The butler did it – but should you use the same procedure?

I have mentioned previously the difficulties inherent in translating humour and literature (see As Clear as Mud, Infamy! Infamy!). Of course, some people might take the attitude of “why bother with a translation”?

An extended sketch in English filmed in 1963 for German TV but possibly dating back to British music halls of the 1920s has since 1972 become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Germany despite being shown generally without any form of translation into German other than an introduction setting the scene.

Little known today in its native Britain, “Dinner for One” has become so firmly entrenched in the German national psyche that asking a German its central question “The same procedure as last year?” will invariably prompt the scripted response of “The same procedure as every year”, probably accompanied by a giggle or two.

The story is that of a lady called Miss Sophie celebrating her 90^th birthday, ostensibly with four male guests, but these have apparently been dead for some years, and her butler, James, takes on the role of each guest, particularly for the drinks accompanying each of four courses. Much of the comedy derives from the butler’s increasing drunkenness and repeated stumbling over the head of a tiger-skin rug.

The broadcasts are not dubbed into German and are seldom provided with subtitles, yet the combination of sight gags and repetitive dialogue (the above-quoted exchange occurs five times in the sketch’s eighteen minutes) has transcended the language barrier to be shown on New Year’s Eve by all the major regional TV channels in Germany and is a fixed ritual for many families much like the British ritual of watching the Queen’s speech at Christmas.

It has also met with considerable success in other non-English speaking countries, most of whom also show it around the New Year, and it has been the subject of a number of spoofs and parodies.

Just recently, a satirical digitally edited version was released on 24^th December 2011 in which the heads of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have been superimposed over those of Miss Sophie and James as they go through the same procedure as every month in trying to rescue the Euro. Instead of missing friends the butler (Sarkozy) is now impersonating missing European political leaders.

Although the attitude of not bothering with translation may have worked in the case of “Dinner for One”, it should be noted that the sketch is linguistically very simple, and is therefore easily understood by anyone with a little knowledge of English, whilst most of the laughs come from physical comedy. This works therefore in much the same way as Mr Bean’s virtually dialogue-free comedy which has also proved immensely popular on the international market.

For anything more complex it is generally best to go the route of translation by an expert. Could you get away with leaving your documentation in English? Well, the butler may have done it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the same procedure will work for you…