Recently, I attended a thought-provoking Manchester conference about translation and translation services The conference highlighted the difficulties of translating humour, both in terms of the English translation of international comedy films, and the international translation of English films. I never realise it was such a cultural and intellectual minefield, and there was nowhere better than a delightful B&B Manchester to realise this!

Take, for instance, the examples provided by recent French films. In my opinion, a hit was provided by the silly James Bond spoof OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies starring the charismatic French comedian, Jean Dujardin. Even though Dujardin excels at the slapstick and visual gag elements of playing the smarmy spy, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, the subtitled translations of the dialogue into English are a work of comedy alone. Puns and word-play abound, the translation team obviously had an innate knowledge of all three essential elements: French, English and humour.

On a far greater scale, the same issues have been raised with translating the classic Russian text in verse, Eugene Onegin, by the acclaimed author and poet Alexander Pushkin. There are many versions of the text available in English, but their poet/author/translator history is controversial. Walter W. Arndt's 1963 version strictly follows Pushkin's rhyming scheme, and whilst this version is considered one of the best, it received harsh criticism from author and translator, Vladimir Nabokov. Writing his own translation in prose, Nabokov argues that the poetic translations sacrifice precision for melody. But where should one stand on this issue? Charles Johnston's later translation is remarkable in that it attempts to preserve the Pushkin sonnet under the influence of Nabokov's prose.

But back to the French films and the bed and breakfast Manchester! An example of a comedy film's translation service which failed to entirely hit the mark is Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. Now this is a difficult one. Even thought the Asterix & Obelix comic books have been translated into over 100 languages and dialects, it's a tricky issue due to the specifically French cultural and historical cross-references that split the sides of the French audience. The same goes for the film, and it seems like the translators decided to err on the side of caution, and favour slapstick rather than any intelligent running gags.