Artificial Intelligence Translation of Arabic Funny Comics by ChatGPT and Transmonkey

Abstract

The translation of funny comics from Arabic into English is a complicated task because of the interaction between linguistic, cultural, and visual factors. The present study aims to investigate this issue. Sample data is collected from some chosen Arabic funny comics and their machine translations by ChatGPT and Transmonkey The approach is based on content analysis and a comparison of textual and visual elements, to explore the way the linguistic, cultural and visual content is transferred. It delves into the theory of acculturation by John Berry (1997) that contributes to the explanation of linguistic and cultural adaptation in such funny comics. It concludes that Artificial Intelligence may fail to translate both the message and the visual content in Arabic comics and that translation depended on cultural strategies, specifically integration, in order to make the message and the funny comic effect as accessible as possible to the English target readers.