Asinine Film Title Translations

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Lino
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#1 Post by Lino » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:22 am

From here

I'm trying to think of a really good one (don't worry, it will come to me sooner than later) but for now, I give you Portugal's title of Haneke's Caché (Hidden) -- Nothing to hide. See, I told you they were sick... :roll:

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King of Kong
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#2 Post by King of Kong » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:10 pm

I think The Nightmare Before Christmas translated as "The Strange Christmas of Mr Jack" is bloody hilarious.

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Don Lope de Aguirre
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:39 pm
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#3 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:03 pm

Renaming Melville's 'Les Enfants Terribles': The Strange Ones

So very stupid... :roll:

redbill
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:03 pm
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#4 Post by redbill » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:07 pm

I saw In a Lonely Place in Paris as Le Violence.

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jorencain
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:45 am

#5 Post by jorencain » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:07 pm

The original "The Producers" was released in Sweden as "Det VÃ¥ras För Hitler" (Springtime For Hitler) and was hugely successful. Because of this, all of Mel Brooks' films were given a title with Det vÃ¥ras för... (Springtime For...) in Sweden, up until Life Stinks.

Blazing Saddles=Det VÃ¥ras För Sheriffen (Springtime For The Sheriff)
Spaceballs=Det VÃ¥ras För Rymden (Springtime For Space)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It=Det VÃ¥ras För Dracula (Springtime For Dracula)

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skuhn8
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:46 pm
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#6 Post by skuhn8 » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:19 pm

That has got to be one of the lamest approaches to marketing...unless of course it works. But I'd like to give the Swedes more credit than that.

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tryavna
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:38 pm
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#7 Post by tryavna » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:53 pm

Here's a collection of funny title translations that the site owner claims to have gleaned from various sources. I don't know how true any or all of them may be, but some are too good not to be true.

I'm not sure which one is my favorite. The Chinese title for Boogie Nights (His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous) is pretty damn funny. But the German title for Annie Hall could easily be applied to just about any Woody Allen movie: The Urban Neurotic.

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Dylan
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm

#8 Post by Dylan » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:20 pm

I like how the Japanese title of "Army of Darkness" ("Captain Supermarket") refers to the last five minutes of the film, which wasn't even the original ending, which makes me ponder what they would've called it had Raimi's original ending been used ("Captain Apocalypse?")

The French title for "The Matrix": "The young people who traverse Dimensions while wearing sunglasses."

djali999
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#9 Post by djali999 » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:59 pm

I seem to recall reading that There's Something About Mary was titled something to the effect of "My Love Will Endure All Absurd Situations" in Japan...

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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#10 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:19 pm

The French title for Sleeper ("Woody et les robots") is pretty asinine, but I think it works somehow.

djali999
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#11 Post by djali999 » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:40 pm

Let us also not forget the various dull or incomprehensible titles foisted upon otherwise quite excellent Euro-Horror titles:

Tenebrae = Unsane
Opera = Terror At The Opera
Il Rosso Segno della Follia (The Red Sign of Madness) = Hatchet For the Honeymoon
Terrore nello Spazio (Terror in Space) = Planet of the Vampires (!?)
I Tre Volti della Paura (Three Faces of Fear) = Black Sabbath (!?!)

and, two of the worst:

La Frusta e il Corpo (The Whip and the Flesh / Body) = What
Operazione Paura (Operation Fear) = Kill, Baby... Kill!, Curse of the Living Dead, Don't Walk in the Park

The last one perhaps had it coming for having such an awful title to begin with, but certainly somebody could have come up with a better title for a restrained gothic than "Kill, Baby... Kill!", which is so inappropriate that Scorsese actually has to apologize for it in the Tales of Hoffmann commentary!

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King of Kong
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#12 Post by King of Kong » Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:47 am

From that site:

In Singapore:

"Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me is Austin Powers: The Spy who Shioked Me (Shioked means "treated nicely")"

That is just plain sad.

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
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#13 Post by manicsounds » Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:09 am

in Japan:

Head Of State: "Hip Hop President"
Napoleon Dynamite: "Bus Guy"
Atomik Circus: "Alien VS Vanessa Paradis"
The Constant Gardener: "Bees Of Nairobi"
Ong Bak: "Mach!!!"
Armor Of God aka Operation Condor: "Thunderarm"
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls: "Wild Party"

also...

Syriana: "Asshole" (Japanese speakers will get the last one.....)

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Lino
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#14 Post by Lino » Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:48 am

Another portuguese atrocity: On the Waterfront becomes There's Mud in the Pier... Poetic license indeed...

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Nadsat
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#15 Post by Nadsat » Tue Jun 20, 2006 12:45 pm

tryavna wrote:Here's a collection of funny title translations that the site owner claims to have gleaned from various sources. I don't know how true any or all of them may be, but some are too good not to be true.
I can confirm that that the movie "Them!" was called Spindlarna (The Spiders) in Sweden. I still wonder even today how the translator came up with the idea :roll:

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Kinsayder
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
Location: UK

#16 Post by Kinsayder » Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:47 pm

According to IMDb, "Les Amants du Pont-Neuf" had an Australian video release as "Lovers on the Ninth Bridge", which is a wonderful bit of mistranslation if it's true.

"Going Places" is a particularly flaccid translation of "Les Valseuses" (literally "bollocks").

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

#17 Post by zedz » Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:07 pm

Kinsayder wrote:"Going Places" is a particularly flaccid translation of "Les Valseuses" (literally "bollocks").
Ditto "Show Me Love" for "Fucking Amal", even though it's not even a translation!

Ted Todorov
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:00 pm

#18 Post by Ted Todorov » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:51 pm

Worst translation of a title that doesn't need one:
Bella Martha became Mostly Martha

Why??? And what the f**k is it supposed to even mean?

Une liaison pornographique somehow became An Affair of Love

And how about this absurdity: Coup de foudre gets translated for its US release as Entre Nous. If you want a French title what's wrong with the original? If you are afraid people won't understand it, what's wrong with Love at First Sight???

Paupau
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:07 pm
Location: Bracara Augusta, Portugal

#19 Post by Paupau » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:04 pm

Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilians kick ass in this subject! Some examples:

My all-time favorite:

In Brazil
The Godfather = O Poderoso Chefão ( roughly The Almighty Boss )
and Sound of Music:

Portugal - Music in the heart
Brasil - The Rebel Novice

In Portugal

Copland - Exclusive Zone
The Thing - It came from another world
The planet of the apes - The man from the future
Say Anything - Don't say nothing
Lost in Translation -- Love is a strange place
Citizen Kane - The world at his feet
Blade Runner - Iminent Danger
Sunset Boulevard - The Dawn of gods
To kill a mockingbird - In shadow and in silence
Bourne Identity - Unkown Identity
See no Evil - The Eye Collector

In a lonely place - To kill or not to kill
The man who wasn't there - The barber
Heavenly Creatures - Friendship without limits
Birthday girl -From Russia with love
Beetlejuice - The ghosts have fun

But the worst is bilingual titles. The original title, followed by some stupid expression, egg Clerks II - Never so many have done so little.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#20 Post by Matt » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:17 pm

Paupau wrote:Beetlejuice - The ghosts have fun
That's a pretty good one. Ages ago for a French class, I did a presentation on French TV. The only funny translated titles I remember are:

"The Love Boat" = "La croisière s'amuse", roughly, "The Cruise is Having Fun"
"Golden Girls" = "Les craquantes", roughly, "The Cracking Ones"

Paupau
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#21 Post by Paupau » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:51 pm

Now for some brazilian translations. Some are almost impossible to translate, even in portuguese i don't fully understand them!

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back - The empire ( of nuisance ) strikes back

Sweetest thing - All to be with him
Killing me softly - Kill me with pleasure
The tuxedo - The 2 bil. dollar suit
Like Mike - back to the future of the past :lol:
Memento - Amnesia
Ocean's eleven - Eleven men and a secret
The frightners - Catch me those ghosts
All about eve - The wicked
Shane - The brutes also love
Giant - Thus walks the humanity
Big country - From the earth men are born
The graduate - First night ( also in Portugal)
Annie Hall - Neurotic Groom, nervous bride
Analyse this - Mob on the couch
Abre los Ojos - Caught in darkness
The good girl - For a meaning in life
Airplane - Buckle up, the pilot is gone
Moulin Rouge - Love in red

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Lino
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#22 Post by Lino » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:04 pm

Paupau wrote:Now for some brazilian translations. (...)

The frightners - Catch me those ghosts
This page here seems to contradict that. It's called The Spirits instead. Isn't Catch me those ghosts the portuguese title?

Anyways, nice list you got there! :D

Paupau
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#23 Post by Paupau » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:10 pm

That's correct, Lino. Catch me those ghosts is the portuguese name.

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Kinsayder
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
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#24 Post by Kinsayder » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:25 pm

That new Renoir box provides a couple of examples:

La Fille de l'eau becomes Whirlpool of Fate
Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier becomes The Doctor's Horrible Experiment; or even The Horrible Doctor Hitchcock, according to IMDb.

Paupau
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:07 pm
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#25 Post by Paupau » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:34 pm

Next, some spanish translations.

Inside man - Ocult plan
Die hard - Crystal Jungle
Walking tall - Stepping hard
Starship troppers - Space Brigades
The big lift - Surrounded
Casualties of war - Iron hearts
On the waterfront - Law of silence
Maltese falcon - Dead End ( Macabre Relic in Portugal)
The magnificent Ambersons - The fourth mandament (same in Portugal)
The Puppet Masters -Someone moves the threads

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