Asinine Film Title Translations
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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- King of Kong
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:32 pm
- Location: New Zealand
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- Don Lope de Aguirre
- Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:39 pm
- Location: London
- jorencain
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:45 am
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)
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)
- tryavna
- Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:38 pm
- Location: North Carolina
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.
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.
- Dylan
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 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."
The French title for "The Matrix": "The young people who traverse Dimensions while wearing sunglasses."
- The Fanciful Norwegian
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Teegeeack
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- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:41 am
- Location: Florie-dah
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!
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!
- King of Kong
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:32 pm
- Location: New Zealand
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- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
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.....)
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.....)
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
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- Nadsat
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:03 am
- Location: Sweden
- Contact:
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 ideatryavna 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.
- Kinsayder
- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
- Location: UK
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").
"Going Places" is a particularly flaccid translation of "Les Valseuses" (literally "bollocks").
-
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:00 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???
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???
-
- Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:07 pm
- Location: Bracara Augusta, Portugal
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.
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.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
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:Paupau wrote:Beetlejuice - The ghosts have fun
"The Love Boat" = "La croisière s'amuse", roughly, "The Cruise is Having Fun"
"Golden Girls" = "Les craquantes", roughly, "The Cracking Ones"
-
- Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:07 pm
- Location: Bracara Augusta, Portugal
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
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
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
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
- Lino
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:18 am
- Location: Sitting End
- Contact:
This page here seems to contradict that. It's called The Spirits instead. Isn't Catch me those ghosts the portuguese title?Paupau wrote:Now for some brazilian translations. (...)
The frightners - Catch me those ghosts
Anyways, nice list you got there!
- Kinsayder
- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
- Location: UK
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.
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.
-
- Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:07 pm
- Location: Bracara Augusta, Portugal
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
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