IUP Department of Foreign Languages Spanish associate professor Marjorie Zambrano-Paff presented a paper titled “Mediated Humor in the Legal Setting: The Construction of New Identities,” at the 2011 International Society for Language Studies conference.

Okay, kind of an esoteric title. But a lot of times, the actual content of these academic papers is really intriguing and thought-provoking. When I read more on the Spanish Department’s website, I realized that her research and conclusions needed to be told.

My translation of her work? Well-credentialed Spanish professor + study of the fairness of immigration hearings = media interest. Especially in those states that are dealing with so many of those issues (Texas, Arizona, California).

I contacted her for a copy of the paper. Long story short, I sent out information to media with my own title (a little more casual and less academic): “Humor in Immigration Courtroom Not So Funny to Defendants.”

Here’s the general idea of what she found–my words, not hers–when judges try to be funny, even with good intentions of relaxing the defendant, it doesn’t really translate. I get that. I’m reading a book by Kelly McDonald, a marketing expert in Texas, who keeps stressing that you can’t just word-for-word translate colloquialisms from one language to another. For example, “Got Milk?” in English does not mean the same thing as “Got Milk?” in Spanish. I don’t remember the Spanish words for it, but in Spanish, this phrase means, “Are you a nursing mother?” Yikes.

Not long after I sent out the information on her research, a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times e-mailed me, asking for more from Dr. Zambrano-Paff. Not sure when the story will run, but when it does, it means that 317,274 subscribers will know how interesting IUP faculty are!