# Meaning of "Lost in Translation" title (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756 "2004-02-12T00:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/1 "2004-02-12T00:30:57Z")
Maybe I haven’t searched enough, but I haven’t found any comments by critics about it. It seems to me that “Lost in Translation”, the movie’s title, is not referring to the mess that Bob experiments with the translators, and all misunderstandings that follows (that, btw, aren’t too much), as would have happened if the film was nothing more than comedy stuff. But the movie mainly focuses in their drama, so I think the title may be referring that something was lost in the translation, perhaps love, romance, relationship… I don’t know what, but I’m almost sure that Coppola is metaphorically alluding to the difference of languages between Bob and Charlotte. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/2 "2004-02-12T00:42:00Z")
To me, the title refers to the displacement and lost feeling that both of the main characters experience being in a somewhat strange country for a long period of time. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/3 "2004-02-12T00:57:32Z")
When something gets “lost in translation,” it’s the bare facts of a communication coming through but without the connotations that make it alive. That’s how Bob and Charlotte are feeling about their trips to Japan, their marriages, their lives, you name it: “OK, yes, technically this _is_ a marriage/life/trip to Japan, but somehow I didn’t expect it to be so exhausting and not-fun.” The title I think also highlights the moment at the end when he whispers to her and we don’t get to hear what he says; in the translation from life to screen to audience, something _should_ be lost, to keep the story as personal and intimate as it needs to be. And I loved that the film’s most intimate scene occurs on a crowded street in the world’s largest city; you can feel really, really alone on a bustling Tokyo sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/4 "2004-02-12T01:10:36Z")
I just saw the movie here in Panama. Ironically enough, the title was translated as “Perdido en Tokio” (Lost in Tokyo), instead of the real translation, thereby losing some of the nuances. The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles. I didn’t read along (as I sometimes do with action movies because of the amusement value), but I’ll bet quite a bit was lost in translation. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/5 "2004-02-12T03:37:39Z")
I thought it was a reference to Robert Frost. He said poetry is what’s lost in the translation. Since I haven’t _seen_ the movie, I don’t know if that references has anything to do with what’s going on… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/6 "2004-02-12T03:59:02Z")
Seems pretty clear to me that the title was deliberately set up to have several meanings that shift and overlap as you think about the film. And I hadn’t remembered Frost’s line until you brought it up, **pepperlandgirl** , but, yeah, that would apply as well in a metaphorical sense. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/7 "2004-02-12T18:28:04Z")
I think **BobT** ’s use of “displacement” is dead on. Back in my Analytic Geometry days that is indeed what “translation” meant" moving something from point A to point B. In fact, from my online American Heritage Dictionary (note meaning 3): trans·la·tion 1.a. The act or process of translating, especially from one language into another. b. The state of being translated. 2. A translated version of a text. 3. Physics. Motion of a body in which every point of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point of the body; nonrotational displacement. 4. Biology. The process by which messenger RNA directs the amino acid sequence of a growing polypeptide during protein synthesis. --trans·la“tion·al adj. I.e., “Lost in Transit” is another reading of the title. It would refer to 2 aspects: feeling out of place in Tokyo but also feeling out of place in their personal lives. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/8 "2004-02-14T21:03:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I just saw the movie here in Panama. Ironically enough, the title was translated as “Perdido en Tokio” (Lost in Tokyo), instead of the real translation, thereby losing some of the nuances. Direct from the pool of supreme Ironies, the title itself, “Lost in Translation”, was lost in translation (also in Mexico). ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/9 "2004-02-14T22:00:14Z")
This is off topic, but as long as a _Lost in Translation_ thread is open, I may as well ask. _Minor Spoiler_ At the end of the movie, when Bob sees Charlotte in the street and hugs her, he says something very softly into her ear. I’ve seen the movie twice, but neither time could I understand what he said – I’m not even sure the audience is supposed to be able to decipher it. Do any of you have better hearing than I do? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/10 "2004-02-14T22:40:28Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > This is off topic, but as long as a _Lost in Translation_ thread is open, I may as well ask. _Minor Spoiler_ > > At the end of the movie, when Bob sees Charlotte in the street and hugs her, he says something very softly into her ear. I’ve seen the movie twice, but neither time could I understand what he said – I’m not even sure the audience is supposed to be able to decipher it. Do any of you have better hearing than I do? Thanks. He said “thanks for the nude pictures you let me take that night we got back to the hotel pissed” ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/11 "2004-02-15T00:25:58Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > This is off topic, but as long as a _Lost in Translation_ thread is open, I may as well ask. _Minor Spoiler_ > > At the end of the movie, when Bob sees Charlotte in the street and hugs her, he says something very softly into her ear. I’ve seen the movie twice, but neither time could I understand what he said – I’m not even sure the audience is supposed to be able to decipher it. Do any of you have better hearing than I do? Thanks. Though I’m sure he actually says \* something \* specific, I don’t think we’re meant to know what it is. I think Sofia Coppella wants you to draw your own conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/12 "2004-02-15T00:32:33Z")
We are very specifically _not_ able to hear what he says; it’s a private, intimate moment between Bob and Charlotte, and we the observers are not invited. It’s also a neat directorial move that I don’t think I’ve seen before; whether it’s new or not, it works fabulously in _LiT_. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/13 "2004-02-15T00:47:06Z")
The idea is that whenever you attempt to translate your emotions into words, something is lost. When the commercial director is explaining in detail to Bob what he wants to get from the shoot, the translator just translates it as “More intensity.” The joke there is obvious, but it’s also the main theme of the movie – the director knows what he wants and uses all those words to describe it, but he can’t communicate what he really means to Bob or even to the translator. Bob & Charlotte connect not just because they both speak English, but because they understand each other without having to put it into words. In fact, they spend most of the movie talking _around_ what they mean without coming out and saying it directly. That’s why we don’t hear what Bob says to Charlotte at the end of the movie: the words themselves aren’t important, but the feelings behind them are. We can only tell from his being so desperate to tell her, and from her reaction, that it was the perfect thing to say. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/14 "2004-02-15T00:55:00Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > At the end of the movie, when Bob sees Charlotte in the street and hugs her, he says something very softly into her ear. I’ve seen the movie twice, but neither time could I understand what he said – I’m not even sure the audience is supposed to be able to decipher it. Do any of you have better hearing than I do? Thanks. [Roger Ebert on the issue](http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert25.html). Personally, I couldn’t make it out at all either. Agree with **Exapno** about the title. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-lost-in-translation-title-spoilers/228756/15 "2004-02-15T02:06:50Z")
Thanks for the link, bonzer.