Tolkiens the hobbit has been translated into many languages. Hollywood movie titles in france are often given easier english substitutes to make them more accessible to french audiences, instead of. Some movie title translations range from the hilariously bad to the downright unintelligible. Translating a movie title can be extremely difficult. Answers will be provided at the bottom of the page. Chances are, you have already encountered movie lists with a similar catchy, clickbaity title. American films popular internationally, like the hangover and trainwreck, get some strange title treatment by french marketing companies.
Famous movies french titles flashcards by ike wilson brainscape. The french title dispels any doubt you may have had about that. To prove it, here are 28 movie title translations, translated back into english. Apparently, in france, all the blame for being home alone rests solely with kevin. Thus, airplane translated into french as is there a pilot on the plane. Im a little obsessed with bad translations of movie titles so much so i named my book after one of them. Whats unexpected about these is not that the title stayed in english, but that it actually is a different english title than the original.
Movie title movie title translations and alternate titles director type genre language. Titles of disneys animated movies in different languages. The 37 worst translated movie titles ever buzzfeed. Hilarious french translations of hollywood movie titles feelguide. Note for this example that canadian psychologypsychologie canadienne is a bilingual journal that is published with a bilingual title. Sometimes, the hardest part of a movie to translate is the title, and the results can be unintentionally hilarious. And sometimes, the french title aims for clarity such as the case of jaws 1975, which became the teeth from the sea.
The 28 funniest englishspanish movie title translations. Can you name the movie titles from their french titles. For my father in law and i, it didnt take me long to figure it out. By the way, speaking of title translations, here is an example that worked out well for me. Uproarious movie title translations of major hollywood features are the hallmark of pirate dvds all over the developing world, available from any bootlegger you come across. Movies in latin america get translated to what some consider a more accurate. We at guff created new posters for some of your favorite movies, using the real, translated titles from other countries. In the original language, the films title gives the protagonist the opportunity to speak in the first person by introducing. Movie title translators have the important task of conveying the core message of the movie in a couple of words while keeping the text catchy and inviting the potential audience to choose it. I imagine the translators had no idea sequels were coming.
Funny english to spanish movie title translations posted on april 25, 2012 by living language a few days ago, i was discussing with a student how movie subtitles arent usually very accurate. The french translation of twilight is simply titled fascination. A literal translation from the french as the usa did with its translation would have resulted in such a gorgeous kid like me. Have you ever thought about how movie titles are translated across the globe. The french translation of the matrix is up there with nyan cat and nicholas cage memes for wellknown internet jokes, but for the sheer ridiculous nature of it, we had to include it on this list. Poland has its fair share of awful movie title translations, but i find most of them were made with good intentions. This particular example perfectly sums up the italian approach to movie title translations. Check out these 21 worst and funniest movie title translation fails and youll realize that its not that easy. Translate the movie titles from spanish back to english. Each movie in the fast and furious franchise comes with an equally awesome japanese title. Flaunting their forthright sexual libertarianism, the french just decided to slap sex friends on the poster.
Sometimes a good pun used in a movie can become a big part of the movie title interpretations process and turn into a new title. Makes sense considering mcclane finds himself trapped in a huge, glass building. Take a look at the following french translations of famous movies and books and see if you can guess their englishlanguage title. Otherwise, the details of the foreignlanguage source should stay as they were published, to aid in retrievability. Imdb, iowana this is our favorite, yet strange movie title translation. Here are the 9 most hilarious and bizarre foreign movie. Instead of translating hollywood movie titles to french, sometimes they are simply swapped out for another english movie title which is supposed to make sense to the french audience. See, in france, instead of translating movie titles in french, its not uncommon for translators to give movies an english title different from the original one.
Movies in latin america get translated to what some consider a more accurate version of the title. Culture shock in france very bad american movie titles. Hilarious french translations of hollywood movie titles. Some titles get changed for greater intensity such as the french translation of the movie my sisters keeper 2009 into my life for yours. Movie titles with bad english translations fabulania. Translations of movie and tv titles from english speexx. This is the best option for movies with shorter titles which can. However, a worrying amount of proof suggests otherwise. There have already been wackiest spanish translation of a movie title, weirdest italian title translation and sacrebleu.
Of all the movie title translations on this list, this is probably the one youre most familiar with. In part 1 you saw 23 examples of movies with an english title for the french market. If you use the original title, it is completely possible that no one will recognize it, but if you systematically make a direct translation of the english title in french. The funniest, most ridiculous movie title translations.
Movie title interpretations and dubbing translateshark. Translators try to match the title to the movies content and the culture of the audience, and. The task of translating a film title for overseas audiences would seem like a fairly simple one, handled by one of those fancy types who speaks more than one language. When american movies get sent abroad, foreign markets often have a difficult time with the cultural context, making the movie fit into their particular. To avoid appearing on a similar list, always remember to work with human translators. Tolkien, an expert in germanic philology, scrutinized those that were under preparation during his lifetime, and made comments on early translations that reflect both the translation process and his work. So, translate the given title literally luckily i know french and then think what film that could refer to. The 2007 comedy knocked up starring katherine heigl and seth rogen looks at the story of a. The portuguese called it meetings and failures in meetings.
Hollywood movie titles in france are often given easier english substitutes to make them more accessible to french audiences, instead of simply being translated into french. These movie title translations from other countries are. My reasoning for ending up here was that, i was searching for a particular movie titled dear john by channing tatum. Well start with mom, i missed the plane, which is the actual name of home alone in france. Whether french movie marketers are trying to sex things up to appeal to french audiences, or whether they just dont understand english nuance, a lot of american titles get some real blunt translations. Titles of american movies or from other foreign countries are rarely translated into the same french title in both canada and europe and that happens not only into many languages but for any other foreign movies than just american movies. Unlike their english equivalents, french movie titles are very often complete sentences. If you hear a french person talking about happiness therapy and the plot seems familiar, theres a good reason for it. It was inevitable perhaps that this movie title has been mistranslated. Especially with the film titles that are not direct translations, you sometimes have to think around the corner, which i like. Test your knowledge on this movies quiz to see how you do and compare your score to others. Many times, you would never recognize a wellknown movie or book by its translated title at all.
Which of these german translations, even if far from the original, works best as a movie title. The french title for steven spielbergs masterpiece lacks the menacing punch of the english version. How movie titles get lost in translation atlas obscura. All the films in this quiz were in the imdb top 250 as of january 3, 2011. A frequent visitor in top lists for movie title translation fails is the supposed french version of the title the matrix. Movie title translations and movie title alternate titles. The 10 worst translated movie titles bluffcharging. Tolkien, written originally in english, has since been translated, with varying degrees of success, into dozens of other languages. According to some internet dwellers, the movie was released under a title that translates to the young people who traverse dimensions while wearing sunglasses. The task of translating a movie script and shortening the words to a minimum amount to fit it each movie caption seems pretty. Movies get translated into other languages all the time but sometimes the titles get lost in translation like these films which are translated to english. Foreign film names are often much better and more honest than the originals. Movie title translations dont always have cut and dry solutions.
Titles are the first thing the audience comes across when movies are released, so it is vital that translated movie titles convey the message in a faithful yet catchy and creative way. Thats technically correct, but its asking for a 1946 film. The linguistic differences between chinese and english are much more significant than languages like italian or french, but translations of movie titles are pretty diverse regardless. When talking about a film in french, do i translate the films name. There are mainly three approaches to this type of translation. Why do the french have such crazy and sexy movie titles. Activity working out the titles of familiar films in french and matching them with the english title. Why movie translations are the most important of all. Known translations, with the first date of publishing, are. The results can sound super funny to english speakers. Three ways movie titles are translated today translations.
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