Translating Humor in the TV show Bojack Horseman

(English-Spanish)
By Paulina Mazur
In the world of adult animation sitcoms, Bojack Horseman is one of the recent
ones, and perhaps not as well-known as its predecessors (The Simpsons or Family Guy, to
name a few). The show premiered on August 22, 2014, on Netflix, and its creators are the
cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt, Will Arnett and Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Wikipedia classifies
the show as Animated sitcom, Adult animation, Dramedy, Satire and Black comedy.
Needless to say, none of the genres mentioned are easy to translate. Animation allows for
ridiculous situations that would be hard to pull off in real life, whereas comedy and satire
are fertile grounds for endless ambiguities and wordplay. I will base my analysis of the
translation of subtitles in the second season of the series. I will try to understand, justify
or discredit the translators choices, and at times offer my own alternative solutions.
In the first episode of season two, before the opening credits begin to roll, there is
a dialogue which might have presented a challenge to the translator. More than a
dialogue, it is a shouting match between the protagonists mother and father. The father
comes home late, and his wife accuses him of being unfaithful and starts breaking plates
in fury. She welcomes him with the words: "look at you, big stud!" (translated version:
"vaya semental!") It helps to mention that all the members of the family are
anthropomorphic horses, so the double meaning of "stud" has a slightly humorous effect
both in English and the Spanish version. The problems start when the couple bickers
about plates. It goes like this:
Husband: Why do we even have saucers? we dont drink tea!
Wife: Theyre for entertaining!"
Husband: Well, I am exitaining! (and he leaves the house).
The husbands verbal comeback utilizes the wifes own words and twists them a bit,
which is what gives it a mocking effect. The husband forms a neologism to mirror the

word "entertaining", which is easy to do in English by simply adding "-ain" and "-ing".
Not so in Spanish. The translators solution is:

Y porque tenemos platitos? nosotros no tomamos t!

Esos platitos son para entretenernos!

Ah si? Pues yo me voy a entretener.

The translator decided to preserve the core purpuse of he wordplay, which is to spite the
wife by mirroring her own language. The translator repeated the word "entertain" to
evoke a similar effect as in the original version. This is an oblique translation technique
in which one doesnt translate word-for-word as does literal translation, but rather tries
to convey the same idea. This translation also fits in with what happens on the screen.
explains why the husband leaves, and possibly implies that hes going to do the same
thing he had been accused of. Theres also the solution offered by the "non-professional"
translator of the series which I initially glanced at in order to compare it with the Netflix
translators version.

Y porque tenemos platitos? nosotros no tomamos t!

Son para los invitados!

- Pues, yo "me invito"a retirarme.

All of the solutions above are acceptable because the primary intention of the

speaker has been maintained.

Later in the same episode, there is a scene in which an agent sits in her office,
talking to the actor she is working with. That actor is Bojack Horseman. The agent, called
Princess Carolyn, is interrupted by her assistant who comes in to remind her about
something. This is the dialogue that takes place:

Your coffee's coming late, just like you wanted.

I said "latte"

Oh... I wrote down "late", so it will come later.

The source of the misunderstanding between Princess Carolyn and her assistant is

due paronymy, or phonetic similarity between words. Either her pronunciation was off, or
he was too distracted to pay attention to her exact words. This is the official translator s
solution:

Tu caf llegara tardado, como t queras.

dije "cargado.

Oh. Escrib "tardado", as que tardar.

Once again, the basics of the interaction in this case, a misunderstanding about

coffee have been preserved. Granted it is harder to confuse "tardado" and "cargado",
which slightly takes away from verisimilitude of the dialogue, but it is nonetheless a good
solution as the translator: a) recognized the comic mechanism (paronymy) b) used the
same mechanism in T.L. while maintaining a similar general meaning.
In the following episode, there is a scene in which the protagonist, Bojack, spies
on his romantic rival, with the hopes of discovering some dirty secret of his. Finally, he
discovers that the other is a communist and says: slap my salami, that guys a commie.
The humorous effect inherent in this expression is based on the rhyme of salami and
commie. The translator understood this, and also used rhyme to re-create this effect.
Her solution is:

This is quite acceptable, though one can see that the vulgarism (no jodas) is
trying to make up for the lack of the ridiculous and alliterative slap my salami. In
translation studies, this technique is called compensation. The translator could have
thought of other options however such as: santo solomillo, es un rojillo or even ojo!
Est cabrn es un rojo ,with the latter alternative being an example of compensation as
well.
The same character, later in the episode, has a line that employs wordplay. In
English he says:

If youre gonna kick me to the curb, just because youre capitalist swine and want
to see your way of life destroyed, well, so be it. Or should I say So-vi-et.
The translators challenge, once again was homophony. The similarity between

so be it and Soviet creates a nice pun. The translator must have been looking for a
solution that includes ruso and so she came up with:

Pero si pensis tirarme a la cuenta solo porque os creeis todos unos cerdos
capitalistas y queris ver como destrus vuestro modo de vida, rehso. O debera
decir re-ruso.
Apparently the translators intention was to create wordplay with the help of

homonymy between the invented word re-ruso and rehso, which by the way is not
equivalent to so be it and is in fact its opposite. The visual cues show us the character
being indifferent, and not really fighting against his fate. Although the translation is
inaccurate, it shows that the translator has opted for maintaining humor rather than
accuracy, which is probably fitting when working with a comedy series.
Further on in that same episode, a witless friend of Bojacks, Todd, is caught
running an illegal business. The police summons him to court and their conversation goes
like this:

Well see you in court

The food court?

No, regular court

Eh, okay. but also Im hungry so i might just stop by the regular court.
Here the humorous effect is evoked by the polysemy, or multiple meanings, of the

word court. The first thing that springs to Todds mind when he hears that word is, not
surprisingly for him, food. While in English both the court of justice and the food
court exist, the humor is possible. Not so in Spanish. And so the translator had to use
paronymy in order to transmit a similar meaning. This is her solution to the problem:

Le veremos en el estrado

En el estadio?

No, el estrado de juzgado.

Vale, pero tambin tengo hambre, as que ir pillando alguna entrada.

The use of paronymy in the first part of the interaction probably wasn't at all a bad

idea. The translator still managed to portray Todd as someone ignorant of the legal realm,
and who is interested in more basic things instead. The original version aimed at the same
effect. However, there is an incongruity in the second part of the exchange. The fact that
Todds mind is on a football game, has nothing to do with hunger, so his last comment
vale, pero tambin tengo hambre, as que ir pillando alguna entrada doesnt make
much sense. As there are no visual cues that would restrict the translator to this particular
solution, a better alternative might have been: Vale, pero hoy juegan los Giants, as que
ir pillando alguna entrada". In Episode 3 of the second season, there is also enough
humorous wordplay to let the translator show off her creativity. In one of the scenes, an
aging director is talking to an actress over lunch. At one point, he raises his glass and
says: "To life. It will kill you". This is especially poignant, as the man is diagnosed with
cancer. The translated version:

"Para morirse" is a quirky solution, surely with an aim to provoke laughter in the
viewer. However it leaves room for ambiguity. I possibly may have written "Es para
morirse" so that the remark is clearer, though "para morirse" might mean either
"delicious" or "hilarious". So in the light of all that, a question springs to mind: was it
necessary to play around with the text at all? If the translator had written "Por la vida. Lo
que nos matar" the effect would have been clearer, and more faithful to the original.
Later in the same episode, the ill director finally dies, and some friends that
appear at the funeral begin to suspect that someone might have killed him. One of them is
a distracted, confused and heavily drugged actress. She is hardly aware of the makeshift
investigation in which she is taking part:
BoJack: I think that Herb might have been murdered!
(all gasp)
Actress: Whats going on? Something about a merger?
The wordplay, once again based on paronymy, is rather far-fetched, even in
English. Its difficult to confuse murder with merger, unless someone is under the
influence, like the character in question. The translated version goes thus:

Creo que a Herb le podran haber asesinado!

Que pasa? Algo de un atentado?

The same principles have been applied. asesinado and atentado are just as

similar (or just as dissimilar) as murder and merger. A funnier, albeit less faithful
solution might have been offered:

Creo que alguien mat a Herb! !Vaya!

Qu pasa? Alguien ha dicho raya?

The last example of the episode, is a conversation between Bojack and a young

director and friend of his:

You wanna go check out that big water tank where they filmed The Love Boat.

Are you kidding? Ive always wanted to get tanked in a tank.

The humor in this exchange is based on the repetition of tank. Get tanked is

English slang for get drunk, and can not be translated literally because entancarse
does not exist. For a lack of better solution, the translator could have formed the
neologism, as the viewers would still understand the message due to the visual cue (the
flask that he is holding). Still, the translator of the series, managed to maintain the humor:

Luckily, there does exist an expression in Spanish which means get drunk
which is connected with water, and that is what the translator decided to use. This
technique of substituting a fixed/idiomatic expression in S.L. for an equivalent
fixed/idiomatic expression in T.L is called equivalence or reformulation. I hardly
could have thought of a better solution.
Episode 7 of the second season is also rife with humor. For instance, one of the
main characters, Dian Nguyen, comes with her problem to a woman magazine's editor-inchief. The lady is a snobby, albeit good-hearted, heavy-weight sea lion. Diane says to her:
"Amanda, I am so glad you're throwing your weight behind this". An awkward silence
follows as Diane realizes the additional, offensive meaning of her remark. In this case, we
are dealing with an idiomatic expression (to throw one's weight behind something = to
support something). If we simply translate "me alegro que me hayas apoyado" the humor
gets lost. In order to maintain the effect the translator solved it using equivalence once
again:

"Mover hilos" doesn't exactly and accurately express the act of supporting
someone, but in this case, that's not important. The key is playing with double meanings
so as to make viewers laugh. "Mover hilos", besides the usual meaning of "pulling
strings" does obviously also imply that the editor is so fat, she makes the threads of her

clothing move. It is slightly stretched but it works. Another alternative solution might
have been: "Gracias Amanda, tu influencia tiene mucho peso". In this way, the remark is
clearer and ruder, and therefore maybe even a bit funnier.
The next example is more low-brow than the rest. The aforementioned Diane has
gotten herself into trouble by publicly accusing a famous person, and now she is
receiving death threats from the star's angry fans. She takes one of the many letters that
pile her kitchen table and reads aloud:

You can't, you stupid ugly can't.

Yeah...that doesn't say "can't". (comments her husband who is sitting next to her
as she reads).
The wordplay, based on homonymy, or similarity of sounds, in the words "can't"

and "cunt", is so embedded in the English language that it needs no explanation. When
Diane's husband says that it doesn't say "can't" the real meaning of the message is
obvious to the viewers. Now, as for the Spanish version, the translator presents the
Spanish audience with the following:

T cepilla, cepilla fea y estupida.

ya, no pone "capulla".

I have to disagree with this translation. First of all, it does not make much sense,

as the husband does not and should not reveal what the actual insult is. And even if so, it
should be: "ya, pero all pone "capulla". In general, I think it would have sufficed to
simply write "ya, pero all no pone "cepilla" and most Spanish viewers would make the
implied association in their minds.
As some examples have already shown, translating idiomatic expressions is
tricky, and I am about to describe another instance of that. Diane is punished for stepping
out and fairly accusing a famous star. Shes talking to her husband on the phone who tells
her that her newly-gained, bad reputation is now all over the internet. The husband tells
her what is written on some website called The Titpuncher and tells her horrible it is.

She replies: we are on the same page meaning, clearly, that she agrees. It goes like
this:

Believe me, we are on the same page

Youre also on Titpuncher? Well, listen, do not read the comments! 11

The misunderstanding stems from a double meaning of the expression in English.

In the Spanish language, there is no equivalent expression, so the translator had to play
around with this so as to maintain the core meaning: the misunderstanding between the
couple:

Oye, estamos en las mismas.

T tambin ests en Taladratetas? No deberas leer los comentarios.

This is actually quite witty, and not a bad solution. Estar en las mismas in

Spanish means either to continue as before, or to find yourself in the same situation as
someone else. It is this second meaning that is being played with. The solution is
acceptable because in English we are dealing with an expression that can be taken
literally or metaphorically and the confusion which this causes, in the Spanish translation,
the same thing happens.
Before in this analysis I have dealt with rhymes humorous effect. Here is another
example from episode 7: A news reporter says "Stanky Hanky, allegations vile and
ranky". The comedy comes from the contradiction between the reporters high-strung,
excited and serious voice and the nursery-rhyme-type headline. The translator apparently
has not found this significant enough to translate, as she decided to simply write: "El
asqueroso Hanky. Viles y repugnantes acusaciones". This is the closest to direct
translation as anything else I have discussed in this analysis. It might have been worth
translating obliquely, however, and writing, for instance: "El asqueroso Hanky.
Insensatos y sucios alegatos". Once again, if the visual context and the overall plot dont
get in the way, translating humor perhaps ought to be the priority, at least in a comedy
sitcom like this one.

In episode 9 of the series, Princess Carolyns colleague confesses his attraction to

her and asks her to move town with him. She is not convinced, and so trying further to
convince her, he says:
- Carolyn, you are my gritty, witty, sitty kitty, and I want you with me bitty bitty!
Carolyn, eres mi gatita manita urbanita. Quiero que vengas conmigo de la manita.

The humorous silliness, once again is based on rhyme and in this case the
diminutive ending -itty. This is not difficult to reproduce in Spanish, as an equivalent
ending would be -ita and so even though the translation isnt bad, I think it might have
been done a tad better. The translator has used the equivalence technique, as far as the
suffix goes, but she wasnt faithful to the meaning of some words. De la manita for
instance, does not have a clear meaning for me. I believe it might have been better to
write ahorita. In my version the sentence might looks so:
- Carolyn, eres mi gatita bonita avispadita y te quiero tener a mi lado ahorita!
Of course, one does have to take into account the technical limitations of 32
characters per line, which makes one realize even more how complicated subtitling can
be and the high level of creativity that it requires.

Further challenges are also posed by homophones. Homophonic words are those
that sound the same but are spelled differently and have distinct meanings. Its easy to see
that they pave the way for humor due to the ambiguity they introduce. In episode eleven
of BoJack Horseman, the main character is forced to make up an excuse for his presence
on the spot. So to the question What are you doing here? he replies

Im here on my way to seee...

To sea?

Yes! To sea. To the shining sea.

The translators solution is this:

Estoy de camino al mara....

De camino al mar?

Eso! Al mar! Al mar azul!

Its probably not the ideal solution, but one has to admit that the translators

limitations were the lack of an equivalent synonym and the visual/contextual limitation of
the plot (the continuation of BoJacks lie is that he is planning to buy a boat. Therefore,
the translation has to perform two functions: 1) illustrating the misunderstanding that
took place 2) being connected to the sea or other bodies of water. I think the solution
might have been improved by simply writing Mara or even Mar.....with the capital letter.
Other options that I have come up with are

He venido aqu para ver....

Para veranear?

Estoy de camino a Ver.....

A Veracruz?
I think the second option might actually be the most fortune one, because the

place that he finds himself is near the border of US and Mexico. Also, Veracruz is on the
coast, so it would make sense that his plan is to buy a boat. In my opinion it is acceptable

to stretch the text a bit, as long as it is necessary and as long as the solution does not
deprive the plot of sense, or is widely inaccurate.
In the twelfth and final episode of the series, BoJacks sidekick joins an improv
group and the jokes, albeit poor quality ones, fly right and left. After Todd tells his friends
something that makes them laugh, one of the friend replies: Todd, you should be up a
magicians sleeve because you are a card. The translator decided to render it this way:

Here, once again, the equivalence technique was used. The translator of course
couldnt have written eres una tarjeta as that expression doesnt exist in Spanish. She
was lucky that the two idiomatic phrases (youre a card and eres un as) are from the
same semantic field, making the translation relatively simple.
Another case where one is tempted to say that the translator was lucky can be
found in the same episode. Todd and another member of the improv group are talking,
and what the latter says is: Id like you to join me on the high seas, as my number two,
and i dont mean THAT number two. Polysemy is the source of humor here, as number
two can either mean sidekick or make a reference to using the toilet. The translator
demonstrated her knowledge of both colloquial English and colloquial Spanish, and
successfully found an equivalent: Me gustara que me acompaaras a alta mar como mi
segundo en aguas mayores, y no me refiero a ese tipo de aguas.But once again, it was a

matter of chance that the character was inviting Todd to join him on a sea journey. Had
the context been different, for example if the invitation was to go to the desert, he
translation wouldnt make sense. As a side note, it might be interesting to make as
comparative study of idiomatic expressions in the English/Spanish language combination
and try to see which idioms share a semantic field. That would surely make the future
translators' job much easier.
The last example of the analysis requires some background information to clarify
the context. Two employees of an agency decide to quit and set up their own company.
The plan is to tell off the boss and the future ex-coworkers and to walk away
ceremoniously. However, once they are about to make an announcement, they discover
that the boss is in the hospital:

Mr. Witherspoon is in the hospital. he had a stroke.

Well you know what you rat bastards can can stroke? My big, hairy....
This obscene and rude farewell is tricky to translate indeed. The humor is based

on the polysemy of the word stroke (meaning a heart attack or to touch). This is
how the translator worked out the solution:

El Sr. Witherspoon ests en el hospital ha sufrido un derrame cerebral.

Pero Sabis adnde me baja a mi la sangre del cerebro?

This is an admirable solution. Both the play on words and the meaning are

maintained. It doesnt matter that it is a play on different (un derrame cerebral in this
case) but it might matter that the level of obscenity is diminished in the Spanish version.
In this case, for some reason, the translator chose not to use compensation. However
some vulgarity might have been used for the sake of accuracy.
To conclude the analysis, the official translator of this Netflix series has certainly
shown professionalism and a profound knowledge of both languages, as well as of

various translation techniques. She has aptly used oblique translation especially
equivalence, identified the humorous parts of the script and consequently used the
same techniques of polysemy and homonymy to evoke laughter in the viewers. She also
sometimes compensated for lost meanings. As a result, very few things were lost in
translation. Omission was hardly ever used. Instead, the translator managed to tackle
head-on the challenge of translating humor, as I hope this analysis has successfully
demonstrated.