In the end, it doesn't work anymore. Throw it away!

[7thoughts]

Hi. I want to make a joke in one of my YouTube videos, and I want to be sure that I used the right words.
I understand English, but I don't know grammar very well, so I use Google and Bing translators. I will use subtitles for English speakers.

"In the end, it doesn't work anymore.
Throw it away!
No, I'm just kidding. Better fix it, although you may break it while trying to fix it."

So, you are tempted to laugh because you see mistakes or because of the joke.

And I would be grateful if you would do the same for the following sentences:

"I have an old smartphone. I don't want to throw it away. What can I do? The phone battery will surely become faulty. Will I find a new one?
If I don't, is this where to find a solution?"
"YES, IT IS!"

Is there any use for an old smartphone?
Well, that depends on user to user."

 

[emsr2d2]

Where's the joke?

 

[7thoughts]

The joke is in romanian. Maybe it's hidden in English.
But the question is: do you laugh or not?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't see anything funny.

 

[7thoughts]

I hope you didn't laugh because you didn't find mistakes and strange words in the previous sentences.
But I'd like to make you laugh.

How about this:
Is C-3PO available, or is involved in the development of online AI Translator websites.

 

[emsr2d2]

The joke is works in Romanian. Maybe it's hidden not clear in English. But The question is: do did you laugh or not?

I did not laugh.

I hope the reason you didn't laugh because was that you didn't find any mistakes and or strange words in the previous sentences post #1 but I'd like to make you laugh.

I didn't laugh because there was no joke.

How about this?
Is C-3PO available, or is he involved in the development of online AI Translator websites?

With my correction, it's a grammatical question but it's not funny. Why do you think it's funny?

 

[Tarheel]

@7thoughts I give you credit for trying. Maybe those are funny in Romanian. I don't know.

You might want to visit the thread "Tell a Funny Joke". (It's in the Fun & Games subforum.) Some non-natives have made some contributions there, and they are often quite funny.

 

[7thoughts]

Nice job R2D2! I was hoping you would do that with the sentences that interest me (1st post; quotation marks).
Now you understand why I wanted to check the Bing & Google translation.

 

[emsr2d2]

Nice job, R2D2 emsr2d2! I was hoping you would do that with the sentences that interest me (1st post; quotation marks).

I don't know what you mean by the part in brackets.

Now you understand why I wanted to check the Bing & and Google translations.

If those were the translations that Bing and Google came up, then I'm sure they're fairly accurate verbatim translations. If that's the case, then the "joke" are being lost in the process.

 

[7thoughts]

The sentences in quotation marks, found in my first post, are the ones I would like you to check.
They are, in fact, my question.

 

[emsr2d2]

The sentences in quotation marks, found in my first post, are the ones I would like you to check.
They are, in fact, my question.

There are, as far as I can tell, three separate sets of text in quotation marks. They are:

"In the end, it doesn't work anymore.
Throw it away!
No, I'm just kidding. Better fix it, although you may break it while trying to fix it."

"I have an old smartphone. I don't want to throw it away. What can I do? The phone battery will surely become faulty. Will I find a new one?
If I don't, is this where to find a solution?"
"YES, IT IS!"

Is there any use for an old smartphone?
Well, that depends on user to user."

I don't know which one of the three was meant to be a joke.

 

[probus]

Generally the humour in jokes fails to survive translation. I've tried translating good jokes into Spanish during my travels in Mexico. My Mexican friends have never laughed at them.

 

[7thoughts]

I'm not interested in the joke at the moment.
Those three separate sets of text in quotation marks, are they correct sentences? Do they contain strange, inappropriate words?

 

[Tarheel]

@7thoughts Did you not like my suggestion (#7)?

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not interested in the joke at the moment anymore.

That's good news. I think we were in for a long haul trying to get to the bottom of what's funny.

1. Those Are the three separate sets of text in quotation marks , are they correct? sentences?
2. Do they contain strange or inappropriate words?

1. They're not all correct.
2. I can't see any strange or inappropriate words, only grammatical errors.

 

[7thoughts]

OK. Thank you for your time emsr2d2. It's a late hour.
This is not my homework (I'm not a student) but I think I'm in the wrong place.
I would be grateful if you would point out grammatical errors in the three texts.

 

[Rover_KE]

Generally the humour in jokes fails to survive translation.

Not only that – it fails to survive having to be explained to a fellow native-speaker who doesn't get it – even a member of one's own family.

 

[Skrej]

Often jokes don't translate well because they rely on wordplay like puns, homophones, homonyms, and double entendres that frequently don't exist in the target language.

For example: A guy walks into a bar, and says "Ouch! That really hurt!".

It's only (moderately) funny in English because the word 'bar' can be both an establishment that sells alcoholic drinks and long rigid piece of some solid substance such as metal or wood - i.e. a rod. It also relies upon a whole genre of "A person walks into a bar (drinking establishment)" jokes. We expect it to be the drinking place, not the solid object because of that whole genre of jokes.

If the target language doesn't happen to have a word that carries both meanings, then the joke (such as it is) is completely lost.

Here's one relying on homophones in that same genre: A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender tells him to get out because they don't serve mushrooms. The mushroom says "C'mon, let me stay. I'm a fun guy (fungi).

Again, if the words 'fun guy' and 'fungi' don't sound the same in the target language, the joke fails.