# Goofy Translations of Film Titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443 "2007-03-11T03:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/21 "2007-03-11T20:20:41Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Looks like Hollywood liked “The Lives of Others” enough. [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) lists an American version coming out in 2010. No cast or other info available yet. [/QUOTE] 😕 Of all the movies that _don’t_ need a remake! How would they do it anyways? Will they just keep the East German setting and redo it in English? I don’t see how it would work anywhere else, because no matter what you say about the Patriot Act it’s nowhere near as intrusive as the Stasi. I bet the remake never happens – the movie’s just big right now because it won the Academy Award, so someone grabbed the remake rights just in case. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/22 "2007-03-11T21:39:35Z")
About a decade ago, the _Wall Street Journal_ did an article on a man whose job it is to retitle American films for foreign audiences. Among some of the more memorable retitles included _Nixon_, which became _The Big Liar_, and _As Good As It Gets_, which inexplicably became _Mr. Cat Poop_. (This article then took on a life of its own: the article was sent across the Internet with a list of intentionally funny fake translated movie titles from a humor site called [Top5.com](http://Top5.com) attached to it. _The New York Times_ did its own take on _The Journal_’s original story _with_ gag list attached, thus claiming that not only were _The Big Liar_ and _Mr. Cat Poop_ real foreign film titles, but so were _Big Dumb Monkey Man Keeps Whacking Tree With Genitals_\* and _Help! My Girlfriend Has A Penis!_\*\* Even the TV news got into the act- I still vividly remember ABC’s news anchor Peter Jennings telling his audience that “_Babe_’s title in China reminds us Communism is alive and well there\*\*\*.” I still can’t believe the _Times_ fell for that- who would really think that the Japanese know _Twister_ as _Run! Run! CLOUDZILLA!_?) \*George of the Jungle \*\*The Crying Game \*\*\*The Happy Dumpling-to-be who Talks and Solves Agricultural Problems ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/23 "2007-03-11T21:47:34Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > The best title change I heard was from a former professor of mine, who noticed that in Germany, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (a Western about a man who loves a woman with an Indian name) became the unambiguous Der Mann, der die Katzen tanzen ließ, “the man who liked to watch cats dance”. I can see the problem there- when I was a kid, I didn’t realize _Dances With Wolves_ was supposed to be an Indian’s name and thought the title inferred that the main character enjoyed dancing with actual wolves. These anecdotes remind me of two other anecdotes regarding title changes of films- one true, one false: The False One: The British film _The Madness of George III_ was renamed _The Madness of King George_ in the United States so audiences wouldn’t think the film was the third in a _Madness of George_ series. (It was the _play_ that had the “III” in it- the film was known as _King_ in both the UK and the U.S.) The True One: The Australian film _Crocodile Dundee_ was renamed _“Crocodile” Dundee_ in the United States so audiences wouldn’t think the main character was an actual crocodile. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/24 "2007-03-11T22:06:03Z")
Forrey Ackerman’s magazine, **Famous Monsters of Filmland** , used to run features on this all the time – foreign titles of monster films were frequently bizarre, sometimes invoking the name of a monster not even in the film (like _Frankenstein_). of course, here in the US we frequently change titles all the time. The French films listed here are nothing like the original titles; \*\*Pardon Mon Affaire Femmes Fatales \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/25 "2007-03-11T23:58:55Z")
Spy Magazine did an article about this topic way back when. In Hong Kong, _The Shawshank Redemption_ was released as… EXCITEMENT 1995! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/26 "2007-03-12T05:05:02Z")
[QUOTE=Rodgers01] 😕 Of all the movies that _don’t_ need a remake! How would they do it anyways? Will they just keep the East German setting and redo it in English? I don’t see how it would work anywhere else, because no matter what you say about the Patriot Act it’s nowhere near as intrusive as the Stasi. I bet the remake never happens – the movie’s just big right now because it won the Academy Award, so someone grabbed the remake rights just in case. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget that Hollywood did a remake of “Wings of Desire” with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan called “City of Angels.” I didn’t bother to see it. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but in this case, I’m not so sure. So far in tis thread, I think “He’s a Ghost!” for “The Sixth Sense” is the best one. I’m still chuckling over it. Giving the secret away like that in the title; incredible! ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/27 "2007-03-12T06:33:14Z")
Maybe a German speaker could help me with this one? My favorite German movie (and one of my favorites of any nationality) is **Das Schreckliche Mädchen** , and the American version is called **The Nasty Girl**. But that’s not quite right, is it? For one thing, all my American friends think I’m talking about a porn movie. But I’m not – the movie is about a young woman who asks troubling questions about her hometown’s Nazi past, and the townspeople disapprove of her impolite behavior. Wouldn’t **That Awful Girl** or **That Dreadful Girl** be a better translation of the title? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/28 "2007-03-12T06:46:40Z")
In the 80s, a lot of films were translated into Japanese as something-something \*no ai \* (blah-blah love) or something-something _koibito_ (blah-blah lovers). I saw at least one film translated that way that did not, in any way shape or form, have anything to do with love, romance, or any facsimile thereof. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any examples of those titles right now, though I used to have about three or four I could recite right off the top of my head. A stroll through my local video store would probably give me at least a couple of candidates. It was common enough and noticeable enough that a couple of buddies and I would try to make up ~_ai_ or ~_koibito_ titles out of stuff that didn’t follow the pattern, especially titles transliterated in _katakana_. And the more inappropriate the title was for the movie, the better for humor purposes. For example, Friday the 13th would be _Hôchô no Ai_ (Kitchen-Knife Love) or we’d call Armageddon _Shôwakusei ni Iru Koibito_ (Lovers on an Asteroid). ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/29 "2007-03-12T09:26:00Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] Maybe a German speaker could help me with this one? My favorite German movie (and one of my favorites of any nationality) is **Das Schreckliche Mädchen** , and the American version is called **The Nasty Girl**. But that’s not quite right, is it? For one thing, all my American friends think I’m talking about a porn movie. But I’m not – the movie is about a young woman who asks troubling questions about her hometown’s Nazi past, and the townspeople disapprove of her impolite behavior. Wouldn’t **That Awful Girl** or **That Dreadful Girl** be a better translation of the title? [/QUOTE] Yes, dreadful/awful/horrible would be a more accurate translation of _schrecklich_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/30 "2007-03-12T12:11:18Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Don’t forget that Hollywood did a remake of “Wings of Desire” with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan called “City of Angels.” I didn’t bother to see it. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but in this case, I’m not so sure. [/quote] You were wise. Though there was never a better example of a truck ending outside of Michael O’Donoghue ([see lesson 2](http://www.blueroses.com/2001_04/hwrite.html)). “Suddenly, everyone got run over by a truck.” It’s the epitome of an author using a lame ending to solve the problem when he can’t think of anything else. > [@Mobo85](#): > > The False One: The British film The Madness of George III was renamed The Madness of King George in the United States so audiences wouldn’t think the film was the third in a Madness of George series. (It was the play that had the “III” in it- the film was known as King in both the UK and the U.S.) That’s hardly false; you’ve just got the story wrong. The story is that the movie was renamed from the play. And it clearly was – the director has conceeded that dropping the “III” was at least partially to avoid the idea it was a sequel. More French translations" Gentlemen’s Agreement = The Invisible Wall (not bad, actually) It Happened One Night = New York Miami The Browning Version = A Man’s Shadow The Purple Heart = Prisoners of Satan Footlight Parade = Prologues (arguably even better than the US title) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/31 "2007-03-12T15:31:03Z")
In Mexico, it’s all about dumbing down the title, to make something subtle and interesting into something obvious and boring, because the cinematic decision-makers (wrongly) think the Mexican public is too stupid to want to see the film otherwise. A typical example: “Jaws” is “Tiburon”, which simply means “Shark”. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/32 "2007-03-12T16:41:18Z")
Quebec is a fun place to watch for these title translations. The otherwise forgettable, “High School High” was rendered as, “l’École, c’est secondaire” (School is Secondary). ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/33 "2007-03-12T19:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] That’s hardly false; you’ve just got the story wrong. The story is that the movie was renamed from the play. And it clearly was – the director has conceeded that dropping the “III” was at least partially to avoid the idea it was a sequel. [/QUOTE] That what I was saying- that the play was called _The Madness of George III_ and the movie was called _The Madness of King George_. The legend (which, as I stated, was false) is that the movie was released as _The Madness of George III_ in the UK and _The Madness of King George_ in the United States- it was known as _The Madness of King George_ in both countries. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/34 "2007-07-30T05:02:34Z")
The Swedish multi-award-winning film _Fucking Åmål_ was retitled _Show Me Love_ for its American release. Åmål is the name of a town, though I never found out what “_fucking_” means in Swedish. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/35 "2007-07-30T05:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] The Swedish multi-award-winning film _Fucking Åmål_ was retitled _Show Me Love_ for its American release. Åmål is the name of a town, though I never found out what “_fucking_” means in Swedish. [/QUOTE] I think it means “fucking”. Several times, the girls complain about the town, using the titular phrase. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/36 "2007-07-30T09:20:56Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] I think it means “fucking”. Several times, the girls complain about the town, using the titular phrase. [/QUOTE] As in my friends’ favourite quote: “Varför måste vi bo i fucking, jävla, kuk-Åmål.” “Why do we have to live in fucking, goddamn, cock-Åmål!” ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/37 "2007-07-30T09:26:03Z")
I find it particularly amusing when movies with English titles get a different, but still English title in Scandinavia. Die Hard - Mega Hard (Die Hard with a vengeance - Danish title) Skate or die (Gleaming the cube - Norwegian title) Now admittedly the original titles wouldn’t have worked, but if you have to change them… ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/38 "2007-07-30T12:47:26Z")
[QUOTE=panamajack] The best title change I heard was from a former professor of mine, who noticed that in Germany, **The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing** (a Western about a man who loves a woman with an Indian name) became the unambiguous _ **Der Mann, der die Katzen tanzen ließ** _, “the man who liked to watch cats dance”. [/QUOTE] Shouldn’t this be “The man who let the cats dance”? I don’t see the word “like” anywhere in that title. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/39 "2007-07-30T14:32:23Z")
Most of the Japanese titles are just transliterations of the original English titles, but occasionally some get changed. **Juon** , originally a Japanese film, got remade in America as **The Grudge** (accurate translation). The American version was then released in Japan as **The Juon**. **Stripes** became **Paradise Army**. After **Pretty Woman** Garry and Penny Marshall have been condemned to have every subsequent film named “Pretty…” in Japan. **Runaway Bride** became **Pretty Bride** , **A League of Their Own** was **Pretty League** , and **The Princess Diaries** became **Pretty Princess**. The one that still has me confused, though, is why did **The Karate Kid** become **Best Kid**? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443/40 "2007-07-31T02:21:36Z")
**Sublight** , I have no idea what they were thinking there either. You would think that that would be a nice straight across translation. Maybe they were so appalled at Morita and Macchio’s “karate” that they decided not to have any association with the martial art in the title, lest someone who actually does karate watch the film and sprain something from either laughing or groaning. **The Juon** sounds dumb, but so did **The Grudge**. I think they should have kept just plain **Juon** for the English title in both the US and Japan. The re-emergence of this thread reminds me, my wife made me watch [Miss Congeniality](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212346/) a few years ago and it was retitled as **Dangerous Beauty** for some reason. It actually confused me because the English title was changed on the promotional material and the box, not just the _katakana_ version, so I thought for the longest time that **Dangerous Beauty** was the actual title. [Dangerous Beauty](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118892/) on the other hand, was a halfway decent period piece that I’d seen a couple of years before I came to Japan. That was retitled 娼婦ベロニカ (_Shôfu Beronika_; Veronica the Prostitute/Whore) in Japan. Why they used that particular word instead of 愛人 (_aijin_; lover, mistress) or simply using courtesan in _katakana_, from the title of the source book, **The Honest Courtesan** , I don’t know. They didn’t even prefix it with 高級 (_kôkyû_; high class/rank) but instead used plain old “prostitute”. While the term isn’t quite as weighted in Japanese as in English, the tone of the movie doesn’t match the feeling of 娼婦, I think. It’s about how she is both more and less free as a concubine than she was as a “respectable” woman, and later concerns mostly the love affair between her and a client. The money part is only referred to once or twice in the movie, and is mostly used as one of the typical romantic devices to cause strife and place barriers between the two who are supposed to be together by the end of the story. Come to think of it, I’ll bet that Joss Whedon was inspired in part by this movie to create the idea of Companions in **Firefly**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goofy-translations-of-film-titles/395443.md?page=3)