#this is a joke i know translations are more nuanced than that but im laughing

[just-wublrful]

i love you classic lit nerds you will read slightly different versions of the same text over and over again

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I must say now that I'm older and know more about languages, I wonder how much of Ax's "lack of sense of humor" from Marco's perspective comes from jokes being lost in the translation chip.

That is a really dang good point.  Humor is im-friggin-possible to translate.  There are definitely times when the human kids can tell that Ax is making a joke but can’t figure out why it’s funny, and times when Ax can tell a human is making a joke but can’t figure out where the humor is.

I also love how much we see Ax translating the nuances of human language and culture — and being faintly surprised about how much he already knows — throughout #18.  Like, Ax seems clueless about humor at times (especially if you’re Marco) but he’s incredibly skilled at understanding SoCal 1990s teenage-slang English compared to every other andalite in #18.  Maybe he misses pop-culture references, but he still knows when Jake’s self-deprecation, or Marco’s apparently off-topic observations, or Tobias’s fatalism are meant to be ironic rather than literal.  At the very end of #18 we see him trying out Jake’s dorky humor, repeating that line about “you’ll be the Jake formerly known as prince?” because he understands that it’s a joke, even if he doesn’t get the punchline.

Ax also understands, as early as #8 but throughout the series, that a joke is almost never just a joke.  That almost all statements made with ironic intent also convey some degree of literal truth.  When Jake says that he’s got no idea what’s going on, he’s joking, but his fear that he’s not up to the task is very real.  Marco’s constantly making random observations because he’s trying to get a laugh but also because he notices things that other people do not.  Tobias really is a natural-born pessimist.  And that’s Ax’s humor as well — he’s usually making literal statements, conveyed in a tone that shows he understands how to add a layer of irony.

It bums me a little that some of the ghost-written books have Ax taking ironic statements literally, because we do actually see him growing into a recognition of verbal irony’s uses and purposes.  He doesn’t always understand the joke (what person working in a second language does?) but he pretty much always understands when a joke is occurring.