If you have a collection of Xbox 360 games you definitely need to learn how to copy your games so you can preserve your games for a long time. It’s no secret that Xbox 360 game discs can be damaged pretty easily.

The benefit of copying a Xbox 360 game is the reason why some gamers have invested in a professional game copier software. This software is a big advancement from the previous mod chip that was used to play copied games.

Copying a Xbox 360 game is extremely easy once you have the proper game copier software. To find a good software you should search on the internet for the best one.

Once you have found the software necessary to copy your games you’re going to want to install the software onto your computer and then restart your PC. As soon as the software has been installed on to your PC you should begin the copying procedure by inserting the original Xbox 360 game you wish to copy into the DVD drive of your PC.

Once the disc has been inserted you must run the copying software and open the Xbox game folder. Begin copying the game to a certain folder on your PC.

The next step involves inserting a blank disc into the DVD burner of your PC. The blank disc must be a standard DVD9 disc to complete the copying process.

Once you have inserted the standard DVD9 disc into your DVD burner you will need to carefully follow the directions in the game copier software to start the copying procedure. Once the procedure is over you will have an exact 1:1 copy of the original Xbox 360 game.

Using a professional game copier software is the easiest and fastest way to copy any Xbox 360 game you own. Copying a Xbox 360 game is necessary if you want to continue playing your games for a long time.

To Make Copies of your Xbox 360 Games and Create A Backup is an easy job if you use a proper Game Copier Software. With this software you can easily backup your Xbox 360 games without trouble…. so you will never have to worry about losing your favorite Xbox 360 game again.

Click Here To Learn More About This Advanced Game Copier Software which will burn any game, even the ones with the so called “Unbreakable Protection” on it.

Also, the easy step by step software tutorial makes it simple to use the software and once you know it, you can enjoy making backups without any trouble.

Read online: The Simple Steps to Copying Xbox 360 Game Fast & Easy – Have As Many Backups As You Need

I have to admit that in World of Warcraft the game just begins at the last level. Everything before (like leveling/questing) is just a learning your class. So everyone wants to be at end-game level as soon as possible to really feel the game. A Paladin is a very fast leveler if played properly. It depends on how fast you do your quests to gain experience points to level up. This also means that you need to choose the right talent tree, that you are able to kill the mobs as fast as possible.

Fast Way to Level up a Paladin – What is the best talent tree?

Paladin has the following talent trees: Holy (which is for enhancing your healing capabilities), Protection (this boosts up your survivability, armor, stamina,…) and Retribution (for maximizing your damage output).

First of all, stay away from being a Holy Paladin while leveling. This is just for healing purposes, so you lack of damage output, so you kill your enemies very slowly. This is just NOT good for fast leveling, period.

From my experience, far the best choice is to go Retribution. It boosts your DPS, and with your two-handed weapon you can kill the enemy very fast. You just need to focus to one mob at a time. Some Paladins I came across also level up as Protection. It is quite good when you need to kill many mobs for a quest, so you can pull them all at once and kill them all. But it is a bit slower than Retribution way.

Fast Way to Level up a Paladin – Questing?

Yes! Questing is the best and fastest way of getting XPs (experience points). But you must be aware of the fact that Blizzard created a huge amount of quests with the intent to slow you down. These quests reward you with little XP and take you a lot of time to complete them.

To know exactly which quests to pick up, get yourself a WoW Leveling Guide. With this guide I started raiding with my guild after 7 days when started from level 1: http://www.kreativaonline.com/zygorguides

Read online: Fast Way to Level Up a Paladin – WoW Guide

So your sitting at home debating on whether you should watch the old VHS of Twin Peaks that you found in the closet, or fire up your neglected video game console. Well I have good news — you no longer have to choose! The good folks at Remedy Entertainment (creators of Max Payne I and II) are bringing the long-awaited psychological action thriller Alan Wake to the Xbox 360. This game has been in the works since 2005 (that’s like 25 gamer years) and promises to be a smash hit, with all those who have demoed the game reporting stunning visuals, an engaging storyline, and a solid combat and movement system.

The developers wanted the game to feel mysterious and chaotic, and in keeping with this the flow of narrative relies on a good deal of flashbacks and flashforwards. The basic controls and fighting technique are taught in the beginning of the game, after which we jump back to the beginning of the story, which plays out as follows:

You are Alan Wake, a well known suspense/horror author who is traveling to the quiet Washington town of Bright Falls with his wife in an attempt to get his creative juices flowing and overcome his several year writing slump. After some player-controlled chatting with the natives — including a few foreboding characters — at the local diner, the action is kicked into gear when Alan gets into a car accident and wifey goes MIA. Soon, shadowy, maniacal axe-wielding townspeople called “The Taken” start to really put a damper on your vacation, emerging from the darkness with nothing but bad intentions. When one of the Taken hurls a weapon at you — as they seem fond of doing — time slows down, giving you the opportunity to use Alan’s ability to leap out of the way (that is, unless you leap head on into another baddie). Similarly, when you do certain things, like knock out a whole group of enemies, the camera will pan out cinematically and time will slow, showcasing your awesomeness. Nothing like Max Payne, right?

It quickly becomes obvious that light is your friend in this game, as shining your flashlight onto the possessed minions of evil will stun them and strip their protective darkness away, and pumping a few rounds into them from your pistol will finish them off. Similarly, light is used throughout the game to keep Alan safe and help defeat the dark forces that have fallen upon the mountain town. Health is also regenerated by standing in lit areas, and as even animals and inanimate objects become enemies, any source of light becomes a weapon: A spotlight, flares, headlights on a car, and flashbang grenades, to name a few. Remedy has released only enough game footage to really get us salivating, and a lot is still unknown about the game, so don’t be surprised to find bigger and badder weapons later in the game.

One thing that is known is that the story is intricate and full of twists and turns, such as when Alan starts finding pages scattered about from a manuscript that he wrote, with absolutely no memory of having written them. Oh, and the events in the story are coming true! Twisty enough for you? Just as one question is answered, another is brought up, much in the same style as some of the more popular shows such as Lost, Prison Break, or 24. In line with this, the game is even broken up into chapters that begin with a “Previously on Alan Wake” recap, and end on a “To be continued” cliffhanger.

Overall, this looks like an incredibly promising game, with an involved and interesting storyline, great atmosphere and visuals, solid voiceovers, and a satisfying fighting system. It’s due to be released in North America on May 18th, and in Europe on May 21st. Preorder here, or check out the trailer and screenshots!

Read online: Alan Wake Preview – Grab Your Flashlight!

Urban Rivals is a massively-multiplayer online (MMO) browser-based card game, similar to traditional trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering and Legend of the Five Rings. Your goal in Urban Rivals is to collect as many cards as you can, and use them to defeat your opponents. The following is a guide to help you grasp the finer details of the game, and put you on the way to becoming an Urban Rivals champion!

Game Formats

In Urban Rivals, there are four different game formats to play in. Each of the formats has rules regarding deck construction and gameplay. The Type 1 and Type 2 formats are differentiated by the number of “stars” or character points allowed in your deck. Type 1 decks allow a maximum of 25 stars, while Type 2 decks are for 26 stars and above. The Survivor format is an offshoot of Type 2, and the objective is to have as long a winning streak as possible.

The most popular format is known as ELO, which has a tournament ladder. Its rules are similar to Type 1 but includes a list of cards that have been banned due to being overpowered. The ELO format has weekly prizes depending on how well you place in the tournament ladder. Each game format will have its own deck-building strategies, but this guide provides general deck-building and gameplay strategies that should be applicable for all game formats.

Deck-Building

Your deck of 8 cards – a random 4 of which will be used in each battle – is the key to winning battles. No matter how good you are, a bad deck will almost certainly cost you the battle. As such, deck-building strategies are very important, and the majority of your decision-making happens before the battles actually take place.

* Clans – The first thing you have to decide is which clan to choose. Each clan has a bonus that applies to all its members. The Bangers, Junkz, Rescue, Sentinel and Ulu Watu clans have attack power bonuses. The All Stars, Montana, Sakrohm and Uppers give their opponents attack power penalties. The Fang Pi Clang and La Junta clans have damage boosts, while the Pussycats reduce opponents’ damage. The Gheist, Nightmare, Pirana and Roots clans cancel opponents’ powers, while the Skeelz clan protects their powers from cancellation. The Freaks clan deals poison damage to their opponents, while the Jungo clan gives themselves more life. Which clan you choose will depend on your preference in playstyle.

* Clan Identity – Not only does the clan bonus have to fit your playstyle, you also need to think about which Urban Rivals clan’s identity, backstory and ideals resonate with you. If you don’t like gangsters and guns, the Montana mafia clan would definitely not sit well with you, no matter how good their clan bonus is. Similarly if you like the idea of military superiority and guerrilla warfare, then the La Junta clan will draw you in.

* Mono vs Dual – There are 2 deck compositions that are most commonly played: Mono-Clan and Dual-Clan. Mono-Clan means your deck of 8 consists of characters from just one clan (plus maybe a Leader). Dual-Clan means your deck contains cards from 2 clans. The choice between the two arises because a card’s clan bonus only works if you have at least 2 cards from that clan in play. So using a Mono-Clan deck guarantees that your clan bonus is always active, but suffers due to lack of diversity. A Dual-Clan deck on the other hand will encounter battles where one of the cards will not have its clan bonus. However, this disadvantage is countered by the fact that you are using 2 clans whose bonuses work well together or covers for each other’s weaknesses.

* Card Cost – Having decided which clan you want, the next step is to choose which cards go in your deck. When you are starting out, you are unfortunately limited by the cost of the cards. The powerful cards usually cost a lot of in-game Urban Rivals currency, but you will be able to afford them the more you play and the more tournaments you participate in.

* Star Allocation – In Type 1 and ELO games, you are limited to 25 stars or points in the deck. The choice of what combination of star levels goes in your deck is important. Do you want more 5-star powerhouses in your deck, knowing that you will have to put in a lot of weak 2-star cards to balance them? You could get lucky in battle and have all your 5-stars in play, or you might end up having to play with 3 or 4 2-star cards, practically handing the game to your opponent. The other option would be to fill your deck with mostly 4-star and 3-star cards to ensure you field a decent team each battle. Again, the choice will depend on your playstyle.

* Card Abilities – The next step is to figure out which cards work best in your deck. It is best to choose cards whose abilities complement their clan bonus. For example, if your clan bonus gives you a huge attack bonus, then you could use cards whose attack power isn’t that great but deal a lot of damage, since the clan bonus is boosting your attack already. You should also add cards that are more specialized, such as ones that stop abilities or bonuses, or walls that reduce damage taken. As a whole, you should have an overall goal for your deck, and the majority of your cards should support or work towards that goal.

Gameplay

Now that the deck is ready, the next thing you need to focus on is how to battle well. Both you and your opponent start with 12 life and 12 pillz, and your goal is to end the battle with more life than your opponent. As can be expected, there are many ways to achieve that result.

* Poker – You can treat a game of Urban Rivals just like a game of poker. The person who is able to read his opponent the best and bets wisely usually wins. The pillz that you use to boost your attack or damage are just like poker playing chips. Do you go all in with a powerful card? Or do you save your pillz for a time when you expect your opponent to launch his big attack? Just remember that pillz are actually more important than life, and they should be conserved and used wisely.

* Goal – When the battle starts and the cards are revealed, the first thing you need to do is decide what your goal and attack plan are. Do your cards have enough damage to do a 2-hit KO (ie. deal 12 damage using just 2 cards)? If so, then you should focus your pillz on those 2 cards. Do you intend to open with a poison card and defend while it does its damage? Then you have to make sure you have enough walls and defensive cards to pull that off. In any case, you also have to be aware of your opponent’s attack plan, and be ready to counter them.

* First Turn – The first turn of the battle is arguably the most crucial. The player with more stars/points on the table will start first, giving the weaker player the opportunity to see his opponent play before deciding what to do. It is common to open with a bluff, playing a strong card using very few pillz. If the opponent reacts with using a lot of pillz, they might have won the first round but would be at a pillz disadvantage. If the opponent doesn’t spend pillz to defend, you would have done a fair amount of damage with just a small pillz investment.

* Pillz Advantage – During each round, the player with more pillz available usually has the upper hand and can dictate how the battle will go. The player with less pillz has less options and must usually either go all in or concede a round. It is therefore very beneficial if you are able to spend pillz more efficiently than your opponent (provided you are still winning battles). This follows from the first-turn-bluff strategy: if you successfully bluff, you will have a pillz advantage and can extend that throughout the battle, constantly putting your opponent on the defensive.

Hopefully this guide will clarify some of the less obvious aspects of the game, and make your experience playing Urban Rivals more enjoyable! As is expected, practice makes perfect and you will begin to see how others play and can change your strategies accordingly. And don’t forget that there are nearly 20 different clans you can experiment with, so don’t be afraid to play with them!

You can read more about Urban Rivals at http://www.game-tycoon.com/urban-rivals-guide.html

Steven maintains Game Tycoon at http://www.game-tycoon.com – a website devoted to strategy, simulation and time management games. You can read game reviews, download games and play them online.

Read online: Urban Rivals Guide and Tips

You must have a PSP Go and in this article I will show you how to play Assassin’s Creed II and unlimited PSP Go games for free. These days the internet is a wealth of information on all sorts of products, in particular websites that allow you to download unlimited PSP Go for free. Sony PSP Go Club is one of the best websites that provides PSP Go download service. This website can help PSP Go users save a lot of money on purchasing games from PSN.

Click Here and Learn More About Sony PSP Go Center.

If you are tired of using PSN to download PSP Go games and media files you can join Sony PSP Go Club. Sony PSP Go Club is a legitimate program that granted with license agreement from Sony Corp to distribute PSN games, PSP minis for downloading. When downloading from the website you wouldn’t have to worry more about copyrighted materials as it is a legitimate website.

Sony PSP Go Club is a membership based program as you may have already known. If you want to download Assassin’s Creed II for your PSP Go you can get it from Sony PSP Go Club. There are more than 300,000 games, movies and software in the database available for you to proceed to download. You can join now and get all the benefits from Sony PSP Go Club and start enjoying your PSP/PSP Go as never before!

So if you’re a real PSP Go gamer and you can handle over 300,000 PSP Go downloads I highly suggest you get a lifetime membership at Sony PSP Go Club it’s a real deal you will be paying less than a cent per a download so After you have paid your member fee (price of most decent games) you will have access to Assassin’s Creed II and all these PSP Go downloads forever never have to pay a cent ever again for PSP Go download.

Click Here and Learn More About Sony PSP Go Center.

Well you can start Downloading your Favourite movies, games and software for your PSP Go in a few minutes from now.

Sony PSP Go Center contains over 300,000 Downloads making it the Biggest Database for the PSP/PSP Go!

Sony PSP Go Center is complete database where you can find the newest and your favorite Games, Movies, Music, Software and much more!

Read online: Sony Psp Go Club – Where You Can Download Assassin's Creed Ii For Your Psp Go!

Ah, another patch is coming soon to World of Warcraft and there are loads of changes occurring. As always some players welcome these changes while others cringe and complain about them. There are often changes that make the game play much easier for more casual players with changes like new gear, reduced cool downs, and easier instances.

As always the patch is highly anticipated, and patch 3.3.3 is no different than any other in that all the craze is about figuring about what is going to change or be introduced in the patch and when the patch will be released.

As I have quite an interest in mining I’ve taken note to one small but still significant change to the mining profession that is slated to take place with patch 3.3.3. So here it is, as of patch 3.3.3 there will no longer be a cool down for titansteel bars.

While this is a small change it is quite important to know because it will significantly increase the number of titansteel bars on the auction house and drop the price of them dramatically. If you were a miner wisely using your cool down to pull in lots of gold expect to adopt a new strategy once the patch hits. In fact, since the news is out about the cool down removal it would not be surprising to see the price of these bars already falling as players who need the bars decide to wait until the patch is released to get them more easily or for a cheaper price.

So that is it! Titansteel bars are losing their cool down, a small yet very significant change for miners and their gold making options.

If you’re looking for information on Leveling your Mining see my WoW Mining Guide.

You can also go to WoW Mining Maps website and find information on where to get every type of ore.

For more information on WoW Professions and WoW Profession Guides please visit WoW Professions

Read online: Mining Changes in Patch 3.3.3

Every video-gamer who owns an Xbox 360 would be very familiar with the red ring of death error. The error is one of the red light errors that affect the console without warning and makes the console to be unusable. This has given many console users who are addicted to their devices to frustration and a deep search for the best and fastest Xbox repairs service available. This article would show you how you can fix your device and get rid of the red ring of death in an hour.

The red ring of death is the most prominent of all the red light errors and is caused by overheating of a device (Xbox 360). The console overheats due to the inefficient cooling system it came with and also as a result of neglect and lack of care on the part of the console user. Keeping your device in a cabinet, playing games for a minimum of six hours everyday and not dusting your console at least once every week all serve as a medium of allowing your console to get too hot inside.

The heat generated inside the console finds no way to escape and then remains trapped inside the console. In a short time; it destroys the motherboard and other extremely important components of the device. When this happens; a temporary damage occurs and the console tries to save itself from permanent damage by going into stand by (freeze ups) and also alerts the user of the problem by changing the green lights around the power button to red.

Getting Xbox repairs service to fix the red ring of death would not take anything less than five weeks to be done. You can however fix your beloved device yourself by getting a manual and some tools and working on it. It has been proven that you would be able to get rid of the error within one hour if you follow instructions properly.

The manual you should get is peculiar to the Xbox 360 alone and is known on the internet as Xbox 360 repair guide. The guide comes with various video clips and even live customer support. All you have to do is to watch the clips and then follow the instructions in the guide. If you can do these; you would get your console fixed within sixty minutes. In case you have any problems while fixing your device; simply get online and tap into the live customer support available.

If you have a damaged xbox 360, no matter how bad it is, you will be able to fix it after reading how I successfully repaired my xbox

Read online: Xbox Repairs – Fixing the Red Ring of Death in an Hour

It may sound funny to have an article about how to level in WoW fast and honestly but the fact is there are dishonest ways to level a toon in World Of Warcraft.

Dishonest as far how Blizzard would feel about it not to mention the risk of losing your account. maybe just stupid as far as other people may think. I am, of course, talking about paying for a power leveling service.

As far as being able to level toons yourself in very short order there are options that can help with this task.

The new in game leveling guide programs are completely legal to use within the game and they make use of the most powerful tool in the game for power leveling.

This, of course, means questing…

I know the thought of questing makes any new player and even older players the shivers to think this is the fastest way to level.

These guides take all the pain and stress out of questing by providing in game step by step guidance so you do not even have to think about what to do or where to go next. Follow the guide and enjoy the story lines of the quests.

You can even queue up now for random dungeons or even battlegrounds to get a break from questing because the new queue system puts you right back where you left of on the guide to carry on.

These guides do more than just power level because the time saved by following the guide offers more playing time for things like professions as well as battlegrounds and random dungeons as mentioned earlier.

If you have not seen one of these great in game guides in action you can get a good look and overview as well as a bunch of other information at one of the best in game guides available:

http://www.ZygorsQuestHelper.com

You can also get caught up with the latest in game guides from a resource site that constantly covers the best and brightest in power leveling guides:

http://www.WoWQuestHelperReviews.com

Read online: How to Level in WoW Fast and Honestly

What’s  in a WOW account? If that’s a catechism that plagues your apperception again appear into the world of warcraft and accept a aftertaste of this a lot of talked about on band bold of the century. There is a balloon approach of this bold alleged World of Warcraft. Try your easily at this bold in all its adorableness and fury. We are abiding that even afore you accept accomplished the absolute aeon that the balloon adaptation provides you with , you would be aback to us for abounding and ceaseless time of the game.

World of Warcraft is a bold breadth you are transported to a acreage of fantasy. It’s not alone alluring and engrossing, but arresting as well. You accept to administer your senses to actualize characters, groups and so on and so forth. It’s abundant like as if you are scripting your own adventure band even admitting it be aural of what the makers of World of Warcraft has created for you. The adventure that you actualize in this bold allows you to adjudge which breadth you ambition to alpha up in. This is alleged branch in the abracadabra of world of warcraft. You can actualize your own characters fatigued up from your minds vault. When you accept done this and allotted characteristics which accomplish the appearance capable, you arise your journey. The adventure that brings you up adjoin added characters created by added players of this game. All this accident is an absolute time. You adjudge to advise some or claiming some to duels. In the action of creating alliances and alignment you authorize your attendance in the bold and advance through the levels of the bold alleged World of Warcraft.

Now that you accept absitively that you wish admission into this bold for acceptable and for sure, you accept to acquire a WOW account for that. A WOW account is your admission into the amphitheatre of the bold alleged World of Warcraft. The online bold that transports you through its bewilderment of anaesthetic levels breadth you appointment added adolescent WOW account holders or bigger alleged players of World of Warcraft.

The action to admission a World of Warcraft Account you charge to acquisition a antecedent that food you with WOW Accounts. If you accept accustomed at this website in the action of your seek for such a provider, you accept accomplished the actual place. We are the accustomed providers of accurate WOW accounts. Buy WOW account from us and get direct admission to the bold of World of Warcraft. No cat-and-mouse time to get your log in details. No cat-and-mouse time to apperceive if your transaction has been acknowledged or not. The moment you complete the allotment formalities and the data apropos your adjustment of payment, our defended website would ensure actual processing of the transaction and accumulation you with your WOW Account login details. It’s as simple as it reads and if you don’t accept it to be so, why not accords it a try and analysis for yourself?

We have 10+ years experience, 20+ games, 5,000+ account characters, 10+ unique services, and thousands of different options can be found at GameTag! WOW Accounts , eve characters

Read online: Wow Account For You

Introduction

It is sometimes believed that humor does not travel between languages. This has been a motivation for scholars to consider the (un)translatability of humor. However, considering the widespread admiration of some films and TV programs all over the world, one can realize that, regardless of any inconveniences, humor does travel across cultural and linguistic barriers. Having this point in mind, the objective of this study was to examine how it goes between languages and cultures through one of media translation methods, which is dubbing here.

Basic characteristics that all comic events share include surprising, and playing with logic, expectations, conventions and meaning (Nael & Krutnik 1990:43). The two modes are considered as one in this study, since it seems to be difficult to separate them. However, deviating from the norms of conventional, everyday conversation and breaking the rules of politeness and decorum are crucial to all kinds of comedy. Timing and appropriateness of utterance is another factor in creating humor. Sometimes when this factor is violated the resultant surprise is amusing and appealing to the audience. Replete instances of humorous items in the Shrek and Shrek 2 animations and their world wide success as being the most popular animated films among children and adults, and moreover, the successful dubbed versions of these cartoons in Persian in comparison with other dubbed animated films, have been the reasons for choosing them as the focus of this study. Songs and rhyming are excluded from this study since they are a complicated, large category and out of the scope of this study.

Objectives

There were two objectives for doing this study which was carried out in order to write a master thesis. First, the researcher wanted to figure out what strategies the Persian translators have applied to transfer the humor from English into Persian. Second, it was intended to see which strategies have been more frequently used by translators.

Corpus

For the purpose of this research, some popular animated English-speaking films have been selected, which are among the most successful cartoons worldwide. Although there are multiple reasons to justify these choices, initially there were two requirements which the research material had to meet: it needed to have dubbed the version in Persian. The second reason is directly linked to the strong humorous flavor of the selected cartoons since the focus of this study is considering the element of humor in translation. To give an example we can shortly refer to Shrek which, as Patrick Zabalbeascoa (2000: 27) writes, belongs to the category of “white background with black spots” which in other words means a text presented as an infantile genre but with elements directed exclusively to adults. In the case of Shrek, the content of humor directed exclusively to adults was a guarantee of interesting and complex research material.

Theoretical Frame

This study is based on Viney and Darbelnet (1995) model of translation. They represent two broad categories, namely direct or literal, and oblique translation methods. These two categories include seven strategies: borrowing, calque, literal translation, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation.

Data Analysis

Some of the humorous items of cartons Skrek I and II and their translations in dubbed Persian are analyzed here based on the aforementioned model.

“Aren’t you a sight of sore eyes?”  

Persian: Cheshmaye baba ghurim daran dorost mibinan?

In this sentence Donkey states his surprise of seeing Shrek and Fiona, the Persian translation has observed the form, ’sore eyes’ has been replaced by a cultural term to refer to his own eyes, but this phrase in Persian is  more humorous for the audience. The strategies applied here are literal translation and equivalence.

“Oh, you mean sorting the mails and watering the plants?”

Persian: Manzuret moratab kardane nameha va aab dadane golast?

Donkey claims that he has taken care of Shrek’s “love-nest” when they were in honey moon. Shrek’s utterance is an ironic remark to Donkey since obviously he has done nothing useful in the house, even though he so sincerely claims he has. In this case the visual context makes the utterance humorous. The Persian translation has observed both the meaning and the form. The strategy applied here is literal translation.

“All right, all right, I got it. I’m just darn bored.

Persian: Be darake asfalo safelin ke dure, man hoselam sar rafte!

Donkey is bored with the long journey to “Far Far Away” although he has been told several times that it is far far away; and when Shrek and Fiona get furious at his repeatedly asking “Are we there yet?” Donkey states this sentence. The humor of this example comes from the point that Donkey does not understand the situation even when explained to him, and this happens many times during the story. The Persian translation uses a slang phrase to show that Donkey is angry and bored, which adds to the humorous flavor of the original. The strategy applied is equivalence.

“Now let’s go before they light the torches.”

Persian: Bia bala gheiratan ta dakhlemuno nayvordan bargardim.        

The English idiom, ‘light the torches’, means trying to take revenge. This meaning is indirectly stated in English, but in the Persian translation it is overtly stated with a cultural flavor that comes from the expressions “bala gheiratan” and “dakhlemuno nayvordan”. It can be said that literal translation has been used here along with equivalence.  

“It’s easy to see where Fiona gets her good looks from.”

Persian: Hala dige rahat mishe fahmid ghiafe ghashange Fiona be ki rafte.

The timing of the utterances and their appropriateness in the situation are relevant factors in humor. This is an example of inappropriateness. One interpretation would be that Shrek refers to the beauty that Fiona had as a human, and the utterance is meant to be a compliment to the parents. Another way to interpret the situation is that the parents were not expecting their daughter to return with an ogre, let alone as an ogre, so the situation is awkward and Shrek tries to break the tension by telling a joke. As it turns out, nobody finds it funny, but rather insulting, and the silence that follows is even worse than before. However, this uncomfortable situation is amusing for the audience. Literal translation has been used in the Persian rendering and the tone of the Persian speaker together with the context helps the audience get the humor of the situation.     

“Let’s go bond with daddy.”    

Persian: Berim pedar zan salam.  

The English sentence is humorous since Donkey knows this fact that Shrek and his father-in-law have not gone along quite well with each other at their first meeting and when Shrek has lost his chance to talk to him because of not finding the way through the woods, uttering this sentence shows that Donkey does not understand the importance of the situation for Shrek. In the Persian translation ‘father-in-law’ is mentioned directly which was not mentioned verbally in the ST but the audience knows it from the storyline but the form and meaning are preserved. So here literal translation has been applied.   

“Hey, Shrek! Donkeys don’t purr. What do you think am I?”

Persian: Avalan ke aarvaare, dovoman be man migan khare palang.

The English sentence is Donkey’s complaint to Shrek, the Persian translation uses slang words and a different style which match the previous sentences and context. The strategies used include adaptation and modulation. 

“The position of annoying talking animal has already been taken.”

Persian: Hazrate agha, jatuno dadim geda avail bord.

The humor of this sentence comes from the speaker of it, Donkey, he is trying to show that he is Shrek’s best friend and the Cat can not take his position. He wants to show his disapproval of the Cat using these adjectives, but he is not aware that at the same time he is also insulting his own character. The form has been preserved, but the meaning has been a little altered to match the target culture. The applied strategy is equivalence.

 ”I had some rotten berries, I had strong gases eking out of my butt.”

Persian: Tameshke fased khordan haman o nasime molayem vazidan haman.

The humor in this sentence comes from inappropriate time of uttering this sentence by Donkey and the subject matter of it. The Persian rendering has modulated the meaning of English sentence, as in the target culture it is impolite to state such these matters directly. The meaning is observed but the form not. Modulation and transposition have been utilized.  

“Maybe there’s a good reason donkeys shouldn’t talk.”

  Persian: Ye zarbol masale ghadimimi hast ke mige khoda kharo shenakht ke behesh zabun nadad.                                      

This ironic sentence uttered by Shrek shows his unhappiness about Donkey’s talking all the time and the meaning of the sentence along with the paradox of the situation, that is, a talking Donkey, makes the situation humorous. The Persian translation includes a proverb which is not the exact equivalent for the English sentence but with a little change in the Persian proverb it has turned to an appropriate rendering. This change is that instead of word ‘shakh (horn)’ there is the word ‘zabun (tongue)’ in the translation. So here we have adaptation. 

“Donkeys don’t have layers. We wear our fear right out there on our sleeves.”

  Persian: Khara aslant laye laye nistan, una ba shoma kheili fargh daran.

The idiom ‘to wear one’s heart in a sleeve’ is altered with another sentiment, fear. The original idiom means vulnerability and a tendency to show ones feelings; in this case Donkey means that he is scared easily. With a sarcastic intent, Shrek takes the words literally and replies ‘Wait a second, Donkeys don’t have sleeves’. The Persian translation just considers the meaning of the Donkey’s first sentence (having layers) and expands it and ignores the idiom since there is no equivalent in Persian for it. The following sentence uttered by Shrek has been treated the same way; it directly talks about Donkey’s fear. The strategy applied in this example equivalence.    

“It’s no way to behave in front of a princess.”

Persian: Jun be junet konan bi tarbiati.                

Donkey complains to Shrek for his impolite behavior, this violation of the conventions of social behavior and politeness itself is the source of humor, but the following scene in which Fiona, who is supposed to behave like a princess, burps exactly like Shrek adds to the humorous load of the situation. Again applying adaptation in rendering the meaning of this sentence has added to the humorous flavor, the meaning has been rendered according to the context by a cultural expression. 

“That’s me: the noble steed.”

Persian: khar fahm shodi? Un ba man bud.                                        

This sentence is uttered by Donkey and the humor in the original sentence comes from the phrase “noble steed”. In the Persian translation the form is not observed and the meaning is adapted according to the target culture using “khar fahm shodi ” instead of  “Shir fahm shodi” to emphasize the word “donkey” as the focus of the sentence. So the strategies applied here are modulation and equivalence.

“S: Men of Farquaad’s stature are in short supply.

 Persian: Jenabe aghaye lord Farquaad nesfeshun zire zamine.   

D:There are those who think little of him.

Persian: Be injur adama migan kutule vaveyla.                

F: You’re just jealous you can never measure up to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad.

 Persian: Shomaha faghat be in hasuditun mish eke ba kasi mese Lord Farquaad ghabele moghayese nistid.                   

S: May be you’re right.  But I’ll let you do the measuring when you see him tomorrow.”

Persian: Khab didi kheir bashe. Behtare in moghayese ro bezari vase farad ke be didane un kutule miri.

Lorf Farquaad, like Nappoleon, is a very short man and thirsty of power. His shortness often implies some thing about sexual matters, and that he wants to compensate this shortness by material things, such as his castle. In this example the wordplay is in the idioms (to be in short supply, to think little of somebody, and measuring up to something or somebody) and in the different ways shortness can be implied (stressing words ‘short’ and ‘little’ in the idioms). The first two sentences are seemingly a polite description of Farquaad, but the clear stress in the spoken version shows that something else is intended. In the latter two sentences the idiom ‘to measure up’ is first used in its original, real meaning: ‘being as good as something else’. In the response the idiom is back grounded and the original meaning of ‘measuring’ is implied instead. In the Persian translation there is no direct reference to the implied meanings since there are no equivalent idioms for the English ones and the just from the tone of voice of the characters it is understood that there is another implied meaning. Literal translation has been used here.    

“Two renaissance wraps, Medieval meal, Sourdough soft taco please.”

Persian: sosis torki, nun barbari, 2ta baste baghala ghatogh.

The humor in this sentence comes from the previous dialogue between Fairy godmother and the King, as she threatens him to hurt him and instead she orders some food, that is, she breaks her diet. The names of the food mentioned in the original sentence have been replaced by some other food familiar to the target audience, so generally the form is observed but the meaning is replaced by cultural equivalences. So the strategy applied here is adaptation.

 ”Shirley Bassey bush” 

Persian: derakhte chaghale baadom                                                                  

Shirly Bassey is a Welsh singer, who became famous in the 60s and 70s by performing theme songs to James Bond films (Wikipedia). Donkey is describing the bush with this allusion, either referring that it has a similar pose to Bassey, or that the head of the human-shaped bush is like afro hairstyle a certain singer used to have. Considering this point, the Persian translation does not contain this information and replaces it with the name of a tree which is familiar to the target audience, so the form is observed but not the meaning, the strategy applied here is equivalence.

“I’m the stair master. I’ve mastered the stairs.” 

Persian: Be man migan olaghe pelle kosh.                  

The “stair master” can refer to a gymnastics device, or being a master in stairs (meaning to ‘conquer’ the steps, or being the best at ‘fighting’ the stairs). In the Persian translation only the second meaning is stated and the English wordplay has not been created in the Persian. The meaning has somehow been observed but the form not. The strategy used here is equivalence.

“Neuter him, give him the Bob Barker treatment.”

 Persian: kubidash kon  bekesh be sikh, zemnan pustesham bekan.

Bob Barker is a US game show the “Price Is Right” host, who has actively spoken against animal overpopulation (Turnquist 2004), and is an allusion here. Donkey states this sentence about the cat. In the Persian translation the meaning has completely changed and replaced by cultural equivalence but the form is somehow observed. The applied strategies are equivalence and adaptation.

“Sergeant Pompous and the Fancy Pants Club Band”

Persian: Daste arazel o obash va sar daste gamboo.

The allusion here is to the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album by the Beatles. The allusion is not direct, but rather used sarcastically by changing the wording slightly. The intent of this utterance is to indicate that the announcer was rude and arrogant, and that it was too much for Shrek that the message was delivered with music in the background, which is something that is sarcastically expected of the rich and famous people. In the Persian translation this allusion is not kept because it is not known to the target audience, and it is replaced by other phrases familiar to the target culture. So the applied strategy is adaptation.

“Almost every body that meets you wants to kill you.”                                                                                                                                                          Persian: To dar vaghe’ ye ikbirie zeshti.

This sentence is uttered to Shrek by Donkey that is expressing his opinion about Shrek and his bad behaviour. In the Persian translation there is no reference to the English meaning and Shrek is addressed by two adjectives to show his lack of respect and disapproval of his behavior. The applied strategy is equivalence.

“You need some Tic Tacs or something, cause your breath stinks!”

Persian: Baba jan mesvak bezan.                       

Tic Tac (officially styled as “tic tac”) is a brand of small, hard sweets manufactured by the Italian confectioner Ferrero. The individual pieces are commonly called Tic Tacs themselves. Donkey believes that Shrek should use some Tic Tac since his breath stinks. Normally stating such a direct sentence is offensive and usually people avoid it, but Donkey does it as direct as possible and it makes the context humorous. In the Persian translation the allusion is not produces, it is not familiar to the target culture, and this name is replaced simply by a verb, brushing. The strategies applied here are equivalence and modulation.

 ”Swamp toad soup, fish eye tartar”

Persian: Baghala ghatoghe lajane mordab,  mirza ghasemie eshpele ghurbaghe              

The names of the foods again have been replaced by the foods familiar to the target culture audience to make it more tangible. Humor in this sentence comes from the type of the materials considered as food as they are disgusting for the human beings to be eaten but delicious dishes for ogres. The strategy applied here is equivalence.

“Smelly ogre!” 

Persian: Chie eshghe piaz?                                                                                                                                                                              

Neither the form nor the meaning is kept. An adjectival phrase is rendered by a question In the English version Donkey addresses Shrek as an “smelly ogre” but in the Persian translation there is a flash back to the previous scenes where Shrek states that ogres are like onions, that is, they have layers. Donkey, referring to that sentence, calls him a smelly ogre. In the Persian translation the word ‘piaz (onion) is explicitly stated to show the hidden meaning in the English version. Modulation and adaptation have been used here.

“I have to save my ass.”

Persian: man delam nemikhad mese baghie jezghale sham.                                          

In this scene Shrek and Donkey are saving Fiona from the dragon-guarded castle. Shrek has found Fiona, but the dragon has taken Donkey. Fiona has not met the Donkey yet, and does not know that Shrek has come with some body, so Shrek’s response sounds like he is trying to save only himself and not her. This is an example of homonymy-wordplay since the word “ass” with a double meaning, one of them being ‘donkey’ and the other one ‘bottom’. But in the Persian there is no word with such double meaning to be replaced. Therefore, the wordplay could not be created in the Persian translation and only the second meaning, ‘bottom’, is stated with some cultural modulation to avoid the exact word. The translator has taken advantage of the scene that shows the dead bodies of previous knights to state that Shrek does not want to meet the same fate. The applied strategy is equivalence.

“Oh, stop being such a drama-king!”

Persian: Ooh, mese shahaye tuye gheseha shodi.                         

The verbal humor in this example comes from the change in the idiomatic expression “drama-queen”. Normally someone who is acting a little hysterical over nothing is called a “drama-queen”, no matter what their sex is. In this example the Queen is speaking to the King, who is very angry. Therefore, with this change of words in the idiomatic expression the utterance refers humorously to the ‘profession’ of the speakers as well as to the original meaning of the idiom, to reacting too seriously to something. However, in the Persian translation there is not such an idiomatic expression to be used as an equivalent; the translator has tried to show the Queen’s disapproval of the King’s behavior by just referring to the word “King” as a profession, the English idiomatic meaning is lost in Persian. The applied strategy is adaptation.

“A gender-confused wolf “

Persian: Ye gorge ahmagh                                                                   

In the film the Wolf is always dressed in grandmother’s dress and bonnet (the Wolf from the Little Red Riding Hood). However, he also has a really low, masculine voice and in the beginning of the Shrek 2 he is found reading ‘Pork Illustrated’, a magazine that refers to the Sports Illustrated magazine that is filled with women in bikinis. This allusion has taken one instance from the original fairy tail and created a new, humorous identity for the character. In the Persian translation this allusion is lost and replaced by an adjective to show the disapproval of the speaker since there is no back ground knowledge about the magazine referred to; although the audience is familiar with the Wolf from the Little Red Riding Hood story, the intended meaning is not produced in the translation. The applied strategy is adaptation.

Conclusion

The examples presented in this study are part of a research done as a master thesis. After gathering the data manually from the DVDs available and considering the translations, analyzing the data shows that, based on Viney and Darbelnet (1995) model considered, from among the strategies applied by the translators ‘equivalence’ has been most frequently used.  

Moreover, the target text tends to contain less humorous elements, linguistic ones of course, than the source text; the reason for this is that the target language lacks equivalents for the linguistic items of the source language. However, surprisingly, jokes and humorous items were found in which the humorous load of the target version increased, as compared with the original versions, especially in the scenes that the mouth of the characters could not be seen the translator has taken advantage of the silence and added humorous expressions to the text. There have been also some cases that the source text contains no humorous items but in the Persian translation it has been created.  This can be as a compensation for the loss of linguistic humors in other parts of the text, or to add too the humorous flavor to make it more appealing to the audience.  

A particular feature of Shrek, especially, is that it is probably not accidental that almost half of the humorous elements in this animated film belong to the category of visual. It can be said that maybe these elements present fewer problems in transfer than other humorous elements, especially in Latin and English-speaking countries and their use was intentional with the aim to make the humor of the film internationally available, but in case of Persian it van be different since many children can not read the signs and are not familiar with the brand names which appear in the scenes of the film. It is not possible to transfer these visual elements through translation and if the audience does not have any back ground knowledge about them they would be lost in the process of translation.  

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Parissa Javadi holds a BA and also an MA in English Translation from Isfahan University, Iran. She has been teaching and translating for four years.

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