
are familiar to the interpreter and audience.
(vi) Interpreter’s mastery of the target languages and rhetorical
prowess: Interpreters whose speeches have stylistic markers will find it easier to
interpreter humor.
Viaggio states that the interpreter should be able to choose the right strategy
to use when transferring verbal humor.
4.2. Gile’s five rules
Gile’s five rules (1995, 202-203) are formulated in order to help interpreters
select the right strategy. The first rule is to maximise information recovery which
requires interpreters to choose what section should be transferred and what should
be forgot. Whereas, the second rule makes omission and generalization preferable
because based on this rule the following part may be jeopardized by the excessive
rendition. As a result, this rule commands interpreter to minimise recovery
inference. By following the third rule which is to maximise the communication
impact of the given speech interpreters have to take form into great consideration
due to its importance. It can be clearly seen that the second rule is supported by the
fourth rule where strategy offering not much time and effort takes priority over
other strategies. According to the fifth rule, rule of self- protection, interpreters’
decision not to inform the audiences of the problem will be considered as an act of
face saving.
These five rules are pointed out from the Gile’s Effort Models which help
interpreters understand the “difficulties [of interpreting] and select appropriate

10

strategies and tactics” (Gile, 1992: 191). Obeying these rules is proved to be helpful
to the interpreters when they struggle with selecting the appropriate strategy to
interpret various aspects especially humor in conferences. Therefore, the researcher
chooses Gile’s five rules as the framework of this study as they are perfectly valid
in interpreting humor.
4.3. Strategies used in interpreting humor
Bertone (1989), in her generally playful monograph on SI, mentions a case
of an interpreter not rendering a joke but instead addressing the audience directly
and asking listeners to laugh for the sake of the speaker. While Jones does agree
that unless the strategy “please laugh now” is too overused, it might satisfy the need
of all participants (2002, 112), this might not be true in the context of political
discourse as the perlocutionary act is not transmitted and it might embarrass the
speaker by making them the target of the joke.
In Vymětalová’s research (2017), he synthesizes twelve strategies that were
mentioned in various works such as that of Jones (2002), Gile (1995), Kalina
(2015), Bartlomiejczyk (2006), Kohn and Kalina (1996) or Liontou (2015) related
to rendering humor.
a. Reformulation
Jones (2002, 81) suggests that this technique can serve as an effective tool
when stumbling upon stylistic features which do not have an equivalent in TC. This
technique requires a lot of judgement as the interpreter needs to deduce the meaning
using only context.
b. Generalisation
Another tool used in order to save time is using generic terms (Jones 2002,
101). Should the interpreter not understand one word or not be able to interpret it
accurately, the interpreter may choose to use a more general term or reformulate the
message in a more general manner, using superordinate terms, for instance (Gile
1995, 197)

11


c. Omission
This strategy helps the interpreter keep up the speaker’s pace. Jones
differentiates among two types of omission: omission under duress and omission
from choice. The first one stems from the interpreter not being able to interpret 54
the expression accurately (Jones 2002, 125). The latter, called ‘editing’ by Jones, is
a deliberate omission used to maximise the communication (Jones 2002, 125).
d. Explicitation
Sometimes interpreters have to alter the balance between what is explicit and
what is implicit (Lederer 2015, 208). The drawback of this strategy is the time and
processing capacity it requires (Gile 1995, 198). Gile also states that explaining and
paraphrasing might lower the credibility of the interpreter (1995, 198).
By bringing the implied information to light, the interpreter attributes
responsibility to the speaker (Vianna 2005, 182). Vianna gives an example of a
running joke among international speakers:
(8) Let’s meet here tomorrow at 10:00 am British time, not Brazilian time (Vianna
2005, 182).
In example (8), the interpreter might need to explain that what is meant is
that the Brazilian audience should come in time and not be late, rather than telling
them to use GMT (Vianna 2005, 182). This strategy, will, however, necessarily
change the intentions of the speaker which might be to make an innocent joke
(Vianna 2005, 182). As Low states, “obviousness is a killer of humour” (2011, 59).
e. Glosses
Jones mentions the technique of “The speaker is telling an untranslatable
joke now, which he thinks is very funny, and will expect everyone to laugh. To
oblige him and the interpreters, would you be so kind as to laugh…now!” (Jones
2002, 112). Viaggio believes that if there is enough space, gloss is often the best

solution (Viaggio 1996, 193).
Notwithstanding such basic agreement regarding the efficiency of glosses,
humour also depends on the communication situation (Norrick 1989, 118) which
means that in certain cases, glosses and explanations are not advisable.

12


f. Substitution
Substitution has been suggested as a possible tool in encountering the
“underdog jokes”, where a whole group can be changed based on common features
(Lendvai 1993, 108).
g. Transcoding / Literal Translation
Gile defines transcoding as “automatic” word-for-word translation (1995, 75)
and Lederer calls this word-for-word translation literal translation (1978, 324). This
technique is considered to be helpful in transferring numbers and names. Kalina
calls this strategy “an emergency strategy”, which translators can rely on should
they experience trouble in understanding the sense of the message and only be able
to transfer the surface structure (2015, 403) He adds that due to cognitive overload,
the interpreter might be forced to literal rendering (Gile 1998a).
h. Correction / Repair
Should it be a serious mistake, Jones suggests correcting oneself immediately
as it would be unethical not to do so (Jones 2002, 108). With humour in
simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter might feel the need to correct themselves
if they later realise that the utterance was said in a non-bona fide style, which might
be a problem in the case of irony and sarcasm. The decision whether to correct
oneself thus depend on whether new information will be brought and whether the
meaning has been shifted or changed completely. If this is not the case, correction
might only consume an already limited time and thus cause future losses within the
interpretation and possibly distract the audience (Jones 2002, 108).

i. Intonation, Stress and Pauses
Intonation is a great tool for expressing humor. Irony, for example, draws
heavily form intonation. The interpreter must thus be aware of the intonation
patterns of both languages as different languages use intonation differently
(Schlesinger 1994, 226- 234).
j. Anticipation
It is a great tool for interpreters who might be able to anticipate the ‘thrust’
of the speech (Jones 2002, 105) from the general topic of the meeting or context.

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Jones suggests interpreters should learn to recognise speech patterns and
rhetorical structures in their B language (2002, 105).
Interpreters should observe gestures and demeanour of the speaker and the
reactions of the audience (Nolan 2005, 18). Anticipation may be viewed as ‘filling
in the blanks’ once a part of utterance is unclear but retrievable from the context
(Nolan 2005, 19)
k. Inferencing
This strategy is particularly valid to the interpreting of humour, as it raises
the question whether the interpreter should or should not inference to transfer the
possible intended meaning, or should simply translate what is being said, word for
word (Setton 2015a, 190).
l. Preparation
The joke-telling prowess can be trained. Nolan thus suggests listening to
stand-up comedians, famous punsters and reading books with joke anthologies such
as Isaac Asimov’s Treasury of Humor. Furthermore, he proposes that interpreters
should learn several jokes and practise telling them in front of bigger groups of
people (Nolan 2005, 274). He further suggests interpreters study different types of
humour and techniques applied in telling jokes and practise translating jokes and

puns in order to better asses and interpret humour when encountering it (Nolan
2005, 260).
After discussing these twelve strategies Vymětalová (2017) has used a
classification system from Amato and Mack’s study (2011) on strategies used in
simultaneous interpreting at the Oscar Night to categorise these strategies into 5
groups which I will base on for the practical part of my thesis:
(1) Close rendition – this category comprises of literal translation and
renditions with only a small change to the content in the form of either skipping or
omission which does not hinder the meaning, or in the form of substitution of one
element

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(2) Reduced rendition – this category comprises such strategies as
generalisation, simplification, reformulation or omission of a part of the humorous
utterance, making a certain amount of the utterance implicit
(3) Zero rendition – this category comprises of omissions of the whole or
majority of the VEH
(4) Expanded rendition – this category comprises strategies such as
explication or gloss explanations make explicit what was only implicit in the ST
(5) Divergent rendition – this category contains shift of meaning and
elements that were not present in the ST, either due to reformulation or erroneous
anticipation or inferencing
In the suggestion for future research section, Vymětalová (2017) believe that
“another string of research could be a comparative study among different languages
which would shed a light on how different languages deal with the challenges of
British humour.” Interestingly, the languages he chooses to study are Czech and
English under the context of European Parliament. Therefore, the researcher decides
to conduct this study in order to find out these strategies’ appropriateness in

rendering humor in Vietnamese and English in another context which is
TECHFEST 2020.
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
Chapter three provides detailed information about the process of collecting
and analysing data for the two questions “What are some difficulties encountered by
student interpreters during humor rendition process in speeches of TECHFEST
2020?” and “What strategies are applied by FELTE students in interpreting humor
in speeches of TECHFEST 2020?”
1. Research design
To answer the research questions, the quantitative and qualitative methods
were adopted in the study. Using quantitative approach including questionnaires
allowed the researcher to discover the difficulties that 5 ULIS CLC senior students
majoring in Translation & Interpreting encountered when transferring humor in
speeches of TECHFEST 2020. Statistical data for the research descriptions and
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