The translation of wordplay remains one of the most discussed problems in translation studies because it exposes the instability of equivalence across languages, cultures, and semiotic modes. This article examines the translatability of wordplay in Asterix through a comparative analysis of German and Persian renderings. Because Asterix is densely structured through puns, semantically motivated proper names, allusion, intertextual parody, and sound-based humor, it provides an especially productive corpus for evaluating competing models of equivalence and translational strategy. Drawing on Koller’s model of equivalence, Delabastita’s typology of pun translation, Heibert’s account of wordplay as a stylistic device, and broader functionalist and humorous-text approaches, the article argues that wordplay is not “untranslatable” in any absolute sense. Rather, it is variably translatable depending on the relation between source and target linguistic systems, the degree of cultural overlap, and the translator’s willingness to privilege functional-pragmatic effect over formal correspondence. The comparison suggests that German, due to greater structural and cultural proximity to French, often permits higher degrees of pun-to-pun transfer, especially in cases involving morphology, pseudo-classical naming, and literary polysemy. Persian, by contrast, more frequently requires compensation, substitution, or selective preservation. Yet this does not amount to translational failure. On the contrary, Persian solutions often reveal a different mode of success grounded in creative refunctionalization. The article concludes that the translation of wordplay is best understood not as the transfer of stable meaning but as the reconstruction of textual effect under altered linguistic and cultural conditions.
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- Hussein Pabardja (Author), 2018, Translating Wordplay Across Linguistic Distance, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1710342
