Bart Simpson's Prank Calls - Lost in Translation?

[airbolt]

As the Simpsons is translated into many languages , how do the translators deal with wordplay such as Bart's Prank Calls? ( Al Koholic , Amanda Hugginkiss etc ).

[Lucas]

Not entirely sure but I have seen the simpsons dubbed into other languages many times and where they might run into difficulty with the dub (for things like songs and maybe prank calls too) they just leave it in English. Must be very confusing for the viewer! But, I always wondered if the simpsons is as successful in non-English speaking countries because the dub actors never sound anything like the characters and tend to make no effort to achieve the same level of comic-timing and skilled delivery as the proper voice actors.

[trilobite]

They are obviously not translated literally, but puns / plays-on-words do exist in other languages. A suitable alternative would be found from the relevant language.