# Things That Don't Translate Between Cultures: the Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636 "2014-05-17T15:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [May 21, 2014, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/103 "2014-05-21T11:44:36Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > So perhaps there really was no good translation of “jaws” into German. If I remember tomorrow I’ll ask some of my colleagues, who are native speakers. OK, so it took me a couple days to remember to bring this up, but here’s the result of the discussion at lunch about _Jaws_ with my German colleagues: [ul] [li]They felt the most literal translation of the movie’s original title into German would be _Kiefer_. However, this word is ambiguous, as it also means “pine”. A couple colleagues said that if they had heard about a movie called _Kiefer_, their first thought would be that it must be a documentary about trees.[/li][li]They were similarly agreed that the next-best translation would be _Maul_. However, they dismissed this as a movie title as it “doesn’t sound threatening enough”.[/li][li]One colleague remarked that the actual German title, _Der weiße Hai_ (“The White Shark”), was probably chosen due to its similarity to _Der weiße Wal_ (“The White Whale”), which is how the title of _Moby Dick_ is often translated.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/104 "2014-05-21T12:16:31Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > OK, so it took me a couple days to remember to bring this up, but here’s the result of the discussion at lunch about _Jaws_ with my German colleagues: > [ul] > [li]They felt the most literal translation of the movie’s original title into German would be _Kiefer_. However, this word is ambiguous, as it also means “pine”. A couple colleagues said that if they had heard about a movie called _Kiefer_, their first thought would be that it must be a documentary about trees.[/li][li]They were similarly agreed that the next-best translation would be _Maul_. However, they dismissed this as a movie title as it “doesn’t sound threatening enough”.[/li][li]One colleague remarked that the actual German title, _Der weiße Hai_ (“The White Shark”), was probably chosen due to its similarity to _Der weiße Wal_ (“The White Whale”), which is how the title of _Moby Dick_ is often translated.[/li][/ul] I agree - there’s nothing quite like the word “jaws” in German. Jaws itself is not a common word, but it is known, referring to the separate parts of the jaw. “Jaw” has an an equivalant, kiefer, but jaws doesn’t. Maul is probably the next-best guess, but still doesn’t quite work. And the name Jaws itself would be mispronounced in German. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/105 "2014-05-21T13:28:17Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > serjio1112, > > стная инстр¾Ð²Ñ‹Ñ… переотоврасписание электр¾Ð±Ð¾Ð²\по эксплуатации ситроен берлибря 2008 г. расписание электричек санкт-петербург московский кряÐскЇ‚ÑŒ драстудии сп0 gs драйµÑ€Ñ€ÑƒÐ¶ÐµÐ½Ð¸Ð¹Ð»ÐµÐ½Ð½Ñ‹Ñ… коммуникаций соть ¾Ð»Ð¶Ð½Ð¾Ñ‚рукция главного ий ламинат сергиев посад схема проР> > And get the order right this time, O.K.? I still have those two rhinoceroses in my garage. I’m not paying for them. Please come and pick them up. Pick up a rhinoceros? If I could do that, I wouldn’t be stuck working at the Customer Service desk. Pick up a rhinoceros? Oh, I don’t know, sounds like a recipe for a backbrace to me. Pick up a rhinoceros? OK. . . Is that your horn or are you just happy to see me? Pick up a rhinoceros? OK. . .Nonsense, I think you have a perfectly LOVELY horn, and if anyone has problems with your weight, it’s THEIR problem, not yours. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/106 "2014-05-21T14:19:53Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > They were similarly agreed that the next-best translation would be _Maul_. However, they dismissed this as a movie title as it “doesn’t sound threatening enough”. Heck, I could’ve told you Germans don’t think “maul” sounds threatening enough. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/107 "2014-05-21T14:55:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Heck, I could’ve told you Germans don’t think “maul” sounds threatening enough. As could anyone who’s seen [_(T)Raumschiff Surprise_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqs_sAiT6-8). (This is a German _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ parody film from a few years back where one of the main villains, Jens Maul, is so named because Germans found Darth Maul’s name so risible. The actor makes a point of adopting ridiculous jaw positions for the entire film.) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/108 "2014-05-21T17:01:31Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Being born in the 1970’s in the USA, that’s more or less how I felt about westerns. I’ve never got the appeal of westerns either. Ironically, since I’m obtaining very old ones for some older people I have seen more in the last year than in the rest of my life, at least one a week. After a while they just seem funny if you look for the ridiculous side. I really doubt if anyone who _lived_ in the Old West could understand it would become _Romance !_ Since **Jaws** , which I never saw, is mentioned, can I mention the sheer lack of Shock Horror in announcing that sharks don’t do nearby swimmers any favours. Avoiding where they swim is usually a given — except for pearl divers, but they have other problems, like being pearl divers. **[Hippopotami](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGLGJV01C0Q)** are the most dangerous land animals, but it would be difficult to sell an exploitation movie called **Hippo !** , if only that it is absurdly easy for most of us not to live where they live and we don’t care much about those who do. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/109 "2014-05-21T17:29:53Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Vicullum writes: > > \> Speaking of wacky titles, when The Crying Game was released in Hong Kong they > \> chose something much more literal: "‘Oh No! My Girlfriend Has a Penis!’’ Talk > \> about spoilers! > > I believe that the article linked to is either wildly mistaken or was never intended as anything but a joke: > > [http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/weekinreview/november-8-14-lost-and-gained-in-the-translation.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/weekinreview/november-8-14-lost-and-gained-in-the-translation.html) > > Here’s the actual Hong Kong Blu-Ray version of _There’s Something about Mary_: > > [http://www.yesasia.com/us/theres-something-about-mary-blu-ray-hong-kong-version/1019744306-0-0-0-en/info.html](http://www.yesasia.com/us/theres-something-about-mary-blu-ray-hong-kong-version/1019744306-0-0-0-en/info.html) > > Can anyone verify any of the ridiculous Asian titles given in that article? They were jokes, created by the folks at [TopFive.com](http://TopFive.com), which started in 1994 and is still going today as [www.humorlabs.com](http://www.humorlabs.com/). Their thing was to create a humorous list every day, like Top 10 lists on David Letterman. (Amusingly, TopFive’s lists always had way more than five items on them.) This particular one was “Top (however many) Chinese Translations of American Movie Titles” or something like that. It went viral, and various media sources picked it up and reported it as truth. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/110 "2014-05-21T17:58:45Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > **[Hippopotami](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGLGJV01C0Q)** are the most dangerous land animals, but it would be difficult to sell an exploitation movie called **Hippo !** , if only that it is absurdly easy for most of us not to live where they live and we don’t care much about those who do. Dude, they made \*\*and \*_sold a film called The Attack of the Giant Moussaka. It’s about exactly what it says on the tin. They also made not one_, \*not twobut \*three \*films about killer tomatoes. Which in turn spawned a TV series, a comic book, a novel, a video game AND a remake is apparently in the works. Do not underestimate Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/111 "2014-08-05T03:13:53Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Just as well, a negligently placed cigarette can set the carpet on fire… Just saw this movie over the weekend. Rest assured, there were no carpets in evidence… 😉 I agree with the OP. The female protagonist, Adele, is not the only character who smokes in this movie. When the story begins, Adele is only fifteen years old, yet she and her peers light up during breaks at school. (I went to high school in the USA in the 1980s. Students at my high school could smoke outside, too.) Today, it is rare to see any character in a movie or TV program smoke unless the story is set decades ago. Do French teens really smoke so much? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/112 "2014-08-05T16:31:56Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I don’t know if this counts, but I remember watching Yuen Woo Ping’s The Iron Monkey and being a bit amused when the hero of the story meets this young boy(who’s also one of the main characters) named Wong Fei-Hong. > > What most western viewers probably didn’t realize is that Wong Fei-Hong was a real historical figure. He was a Chinese folk hero, so The Iron Monkey would be a little analogous to a Western in which the hero runs into a ten year old kid named Wyatt Earp. If you watch a lot of Chinese martial arts films, you start to gloss over that. It’s seems like a crapload of films use that and Pai Mei. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/113 "2014-08-05T16:50:05Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > American Comic Book films seem beyond retarded, Superman, Batman et al, with magical thinking galore. > > American fictive films with a scientific story are actually even stupider than that. Oh, yeah … I’m thinking [Lucy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=729595) here. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/114 "2014-08-05T18:21:41Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I/watch?v=VGLGJV01C0Q"]Hippopotami\*\* Small aside, hippotamus is a Greek-derived word, so the plural doesn’t use an ‘i’ as a second-declension, masculine Latin noun would. Content: I saw _Shaun of the Dead_ at the Trocadero in Piccadilly when it came out right around Easter-time that year. Loads of people in the audience, everyone laughing up a storm throughout. Saw it when it came out in the US later in the summer, fairly full theatre. Dead silence when ‘Can I get any of your cunts a drink?’ was said, and a group of people walked out, going ‘tch’ in disgust at the vulgar language. Not much laughter at subsequent jokes as well. Very grim. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/115 "2014-08-05T20:36:37Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I’ve never got the appeal of westerns either. Ironically, since I’m obtaining very old ones for some older people I have seen more in the last year than in the rest of my life, at least one a week. After a while they just seem funny if you look for the ridiculous side. > > I really doubt if anyone who _lived_ in the Old West could understand it would become _Romance !_ I think you’re underestimating just how recent the “Old” West was. The era referred to as the Old West ended sometime between 1890 and 1900, depending on who you ask. The first “Western” movie came out in 1903. Most of those stuntmen in those very old westerns you’ve been watching were, themselves, cowboys who had lived through the era (if not the actual events) they were portraying for Hollywood. Even earlier than the movies, the frontier was a common subject for (usually highly fictionalized) stories in the penny press, or the subject of popular songs. Buffalo Bill invented the “Wild West Show” in 1883, and toured the capitols of Europe with it. The people who lived in the Old West could not only anticipate that their era would be romanticized, in many cases they were the people doing the romancing. ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/116 "2014-08-05T21:07:36Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > Small aside, hippotamus is a Greek-derived word, so the plural doesn’t use an ‘i’ as a second-declension, masculine Latin noun would. > > Content: I saw _Shaun of the Dead_ at the Trocadero in Piccadilly when it came out right around Easter-time that year. Loads of people in the audience, everyone laughing up a storm throughout. > > Saw it when it came out in the US later in the summer, fairly full theatre. Dead silence when ‘Can I get any of your cunts a drink?’ was said, and a group of people walked out, going ‘tch’ in disgust at the vulgar language. Not much laughter at subsequent jokes as well. Very grim. Where in the US were you? I saw it at an outdoor movie screening here in the northwest US, and it received pretty raucous laughter in many places. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/117 "2014-08-07T07:57:13Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Where in the US were you? I saw it at an outdoor movie screening here in the northwest US, and it received pretty raucous laughter in many places. The venue probably did make a difference. This was at an evening showing in a cinema on the east coast. Maybe only 20 people were there. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/118 "2014-08-07T09:08:03Z")
I’ve never thought of smoking as an indicator of low intelligence, even in modern films. It’s all context-related: Cigarette in holder = fancypants socialite Cigarette in bed = just had sex Cigarette at desk = stressed worker Cigarette on a break from work = this character is about to show an attitude different to what we have seen in scenes where they’re working Cigarette being lit in slow motion = this character is going to soon be seen taking no shit from anyone Cigar while seated = rich guy Cigar while walking about = tough guy Cigar in a bar = celebrating Pipe = intellectual ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/119 "2014-08-07T15:20:51Z")
There were a couple of European films I’ve seen that simply blew my mind, for different reasons. _Ma Vie En Rose_ (_My Life In Pink_) was a Belgian film about a young boy who wished he was a girl. In 2014 in the US, we’d call him a “trans girl” and let the chips fall where they may. But apparently in 1997 France this was _a big deal_. He and his family get a lot of hate, and eventually… well, I don’t want to spoil it, but let’s just say that his sexual identity causes problems for the family. The problem for me was that I thought western Europeans were supposed to be so much more tolerant and advanced than the U.S. when it came to such issues. There was also a bit of child discipline in there that confused me. There was a scene where some hateful graffiti had been spray-painted on the family’s house; I don’t remember the exact French or its exact translation, but the words “Bent boy get out!” appeared in there. The trans girl asks her dad what a “bent boy” is, and Dad proceeds to mercilessly beat an object, saying “This is what a bent boy is!” Was he threatening the kid with a beating? Or was it some bit of culture that went over my head? The other was _A Ma Souer_ (or something very similar); _The Fat One_ or _The Fat Sister_ in English. There were a couple of scenes in there that are basically child porn. Apparently the French have a vastly different view than Americans when it comes to kids and sex. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/120 "2014-08-07T16:06:36Z")
In my experience with Chinese films the comic relief is always a lunatic. Perhaps comedy just doesn’t translate so that’s the only characters I know for sure are supposed to be funny, or perhaps the lunatic is an important archetype and that’s the most convenient comic relief. In America the lunatic is always the killer, or occasionally wants to set captive animals free. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/121 "2014-08-07T18:38:45Z")
I watched the first \*Taken \*recently, a large part of which takes place in Paris, and I had to chuckle when undercover Liam Neeson went to the place his daughter had been taken away (SPOILER !)… carrying a big ol’ brown paperbag full of groceries, notably a pair of baguettes sticking out for extra Frenchness. Yeaaaah… we don’t do paper bags. At all. We either bring out own canvas wheeled trolleys to the supermarket/corner grocery store, or they hand out white plastic bags (used to be free, now for a few cents. Ostensibly because “the environment”, cynically because cents add right up). But not paper, never paper. Also, everybody’s a Philistine who buys supermarket bread. I don’t care where you live, in the entirety of France’s territory I guarantee there’s a bakery within walking distance of your home where they bake fresh bread. Those don’t hand out paper bags, either :). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/122 "2014-08-07T18:44:31Z")
(The most amusing part is that the building he walks into really \*\*does \*\*look like a genuine Haussman _hotel particulier_, and of course there are plenty of panorama shots of Paris. That don’t look like CGI. Which means the crew brought their own New Yorkese paper bags across the pond, specifically so that Liam Neeson could look like he’s in foreign places but not \*too \*foreign :)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636.md?page=7)