Adapting Film Titles: a Hard Nut to Crack
When I was a kid the only language I spoke was
Russian and the very idea that people around the world really spoke other
languages made the 404 error appear in my mind. I also loved American films, although
I frequently got annoyed by the unintelligible speech behind the voices of my favourite
characters (It was only one voice, in fact, because during those times all
voiceovers were made by only one person - Dmitry Puchkov, or simply ‘Goblin’). What never really annoyed me during those years
were film titles as they all sounded quite suitable and cool.
As the time passed by, the
quality of voiceovers improved: no annoying voices in the background, and finally
all characters, both women and men, got different voices. Still, another problem appeared - I started speaking English and got access to the Internet. Learning that most
of the film titles were translated into Russian with far from slight changes in meaning was painful! How could Russian translators make me believe
that 'Die Hard' was to be called “Крепкий орешек” («Hard nut »)?! The answer to this and
many other questions became clear only after I plunged into translations
myself.
In fact, sometimes film titles represent a huge
challenge for translators. Obviously, they can keep it simple by translating
titles literally. Another question arises - will this title sound catchy and
intriguing so that it will be able attract as many viewers as possible? Most
translators wouldn’t think so. And what if the title is based on an idiom or a pun?
Therefore, the only possible solution is adaptation.
How does it work?
Adaptating film titles is a complex task - you
are to balance different aspects of a good film title. Here are the
main and the most obvious aspects that you should take into account:
- · First, the film itself. A translator has to keep in mind that every film title acts as a concise presentation of a film. Although initially some of the titles give no clear information about the story behind them, later, when we already know the plot of the film, the title will become the ‘missing puzzle’ that adds a sophisticated touch to the story.
- · Second, viewers’ curiosity. Our first impression may cause further eagerness to watch it or not. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, therefore, imagine that you create this title yourself aiming to actually make people come to the cinema to watch this particular film.
- · Third, languages. Languages are different (Well, I’m pretty sure you already know all that!) in their syntax, grammar and lexis, so literal translations may sound weird in some cases. For example, the film ‘Colossal’ was translated in Russia as ‘My girlfriend is a monster’ (rus. ‘Моя девушка — Монстр’) because literally it would be translated as ‘Грандиозный’ which is the masculine form of the adjective. The fact that in Russian all adjectives must agree with nouns in gender make the literal translation of ‘Colossal’ unsuitable, as the masculine form would have no motivation here.
What are the basic strategies
then?
As I’ve already said, one of the options is literal translation. Let’s take ‘The
Aviator’ which was translated as ‘Авиатор’ in Russia.
No creativity required – the idea is clear as there are no socio-cultural facts and
no conflict between its form and content.
Let’s take another example: ‘Die Hard’. This title could not be literally translated into
Russian as it has no equivalent of this form. ‘Крепкий орешек’ became the only solution that I
find even more suitable than the original title. This is an example of
adaptation which worked quite well.
Dangerous creativity
Adaptation that is highly motivated by the desire to attract a wide audience sometimes leads to extremely stupid and
even inappropriate outcomes. This is the case of the way the film ‘Terminal’
was adapted in Russia. Initially, the translators chose its literal translation
‘Конечная’. Right after the announcement of
the title was distributed by social media, Russian online users started leaving
feedback saying that they misread the title and took it for ‘Конченая’ which is an extremely inappropriate
characteristic of a person. Some people said that this title was ok because it
characterized the main character quite well, though some people (including me)
were discouraged by the adaptation and ignored the film (Sorry, Margo!).
Now you see how hard it is to stick to the initial
idea while making the title sound catchy.
And have you ever noticed any weird adaptations
of film titles?
Kristina Shindina
Sources:
http://begin-english.ru/blog/perevod-filmov
Pictures:
https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/908041/
http://www.kinomania.ru/film/90614
https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/aviator-2004-6374/
https://www.connexionfrance.com/Mag/Culture/Lost-in-translation-French-titles-of-films-in-English
Loved your article, Kristina! It was a really fun read.
RépondreSupprimerAs a movie lover myself, I totally get what you mean. I've also complained about how stupid movie titles are in Spanish, or even series as well, although luckily lately they tend to leave it with the original title in English, at least in my country, thus avoiding giving us eye sores every time we look at the posters at the cinema.
I often believed it shouldn't be that difficult for translators to do a good job, and that even I could do a better job, but you're right, it takes so much more work than it seems, because it needs to convey the idea of the film as a whole, even if the meaning isn't apparent to us at first, like you said.
You gave me a lot of to think about! I'll always be questioning film titles from now on, but in a good, "let's super analyze if this was the correct choice for the movie/country/culture" way haha. Thanks for that! I love a good analysis, especially if it gives the opportunity to debate with peers about their thoughts on the matter too :)
- Pam V.
Pam, thank you for you feedback! I'm really happy that you enjoyed the article. :)
SupprimerThat is great that original titles work for your country, because you have a chance to appreciate it as it is! In case of Russia, keeping the English version wouldn't mean anything at all for the majority of viewers. Nevertheless, some exceptions take place, for example, Russian translators preserved the title 'Interstellar' , though they converted it from latin to cyrillic ('Interstellar'). I believe that this was done to make the title sound more scientific.
I agree that this problem gives us food for thought. I think it is also a good practice for us that develops our translation skills and critical thinking too.
- Kristina Sh.
RépondreSupprimerI liked your article a lot, Kristina. It reminds us again that success of a film often depends on translation of its titles, as it’s the first element that catches our eyes. Consequently, a translator plays an important role in a destiny of a film.
That's right, Anna!
SupprimerTitles and brand names have always influenced my choices. How funny it is that we do not pay attention to that in our everyday life.
By the way, thank you for your feedback!
- Kristina Sh.
I really liked this article as I relate to your feelings and experience a lot.
RépondreSupprimerI had the (bad?) habit recently to ignore outright French movies' titles and use their original titles instead when talking to my French friends and family, which has sometimes led to them laughing at me or giving me a puzzled look.
As you said it is a challenging task although it does not justify all the careless mistakes that have happened throughout the years. In a globalised world where many movies are screened worldwide and viewers deserve a good quality movie adaptation, I find such mistakes hardly acceptable.
I had no idea about movie adapation into Russian language. That's interesting to see the way media-related translation is dealt with in other countries.
While reading your post one of the first things I thought of was the first French adapation of the Star Wars movie in 1977 (later retitled Star Episode IV – A New Hope) that was, to say the least, an awful mess. This version is almost impossible to find (no wonder why) but remains a compelling case of translation gone wrong. Han Solo was renamed Yan Solo (to avoid it being mistaken with the name Anne), "Chewbacca" renamed "Chictaba" (litteral translation close to "chew tobacco"), "Millenium Faulcon" became "Millenium Condor" and so on... The best example is Dark Vador ("Darth Vader" in the original version) that is still being used to this day and I can't give up on as I have been using it since I was child. As a SW fan and translation student I find all these examples both funny and dreadful.
The Die Hard-Hard Nut adpation will never cease to make me laugh from now on.
-Gaël M.-
Thank you for your comment, Gaël!
SupprimerWell, I've never watched Star Wars before, still, your example makes me laugh myself to tears as it is difficult not to know the names of the main characters. It is almost the same situation as the 'Goblin' adaptations in Russia during the 90s. The only difference is that Goblin's adaptations were alternative, so now people watch them only when they want to laugh. But this situation with the official french adaptation is really horrible. Although, I think that it is almost impossible to get rid of this 'Dark Vador', because people have already got used to it.
- Kristina Sh.
Your article is very interesting as you share your own experience. I have watched several old American movies with Russian voiceovers and I completely agree with you on the fact that it's unbearable to listen ;)! I actually always wondered why they didn't just deleted the original voices... Anyway, about the titles, it is true that it is the first thing you hear about a new movie so it has to be catchy, and it can't be that easy to translate. Although, they translated the French version of "The Hangover" in "Very Bad Trip" - from English to... English. Emmanuelle D.
RépondreSupprimerSo great that you can relate to that too :D
SupprimerI think we both talk about the old voiceovers which were done in the 90s. Maybe during those times doing a proper voiceover with no original voices was too difficult and expensive in Russia, so these alternative voiceovers appeared and people easily got used to them (For many, watching a foreign film at home was already a miracle during those times))).
In fact, your example is also translated in a different way into Russian. I found some explanations to that. So, basically the original title would be considered inappropriate and wrong in other cultures. In case of France, I think, another English version gets rid of the initial idea behond the title and makes it sound more American, stresses that the film belongs to this culture.
- Kristina Sh.
Loved the article !
RépondreSupprimerI can totally understand people misreading that one title, I had to look twice to spot the differences between the two words.
https://www.google.fr/amp/www.topito.com/top-des-titres-de-films-mal-traduits/amp
This is a list of weird adaptations of movie titles, makes me laugh (cringe) everytime.
- Maaike