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.
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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)
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)
One Night Big Belly (China)
Excitement 1995 (China)
Mysterious Murder In Snowy Cream (China)
Sexy Dance (France)
Slovaks 'translated' this film to 'Let's Dance'. Up to this point I am still trying to understand why. My best guess is that there was a show with famous ppl dancing called 'Let's dance' and it was quite popular so they went with the same one..?? Possibly...
A Twin Seldom Comes Alone (Germany)
The actual German original title is "Das Doppelte Löttchen" - that's the name of the Erich Kästner's book. I suppose the translator either didn't know the source, or actually knew it and considered it very different.
Satan Female Soldier (China)
Sexist claptrap... she does the same things as her male counterparts... just better. :D
Zany Son-In-Law, Zippy Grandkids, Sour Father-In-Law (Thailand)
Meetings And Failures In Meetings (Portugal)
The Eighth Passenger Three (Israel)
Just Send Him To University Unqualified (China)
Hey, Where Are The Babies? (Sweden)
Please, Do Not Touch The Old Women (Italy)
This title is for the original '60s movie. This one has a better title: A joyful neo-Nazi comedy (Italy)
Super Cool (Latin America)
Inspector Harry (France)
Floppy Coppers Don’t Bite (Germany)
Cat, Don't Touch His Hat! (Croatia)
Just throwing it out there: That cat in the hat looks horrifying.
17-Year Old Girl's Medical Chart (Japan)
Warm Shots (Czech Republic)
Hahaha... not true. It actually called "Žhavé výstřely" which is Hot shots.
Urban Neurotic (Germany)
Super Speeding Cleaning Evil Accounts (Thailand)
Juno: Grow, Run & Stumble (Mexico)
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".
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".
