30 Movie Title Translations From Other Countries That Sound Like A Totally Different Story
As a Lithuanian, I often find myself baffled by the way we translate foreign movie titles. In our country, Superbad became Hard Nuts, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was transformed to The Power of Feelings, and This is the End was renamed to Christmas Cakes, Drugs, and Sex. Turns out, we're not the only ones doing this.
Even though the task of translating a movie title to a local audience seems like a fairly simple one, handled by one of those fancy types who speak more than one language, it's really complex. So much so that it sometimes makes the story sound like a totally different thing. Continue scrolling this list by Bored Panda and see for yourself.
This post may include affiliate links.
Vaseline (Argentina)
As one linguist said, while the practice of translation is always a work of adaptation, it is much more so when it comes to translating movie titles. For instance, how should the Russian villain in a typical Hollywood production be presented in Moscow cinemas? And what do we do about cultural references?
In addition, there is the fact that the title of a movie is supposed to summarize and condense a two-hour story. Therefore, the translator must rifle through nuances, overtones, examples of polysemy, as well as a number of other approaches.
Big Liar (China)
Meth Dad (Slovakia)
It sounds like the sitcom version of the show. “Next week on ‘Meth Dad’: Can Walter handle drug dealers, watching his kids for a day, AND his nosy neighbor? Find out on ‘Meth Dad’!”
What makes it even more difficult is that the reader has no context to understand the translated title of the film; a title should be evocative and should work with no other references than its own semantic values and connotations. The translator can't use contextual elements to supplement or clarify the meaning.
The translation of movie titles involves not only retaining/giving it meaning, but there are also rhythmic constraints (in this case, this comes closer to literary translation and more specifically, poetic) and commercial ones (bringing us closer to marketing translation). It's a minefield.
It's Raining Falafel (Israel)
Die Hard: Mega Hard (Denmark)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Behaved Very Nicely Around Me (Malaysia)
Santa Is A Pervert (Czech Republic)
Mom, I Missed My Plane (France)
If You Leave Me, I'll Erase You (Italy)
Wasn't it "once more everyone, passionately"?
Load More Replies...
In German the opposite - Vergiss mein nicht! meaning 'forget me not'. It's the name of the flower, which is the same as in English. If it were to mean 'don't forget me' it would be 'vergiss mich nicht' (I think)
Load More Replies...
Italian here, I really don’t understand why movie titles translators ALWAYS choose something so different (most of the time even in the meaning) from the original title
I mean, this is basically the plot of the movie so it's not wrong..
That’s a line from a very long poem by Alexander Pope (“Eloisa to Abelard”). It is quoted in the movie for goodness sake. Why would they not just use the correct translation of Pope’s own words? It is a reference to a mind that does not dwell upon problems of the past and which dissociates itself from any ingrained feelings, yielding true bliss, comparable to an “eternal sunshine.”
Because the 'correct translation' wouldn't have sufficed. It would have confused audiences and would not have conveyed the intended idea. For example, there is no word for 'Sunshine' in Italian-- it is not directly translatable. Sunshine would be; 'raggi di sole,' or 'luce del sole' -- lit. 'rays of the sun' or 'light of the sun.' Same with 'spotless', there is no such word. The closest would be 'senza macchie' lit. 'without spots.' So I guess now you see why they didn't call it 'eternal light of the sun of the mind without spots'.... even if they had used the 'correct/official' translation of the poem (which I actually can't find in Italian, and I'm pretty sure didn't exist at the time) I doubt it would have made sense to most Italians.
Load More Replies...My Partner With The Cold Snout (Germany)
The Urban Neurotic (Germany)
Super Power Dare Die Team (China)
The Unbelievable Trip In A Wacky Aeroplane (Germany)
Rita Heyworth, Key To Escape (Finland)
Works both ways, a Finnish film called girl you will be a star was translated to English as beauty and the beast :) the translator also changed a lot of what was said as apparently he didn't like the movie
Knight Of The Night (Spain)
My Boyfriend Is A Psycho (Russia)
This Hitman Is Not As Cold As He Thought (China)
Six Naked Pigs (China)
Son Of Devil (China)
The Hole Of Malkovich (Japan)
If You Drink, Don't Marry! (Brazil)
His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous (China)
Dimwit Surges Forth (Thailand)
A Supertough Kangaroo (Spain)
The Teeth From The Sea (France)
Captain Supermarket (Japan)
Pigs And Diamonds (Mexico, Spain)
The Gun Died Laughing (Israel)
American Virgin Man (China)
Full Of The Nuts (Germany)
Note: this post originally had 53 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
In Poland, "Dirty dancing" was translated as "Spinning sex". Fortunately, they don't use that translation anymore.
In germany we have translated "13 reasons why" into "dead girls don't lie and I hate it (german "tote mädchen lügen nicht")
"dead girls don't lie" - sorry interpunctutation makes a difference :D
Load More Replies...
In Bulgaria they translated "Kick-ass" as "kick in the ass". Or another one was "Dear John" translated as "with the scent of cinnamon".
A quick Google search shows many of these are incorrect. Did BP seriously just make this whole list up?
Generally they don't create a single thing. They pilfer it from other sites. Mostly from Reddit and Twitter.
Load More Replies...
I think Annie Hall got the best re-title, courtesy Germany. Urban neurotic. Yep!
Meanwhile here in sweden, the title of every movie starring Goldie Hawn starts with "Tjejen som ..." (The girl who ..). For example "Overboard" Is translated to "The girl who fell overboard"! Not that funny on it´s own but collectively hilarious! Like she´s running a franchise. Swedes are generally good at english, but they do have their blind spots like confusing v with w! I once watched a motorshow on tv where the commentator referred to the "Dodge Wiper" the whole way through. My father who lived in english speaking countries for 20 years always mixed up j and y. So it was "where´s my jellow yumper"!
lessons we have learnt: more words a better title do not make nor does a synopsis of the plot...
In Finnish, "Once Upon A Time In The West" becomes "Huuliharppukostaja" or... "Harmonica Avenger" which makes perfect sense, but for some reason I find hilarious.
how does "home alone" even translate into "mom, i missed my plane"
(Just in case, "cadence" is a bit like rhythm of words, like in poetry.)
Load More Replies...
In the Czech Republic, the film Motherless Brooklyn is named The Dark Face of Brooklyn. 🤔 And Die Hard is A Deadly Trap.
In Norwegian, Spinal Tap was called "Help! We are in the pop industry!"
In Poland, "Dirty dancing" was translated as "Spinning sex". Fortunately, they don't use that translation anymore.
In germany we have translated "13 reasons why" into "dead girls don't lie and I hate it (german "tote mädchen lügen nicht")
"dead girls don't lie" - sorry interpunctutation makes a difference :D
Load More Replies... In Bulgaria they translated "Kick-ass" as "kick in the ass". Or another one was "Dear John" translated as "with the scent of cinnamon".
A quick Google search shows many of these are incorrect. Did BP seriously just make this whole list up?
Generally they don't create a single thing. They pilfer it from other sites. Mostly from Reddit and Twitter.
Load More Replies... I think Annie Hall got the best re-title, courtesy Germany. Urban neurotic. Yep!
Meanwhile here in sweden, the title of every movie starring Goldie Hawn starts with "Tjejen som ..." (The girl who ..). For example "Overboard" Is translated to "The girl who fell overboard"! Not that funny on it´s own but collectively hilarious! Like she´s running a franchise. Swedes are generally good at english, but they do have their blind spots like confusing v with w! I once watched a motorshow on tv where the commentator referred to the "Dodge Wiper" the whole way through. My father who lived in english speaking countries for 20 years always mixed up j and y. So it was "where´s my jellow yumper"!
lessons we have learnt: more words a better title do not make nor does a synopsis of the plot...
In Finnish, "Once Upon A Time In The West" becomes "Huuliharppukostaja" or... "Harmonica Avenger" which makes perfect sense, but for some reason I find hilarious.
how does "home alone" even translate into "mom, i missed my plane"
(Just in case, "cadence" is a bit like rhythm of words, like in poetry.)
Load More Replies... In the Czech Republic, the film Motherless Brooklyn is named The Dark Face of Brooklyn. 🤔 And Die Hard is A Deadly Trap.
In Norwegian, Spinal Tap was called "Help! We are in the pop industry!"
