# Worst movie title translations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980 "2003-01-31T22:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/1 "2003-01-31T22:57:18Z")
I am a fan of awful movie title translations. It is really common in Sweden and I am generally horrified by the results. Anyone got any horrendous examples from other languages? I can start the ball rolling. They love “series” titles here related to female stars. Thus Goldie Hawn vehicles since _Private Benjamin_ (_The girl who did National Service_) has had “the girl who” in the title. _The girl who worked shift_ is another example. They do the same Whoopi Goldberg, _A Badass Sister_ and who could forget _A Badass on Wall Street_. Bizarrely, they sometimes change the titles to completely different **english** titles! :eek: The _Boogie Nights_-style “historical drama” _Breast Men_ (about the men who invented breast implants) was re-titled to _ **Big Tits** _ :eek: Biggest loss in the opposite direction has to be when _Fucking Åmål_ was given the title _Show Me Love_ when given its worldwide release. Doesn’t do it justice at all. So, what other countries are guilty of this awful habit? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/2 "2003-02-01T00:35:05Z")
One of my German professors (and a fan of Westerns) was once in Germany and noticed that a movie playing was **Der Mann, der die Katzen tanzen ließ**. Of course, he knew the original title _The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing_ and, unlike the translator, that it refers to an American Indian name, not dancing kitties. If you know German, [this page](http://www.wortlastig.de/text/ftitel.htm)(section 3) has some examples, including the one I mentioned. They mention some overly-literal ones like : _Public Enemy_ -\> **Der öffentliche Feind** _A Taste of Hell_-\> **Der Geschmack der Hölle** (It’s hard to explain exactly how those are so wrong; the subtle differences in the meaning of the words just make them sound awful). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/3 "2003-02-01T00:42:55Z")
When **Dr. No** was originally going to be aired in Japan, the posters had translated the title to mean “We don’t want a Doctor.” The mistake was caught at the last minute. There was also some debate as to how to translate the title of **The Accused** in foreign markets that had no neutral article, (ex: El Acusado / La Acusada), since the whole point of the film’s title is to infer that people are inclined to accuse the victim for “asking for it.” ---
**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:** [February 1, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/4 "2003-02-01T00:44:23Z")
How about England, which renamed _Public Enemy’s Wife_ (1936) to _G-Man’s Wife_? _Hallelulah, I’m a Bum_ was renamed to _Hallelulah, I’m a Tramp_, though people from the UK can tell you why the former was unacceptable. 🙂 _Never Give a Sucker an Even Break_ played in England as _What a Man!_. My favorite mistranslation was in a French film dictionary, which indicated Fatty Arbuckle made “films de court métrage édjucatifs” – educational short subjects – after the Virginia Rapp case wrecked his career. The idea that anyone would have allowed him to make films for children is ludicrous. He did make films for Educational Films – a movie studio, but they were never educational. Other French titles: “Easy Street” (Chaplin) → “Charlot policeman” “White Heat” (Cagney) → “L’enfer est à lui” (“Hell is his”) “Mr. Bug Goes to Town” → “Douce et Criquet s’aimaient d’amour tendre” (not sure, but something like “Gentle and Cricket Like Tender Love” – Gentle is a name) “Monkey Business” (Hawks version) → “Chérie je me sens rajeunir” (“Honey, I feel rejuvenated”) “Monkey Business” (Marx Bros) → “Monnaie de singe” (“Monkey currency”) “Room Service” → “Panique à l’hôtel” (“Panic at the hotel”) “You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man” (W. C. Fields) → “Le cirque en folie” (“Circus of Madness” – sounds like a horror story). ---
**Author:** ![Nils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Nils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nils)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/5 "2003-02-01T02:51:01Z")
Bionic Woman was presented to us Germans as “Die Sieben-Million-Dollar-Frau” (The Seven-Million-Dollar-Woman). “Attack of the clones” became “Angriff der Klonkrieger” (Krieger = Warriors). Once upon a time in the West = Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod (Play me the song of death) “Home Improvement” even has two terrible translations. First it was called “Der Dünnbrettbohrer” (the thin-board-driller; out-of-date version of calling someone an idiot/jerk). Nowadays it is called “Hör mal wer da hämmert” (Hear who’s hammering, analogous to the movie “Look who’s talking”). Actually, most people only speak of it as “Tool time”. “Star Trek” (TOS) was called “Raumschiff Enterprise”. I’m curious what they will call the new series (It’s not on TV yet). “Buffy - The vampire slayer” = “Buffy - Im Bann der Dämonen” (Buffy - Charmed by demons) completly changes the meaning of the title. There are lots more, that I can’t think of right now. The Finns also have their share on bad translations. “Knight Rider” = “Ritari Ässä” (Knight Ace, or something - actually the original title is stupid, aswell IMHO). “Sex and the City” = “Sinkku elämää” (Single Life, well it makes sense, but I like the original better) ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/6 "2003-02-01T09:07:45Z")
Home Improvement has two names here in Sweden too, but I can only remember one right now, _Thumb in the middle of the hand_ (a phrase meaning you are un-handy). Maybe someone else can help me out with the other name? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/7 "2003-02-01T09:25:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > **Bizarrely, they sometimes change the titles to completely different english titles! :eek: The _Boogie Nights_-style “historical drama” _Breast Men_ (about the men who invented breast implants) was re-titled to _Big Tits_ :eek:** It’s done in Japan all the time, and it’s really annoying. I guess they want the title to sound American but less confusing or easier to say than the original title. The change from _The X Files_ to _X File_ was understandable, but _Jerry MaGuire_ turned into _The Agent_ and _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ into _Green Destiny_ are going a bit too far IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![dogchow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@dogchow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogchow)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/8 "2003-02-01T17:26:52Z")
I don’t think they have movie subtitles, but [Engrish.com](http://Engrish.com) has bad English translations on Japanese products. The tshirts are really funny. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/9 "2003-02-01T23:34:46Z")
For some inexplicable reason, in Japan the film **Army of Darkness** was retitled **Captain Supermarket**. Which is bizarre because the hero doesn’t work in a supermarket – it’s a department store – and the only scenes that take place there amount to about 3 minutes of the entire movie. “Hail to the king, baby!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/10 "2003-02-02T03:21:19Z")
PRETTY WOMAN was changed to “I Married a Prostitute to Save Money” in China. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/11 "2003-02-02T03:47:40Z")
Heh, and here most people think the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorceror’s Stone change was unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![SadTomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@SadTomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SadTomato)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-movie-title-translations/151980/12 "2003-02-02T04:27:23Z")
I don’t know if this is apocryphal or not, but supposingly, the Spanish translation of “Psycho” was “Man Who Gets Dressed-up As His Dead Mother And Kills People.”