20 hits of world cinema that translated from English otherwise

Localization of foreign cinema has always been a difficult task, because the viewer often has to explain something and present new realities from a different culture. True, they do not always succeed or they just go too far. Here is a selection of such unfortunate cases.

Completely different translation

Let's start with the Tarantino film Death Proof - it was translated as “Proof of Death”. This is, of course, a possible translation variant, but we draw an analogy with other words in conjunction with proof - fire proof (fire resistant), water proof (waterproof) and see that it turns out not nouns, but adjectives. And in the case when we have just the noun “evidence”, then clarification of what this proof usually comes later: proof of death.
It turns out that the name was supposed to sound like “not killed”.

Tropic Thunder - “Soldiers of Failure”. The literal translation is “Tropical Thunder”. It becomes unclear that this is a comedy, so they decided to make the translation more understandable.

Some Like it Hot - “Girls Only In Jazz”. And then I had to change the name in order to make the name attractive and interesting. The original name would have sounded like “Someone likes it hotter”.
')
Next - “The Prophet,” although the translation sounds like “Next.” Most likely, the distributors thought that this version of the translation is far from the plot and will not be able to attract people to the cinema halls.

Public Enemies - an attempt to go on the fame of Johnny Depp and the analogy with the name of the main character of the film - Johnny D. The original name should be translated as “Enemies of the State or Society”.

The Pacifier - “Bald Nurse.” In the English version there is a play on words, because pacifier can be translated as “peacemaker” and “pacifier”. But at localization they decided to focus more on Vin Diesel, leaving only a partial connection with the original name.

The Men Who Stare at Goats - this was translated as “Insane Special Forces”, although it would literally be “People who stare at goats”. But you have to admit that the translation turned out pretty good, as it clearly sounds more interesting considering the cast.

Cinderella man is another similar example. The film called “The Cinderella Man” would hardly have interested the audience as much as the resulting “Knockdown”. Especially because it better shows the meaning of the film.

Dan in Real Life - “To fall in love with the brother of the brother”, he is “Dan in real life” in the original. Yes, this is another case when distributors immediately decided to explain the plot of the movie and so attract viewers to the movie. And the connection with the plot has been preserved.

The Other Guys - “Cops in the deep reserve”, although they should have turned out only “Other guys”. Here again they decided to clarify everything, especially since the meaning of the original name is really similar to the spare guys, on which no one has relied.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - it sounds like “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” in the original, and not “Deadly Holidays”. But the vacation theme was more popular at that time, and the original name didn’t seem to be much liked by advertisers.

Vegas Movies

The Hangover became known to all under the translation of “The Bachelor Party in Vegas,” and actually translated as “Hangover”. Apparently, they tried to explain the essence of the film and make it attractive. But in the end there was a bunch of other films that also began to link with Vegas in the title. Well, we recall that The Hangover Part II and Part III, too, for some reason, decided to translate in their own way - “From Vegas to Bangkok” and “Bachelor Party in Vegas 3.”

Bridesmaids is just an example of such a translation of “Hen Party in Vegas”. Although Vegas in the film is much less, you should agree, when such a cool comedy like “The Bachelor Party in Vegas” is already well known, you begin to unwittingly draw analogies in the hope that the film will be equally fun.

Get him to the Greek - another attempt to go on the glory of all the famous comedy. In fact, it is worth translating the name as “Drive it into a Greek theater”, and not “Escape from Vegas” - such an idea was the plot.

Superhero Movie

Captain America. The First Avenger became simply the “First Avenger”. The “first avenger” also appears in the original title, so it’s not completely clear why Captain America had to be removed from all subsequent parts. Perhaps simply because not everyone is well versed in the Marvel comics and wanted to attract more people to the movies.

Captain America. The Winter Soldier. The original film is called “Captain America: Winter Soldier”. The distributors relied on the translation of the first part to attract more people, so they decided to call the film as “The First Avenger: Another War”.

Captain America: Civil War , which was translated as “First Avenger: Opposition”. It is clear that they decided to continue the explanation, but it is not clear why the civil war should be translated as “confrontation”.

The gang

Over the Hedge - the translation turned out to be “The Forest Tale”, although it would be more accurate to say “Through the fence”, which, by the way, rather well conveyed the meaning of the story, unlike the resulting translation. But probably the subject of the lads was then popular.

Shark Tale - “Underwater Tale ”, and in the original - “Shark Tale”. Here, at least a little topic of the fraternity is present directly in the plot, so there is at least some connection.

There was also “Alpha and Omega: Fanged Tale”. In the original, there was only Alpha and Omega . But what about the tale in animal cartoons?

This is just a small list of films that were translated unusually or not at all, and it can be continued. And which movie that sounds different in the original, do you remember?

Reader Bonuses

We remind you of bonuses from EnglishDom: +2 lessons on Skype as a gift when you first pay with the promotional code goodhabr2 .
And if you prefer to learn the language yourself, try our online course ; follow the link - 2 months of subscribing to all courses for free.