So, I am preparing a lecture on Bible translations and why there are so many. I am lecturing to freshmen for the general curriculum requirement mostly so they aren’t really ready or interested in the nitty gritty details of this and that translation. Rather, they just want to know- why are there dozens of translations and why are they so different?
One way I am going to introduce this subject is by showing them just how tough it can sometimes be to translate something from one language to the next. On that topic, I found this great example – English movie titles, when they get translated into other languages, often get changed to some pretty strange things!!
I tried checking if these are legit, and they appear so. If you know better, do let me know.
Pretty Woman = “I Will Marry A Prostitute and Save Money” (China)
The Matrix = “The Young People who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses” (France)
Thelma and Louise = “An Unexpected End” (Mexico)
Hot Shots! = “Warm Shots” (Czech Republic)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs = “It’s Raining Falafel!” (Israel)
Grease = “Vaseline” (Argentina)
The Dark Knight = “Night of the Knight” (Spain)
If you want to see a few more, see here.
The French Matrix may need checking. The titles I know are Matrix or La Matrice (Quebec). http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix
Here is what is said to be a copy of an original French movie poster http://www.sci-fimovieposters.co.uk/movie-posters-m/matrix-the-original-french-movie-poster.htm
I am not sure if I would call the Chinese title a translation of the English ones. It’s more like giving the film a new name based on its content. Some of them do sound funny, even in Chinese, but there is also some kind of Chinese wordplay going on as well. But of course this wordplay is lost in translation (back to English).