![\"risky-business\"](\"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/risky-business.jpg\")
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<\/a>![\"The-Dark-Knight\"](\"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/The-Dark-Knight.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLost in Translation<\/i> isn\u2019t just a movie, but what happens when we try to map one culture onto another. It\u2019s like a game of Broken Telephone, where what goes in doesn\u2019t always come out the same at the other end. Where\u2019s a good Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/i> Babel fish when you need one?<\/p>\n
Here are a few translated films and their countries of origin.*<\/p>\n
| Risky Business<\/i><\/td>\n | Just Send Him To University Unqualified<\/i><\/td>\n | China<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Spy Who Shagged Me<\/i><\/td>\n | The Spy Who Behaved Very Nicely Around Me<\/i><\/td>\n | Malaysia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Dark Knight<\/i><\/td>\n | Knight of the Night<\/i><\/td>\n | Mexico<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Annie Hall<\/i><\/td>\n | Urban Neurotic<\/i><\/td>\n | Germany<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You Only Live Twice<\/i><\/td>\n | 007 Dies Twice<\/i><\/td>\n | Japan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Cat in The Hat<\/i><\/td>\n | Cat, Don\u2019t Touch This Hat!<\/i><\/td>\n | Croatia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grease<\/i><\/td>\n | Vaseline<\/i><\/td>\n | Argentina<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lost in Translation<\/i><\/td>\n | Meetings and Failures in Meetings<\/i><\/td>\n | Portugal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n No doubt, Bob Harris, the American actor hamming his way through Japanese advertising in Lost in Translation<\/i> as played by Bill Murray, would have been amused. For the most part, though, Sophia Copola\u2019s film escapes the worst of mangled translations, simply called Lost in Translation<\/i> in many foreign markets, although in Quebec it was translated as Traduction Infid\u00e8le<\/i> and in Hispanic-America as Perdidos en Tokio<\/i>.<\/p>\n How did a few other films turn out, say for those of Pedro Almod\u00f3var and Alfred Hitchcock, going from Spanish to English for Almod\u00f3var and vice versa for Hitchcock? Perhaps these two great film makers can help clarify the Spanish-English-Spanish makeover.<\/p>\n Almod\u00f3var\u2019s films are almost exact in their translations, from his first Pepi, Luci, Bom, y otras chicas del mont\u00f3n<\/i> (Pepi, Luci, Bom<\/i>) to his most recent Los amantes pasajeros<\/i> (I\u2019m So Excited<\/i>). Even when word order might make things tricky, All About My Mother<\/i> is literal to a point as Todo sobre mi madre<\/i>. Volver<\/i> doesn\u2019t change at all, as if challenging English audiences to learn a bit of Spanish, albeit in this case only one word (return). About the only thing that gets translated in an Almod\u00f3var film title are the capital letters. Although, in fairness \u00a1\u00c1tame! <\/i>gets a Hollywood makeover as Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!<\/i>, extra exclamation point included, and Entre tinieblas<\/i> becomes Dark Habits<\/i>.<\/p>\n Hitchcock on the other hand gets a hardier makeover. North by Northwest<\/i> is the weirdest, becoming With Death On The Heels<\/i>, and Marnie<\/i> needs an extra The Thief<\/i>. Even Psycho<\/i> gets a slight tweak to Psychosis<\/i>, lessening the villainy it would seem of a person to a disease. See the table below for more translations with retranslated titles where different (via Google Translate).<\/p>\n Two of the more Almodovarian sounding films The Trouble with Harry <\/i>and The Wrong Man<\/i> become But \u2026 Who Killed Harry?<\/i> and False Guilty,<\/i> although perhaps the most Almodovarian The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/i> gets a clean bill, yet becomes En manos del destino<\/i> in Central America and Mexico. In other Spanish-speaking countries, Vertigo<\/i> is De entre los muertos<\/i>.<\/p>\n One wonders if it is easier to translate sentiments and ideas of Spanish films into English rather than in reverse, especially when the titles are as direct as Almod\u00f3var\u2019s compared to the purposely oblique thriller titles of Hitchcock.<\/p>\n In this limited survey, it would seem things get changed more by Spanish translators. Is this because of a need to appease the minority culture in the face of the onslaught of world English and the dominance of Hollywood myth making? Food For Thought? Comida para pensar?<\/i><\/p>\n Almod\u00f3var Spanish to English<\/b><\/p>\n Hitchcock English to Spanish (and back where different)<\/b><\/p>\n * For more translated titles, see Screen Crush<\/a> and Short List<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lost in Translation isn\u2019t just a movie, but what happens when we try to map one culture onto another. It\u2019s like a game of Broken Telephone, where what goes in doesn\u2019t always come out the same at the other end. … Continue reading |