The 28 Funniest English-Spanish Movie Title Translations

I love the Spanish-speaking world. Beer is cheaper than water, the nightly news theme songs would probably make our top 40 count-down, and it’s normal to have a lunch finish around bedtime. But these guys need to hire someone else to translate movie titles.

220px-Grease_ver2English original:        Grease
Spanish translation: Vaselina
English meaning:      Vaseline

In any other part of the world this would be an adult film. Speaking of which…

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Zack_and_miri_make_a_porno_ver3English original:        Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Spanish translation: ¿Hacemos Una Porno?
English meaning:      Shall We Make a Porno?

A little forward. Maybe we could start with a drink?

 

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215px-Weekend_at_bernies_ver2English original:        Weekend at Bernie’s
Spanish translation: Este Muerto Está Muy Vivo
English meaning:      This Dead Person is Very Alive

Gracias Señor Capitan Obvio.


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225px-Thelma_&_LouiseposterEnglish original:        Thelma & Louise
Spanish translation: Un Final Inesperado
English meaning:      An Unexpected Ending

Powermove. Take the film’s best scene and make it the title. I think they also translated Basic Instinct as A Glimpse of Pubes.

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220px-Mrs_DoubtfireEnglish original:        Mrs. Doubtfire
Spanish translation: Papá Por Siempre
English meaning:      Dad Forever

Yep. Even if your dad dresses in drag and sets his fake boobs on fire, he’s still your dad. Forever.

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220px-FistOfLegendEnglish original:        Fist of Legend
Spanish translation: Jet Li es el Mejor Luchador
English meaning:      Jet Li is the Best Fighter

And here I was thinking that the best fighter might be one of his obscure co-stars like Chin Siu-ho or Shinobu Nakayama. Way off.

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Die_hardEnglish original:        Die Hard
Spanish translation: La Jungla de Cristal
English meaning:      The Glass Jungle

Poor ol’ Bruce. His wife wears enormous shoulder pads. Terrorists crash her Christmas party. And then he gets stuck in a fricking… glass jungle?

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PointbreaktheatricalEnglish original:        Point Break
Spanish translation: Le Llaman Bodhi
English meaning:      They Call Him Bodhi

They DO?! I HAVE to see this movie.

 

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Superbad_PosterEnglish original:        Superbad
Spanish translation: Supercool
English meaning:      Supercool

So bad it’s cool.

 

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English original:        Home Alone
Spanish translation: Mi Pobre Angelito
English meaning:      My Poor Little Angel

I’d have gone for My Poor Little Future Crack Addict.


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English original:       The Wedding Crashers
Spanish translation: Los Caza Novias
English meaning:      The Bride Hunters

It’s a nice ‘casanova’ vs ‘hunter’ wordplay in Spanish. Still, it’s like they should be wearing safari suits.

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English original:       Jerry Maguire
Spanish translation: Amor y Desafio
English meaning:      Love and Struggle

Trying to pronounce the name ‘Jerry Maguire’ in Spanish is so hard it would break your face, but Love and Struggle? This could apply to pretty much any Rom-Com. Especially those involving Tom Cruise.

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English original:       The Help
Spanish translation: Historias Cruzadas
English meaning:      Crossed Histories / Stories

Surely a movie involving someone literally eating shit could’ve been named something less snooze-inducing in Spanish?

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English original:       Taken
Spanish translation: Busqueda Implacable
English meaning:      Implacable Search

It’s got Liam Neeson torturing an Albanian human trafficker by plugging his thigh into the local power grid. Implacablereally. I also liked Implacable Search 2.

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English original:       Drillbit Taylor
Spanish translation: Un Guardespaldas Escolar
English meaning:      A Scholarly/Scholastic Bodyguard

You say Drillbit Taylor. I say A Scholarly Bodyguard. Let’s call the whole thing off, because it’s a shit movie.

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English original:       Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Spanish translation: Experto en Diversion
English meaning:      Expert in Fun

They’re right, that Ferris is an expert in having fun, so it’s not really his ‘day off’. He’s just honing his expertise.

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English original:       The Debt
Spanish translation: Al Filo de la Mentira
English meaning:      To The Edge of the Lie

This film doesn’t mess about. It takes us right to the edge. Of the lie. Wait, what?

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English original:        Saw
Spanish translation: Juego Macabro
English meaning:      Macabre Game

They could’ve just called this one ‘Sierra’ (‘Saw’), but that would’ve been too easy. Any film involving a guy sawing his own foot off must really be called ‘Macabre Game’.

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English original:       Horrible Bosses
Spanish translation: Quiero Matar a Mi Jefe
English meaning:      I Want to Kill My Boss

See that character’s motivation? Let’s make it the film’s title.

 

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English original:       Larry Crowne
Spanish translation: El Amor Llama Dos Veces
English meaning:      Love Calls/Knocks Twice

Not Larry Crowne? Not even Lorenzo Corona? ‘Love calls/knocks twice’ is a Spanish idiom for those moments when you get a second chance in love. It is also a crap movie.

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English original:       Source Code
Spanish translation: 8 Minutos Antes de Morir
English meaning:      8 Minutes Before Dying

Having read the Spanish title there’s no need to see the film; it’s about a dude who had 8 minutes before dying. Pretty sure they also translated The Sixth Sense as Bruce Willis is a Ghost.

 

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English original:       Brokeback Mountain
Spanish translation: Secreto en la Montaña
English meaning:      Secret in the Mountain

So what’s the ‘secret’? Did I miss something? Were those sheep stolen? Was that ranch-owner not paying his taxes? Oh right…

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English original:       Lost in Translation
Spanish translation: Perdido en Tokio
English meaning:      Lost in Tokyo

Fail.

 

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English original:        The Hangover
Spanish translation:  ¿Qué Pasó Ayer?
English meaning:      What Happened Yesterday?

A segment from Play School? No. Hookers and roofies.

 

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English original:         It’s Complicated
Spanish translation:  Enamorado de mi Ex
English meaning:       In Love With My Ex

Meryl Streep is in love with her ex in this movie.  So they called it… wait for it… In Love With My Ex.  Genius.  Absolute genius.

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English original:        Up In The Air
Spanish translation:  Amor Sin Escalas
English meaning:       Love Without Stopovers

It’s a direct love-flight for George. No stopovers.

 

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English original:        Grown Ups
Spanish translation:  Son Como Niños
English meaning:       They Are Like Children

In Spanish there’s an easy phrase for kids who act like adults (crecidos or creciditos) but not the other way round. About time they invented one I reckon.

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English original:        Snakes on a Plane
Spanish translation:  Terror a Bordo
English meaning:       Terror on Board

Are these guys just messing with us?  By giving this film even a vaguely respectable title, they probably cut ticket sales by 70%.

About Dicker

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103 Responses to The 28 Funniest English-Spanish Movie Title Translations

  1. Yasmin says:

    And where do you leave “the fall guy” as “profesion peligro” (profession danger) Or “the knight rider” as “el auto fantastico” ( the fantastic car)

  2. Anonymous says:

    Hey can someone tell me the Spanish translation for Yesterday

  3. My Girl — Mi Primer Beso (My First Kiss) but then, My Girl 2 came out so they called it “Mi Primer Beso 2″ (My First Kiss 2” hahaha

  4. Anonymous says:

    A Bugs Life —> Bichos: una aventura en miniatura.–> Insects: An Adventure in Miniature. HOWEVER, in some places bicho is a vulgar word for penus, therefore–>Dicks: An Adventure in Miniature (very unfortunate).

    But, here are a couple of others:

    There Will Be Blood–> Petroleo Sangriento –> Bloody Petroleum

    The Big Lebowski –> Identidad Peligrosa–> Dangerous Identity

    Be Kind, Rewind –> Originalmente Pirata –> Originally A Pirate

    Made of Honor –> Me quiero robar la novia –> I Want to Steal the Bride

    The Pacifier –> Niñera a Prueba de Balas –> Bulletproof Babysitter/Nanny

    101 Dalmatas –> La noche de las narices frias–> The Night of the Cold Noses

    Despicable Me –> Mi Villano Favorito –> My Favorite Villain

    Billy Maddison –> Tonto pero no tanto –> Dumb, but Not That Much

    In defense of Spanish translations the Chinese translation of Pretty Woman translates back to I will marry a prostitute to save money.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Yeah you forgot “The Happening” which has been translated to “En el Fin del Mundo”(in the end of the world).

  6. María Luisa says:

    In Spain, the movie “Grease” was translated as “Brillantina” which is the grease one puts in one’s hair to style it, not vaselina. Also, it was left in English, with the translation in parenthesis underneath it. That was a proper translation, in my opinion.

  7. Fechy says:

    Spanish translations (as in Spain) are very different from other Spanish countries, like for example Argentina (where I come from). Die Hard was translated to “Duro de Matar” = Hard to Kill. Which I think is not bad. Others like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” got “La escapada de Ferris Bueller” = “Ferris Bueller’s escape”, also decent. “The silence of the lambs” = “El silencio de los inocentes” = The silence of the inosents. Not bad.

    In Argentina though, Hangover was called “Que paso ayer?” = “What happen yesterday?”, but in Spain it was called “Resacon en Las Vegas”, something like “hangover in Las Vegas”, that worked for the first films, not much for the last. One of favorite translation fails is “Knocked up” = “Ligeramente enbarasada” which translates to something like “slightly pregnant” :D.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I’m a Spanish teacher in the US, and I like like to use these types of things (sayings, movie titles, etc.) with my students to help build vocabulary (while getting a good laugh). Thanks for sharing!

  9. Jay Vissers says:

    Book titles, too, often don’t survive translation. Stephen King’s book “Under the Dome” was just called “The Dome” in Spanish. In the book, the problem wasn’t just that there was a dome, but that people were trapped under it. The Spanish title seemingly missed the whole idea.
    On a related point, to me the funniest Spanish word (as a word, judging just by look and sound) is “hablaba”.

  10. Felipe says:

    No, no, no no. The Weekend at Bernie’s one hasn’t been translated properly. The title for hispanic countries is a little bit more clever than what the author is making it out to be. A more suitable translation into English would be something like “This Dude Is Too Lively”, or something of the sort.

  11. Anonymous says:

    The Lost Boys -> Que no se entere mama

  12. Anonymous says:

    I definitely make tons of mistakes I have a keyboard problem,. I meant made and did work.

  13. Anonymous says:

    I forgot.. Supercool for Superbad was a bad translation and that one made me laugh. I think they translated it that way because Super malo does not sound good although it’s understood. They must have wanted to stick with the ”SUPER” and find a word which would fit with Super and also would be understood in Mexico. They could rather have translated it to ” RE malo” in Mexican slang, but it sounds too vulgar, ”callejero” and ”naco” for me as a title. Or translate it to ”Muy malo” in Standard Spanish or to ”Bien malito” also in Standard Spanish but, yet very Mexican because it is very common in Mexico speaking with the diminutive. Those would have been my translations but not Supercool. By the way, I ignore if you already knew it but the joke you mad regarding how they would have called The 6th sense in Mexico… ”He’s a Ghost” they actually did called the movie that way in China apparently. The 6th sense is a good title and works the same in many languages (Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Spanish).

  14. Anonymous says:

    As I changed my text I din not correct it after. I should have said ”I may take many titles examples” and not many of titles examples.
    And, should be ”there are a lot”instead of ”there a” My mistake. .

  15. Anonymous says:

    Die Hard can not be translated literally in French Spanish or Italian but perhaps in other Germanic languages. Literally it would be ”Morir Duro” in Spanish, ”Mourir dur” in French, but that does not exist, it’s not Spanish nor French. Though, the closest it could be translated would be Duro de Matar, Dur de Mourir (Hard To Kill) but it is yet not the same as Die Hard at all. Translators have to respect the original language as much as possible but also have to respect the language in which the translation is been made. Translating titles alike translating humor (jokes) is what is the hardest to translate and the most impossible to translate literally most often of the times. That is why often they shall invent another title which will respect the language in which the translation is been made, and something people will all at once understand, something that will makes sense, and something which has cultural references into the other language like a possible pun in the other language in cases where the original title compounds cultural references, in which original language or often, of the original country and no one else.

    Titles not always contain cultural references and puns but besides other things, they often do, which can not be translated. At least they contain cultural references, sometimes those cultural references apply to the original language itself and are applied in many countries speaking the same language,, sometimes only apply in one country and are very very local references or puns. We can not translate the culture, the mentality and the customs. Some words , some sayings don’t exist in other languages We have to find something else which will indeed match/, correspond to the other language and country as well as to the movie itself, But not necessarily correspond to the original title.
    It’s stupid not to understand that. and wanting to translate title literally at all costs. whether it be of a book, a claim, a movie, or a song. as it will often makes just no sense at all or it will but in the other language, it will look what in Mexico they call ”churro”.trillado, it might be cliché or sounds dumb or both into the other language, and that is when IT does make sense in the other language.
    Sometimes a title can not be translated literally and not for 1 but 2 and 3 things. Don’t ask me which are those things, the examples vary. What seems dumb to those of you who criticize the titles translations and mock at them, and what seems to you is bad translated, if they would have been translated literally as you wish and would intend to, for all or many of the examples shown here on the blog, it would often be just as dumb and /or look like a bad translation in the translated language too.

    I may take many of titles examples here of which many of you speak about, and mock. There are cases original Hollywood titles contain americanisms ,anglicisms. And the same do apply with foreign movies who would be dubbed or subtitled in English.

    For most of the titles here, those who have the opinion to mock everything and want a literal translation, there a lot of things they don’t understand and they probably don’t understand and speak well the other language and ignore that culture.
    We can not translate things either from the dictionary. Translating things literally would be as translating using the dictionary, it just does not work this way. That is why we often see very bad translations in owner’s manual/guides and on labels and instructions and the mentality of the majority here on the blog explains why most of the translations made in other languages are either dumb translations and translations which just make no sense at all or can not even been understood. Sometimes a part of the sentence, sometimes many parts of many sentences may not be understood and sometimes the whole text is not comprehensive, because the translation is been made literally whether in USA or Japan or China, India and by people like most of you who criticize and mock and laugh but you would be exactly the ones to make those bad translations which make us foreigners, mock about as well, or laugh or find it dumb or simply not understand a simple word of the translation because it’s been made in USA or other country by people who don’t get this idea that I am explaining here and translated by people who don’t MASTER THE OTHER LANGUAGE.

    Of course lot of people think they know another language because they speak some or they think they can speak it as it often happen which a lot of people, not only the Americans, but finally, they speak the other language as if it was their own native language and one can barely understand something out of them. I am a French and Spanish teacher, one main thing we 1st teach to adult students who learn a language as a second language is WE CAN NOT TRANSLATE LITERALLY BUT to MASTER THE OTHER LANGUAGE AND TO THINK IN THE OTHER LANGUAGE.That is what I always repeat to prevent them and to stop them from trying to translate when they speak, as the result just make no sense.

    The movie titles My Girl and Rabbit Hole can not be translated properly like this in either French or Spanish. The way ”My Girl” is used here is very possessive, and is seen as sexist in both French and Spanish., Of course the word ”girl” does exist literally in Spanish and French and also may be used when in Spanish and French you refer yourself to any girl, any young girl or young lady, and also the literal translation for Girl may be used in French when you refer yourself as your daughter, too but never ever in Spanish nor in French it Girl may be used while you do refer yourself as a girlfriend, (any kind of girlfriend it may be) whether a love relationship or a friend of yours which happen to be a woman. You just can not, 1st it is sexist, it is really macho, and besides, that it is simply never used as to mean a girlfriend never ever. So with a title like ”My Girl” people would understand something else, in Spanish people would understand ,, Mi Chica;, but they will ask themselves ¿qué chica? which chica? In Mexico, in Mexican slang they could understand it as Mi Chava and actually in Mexican street slang you may say chava and Mi chava as to say My Girl, but still not for a title it is so sexist and macho. While for instance in French language whether in Europe or Canada or Africa, the literal translation ”Ma fille” which is the one and only literal French translation for My Girl, in English mean ”My daughter” and that is it. As daughter and Girl in French are the same word, that besides culturally it would not be accepted as a title for been sexist and macho anyway even though that would be understood. Only some few rural regions who speak an old French and people with no manners say My Girl as to refer to their girlfriend but not used either understood by all French people besides not been polite. This is just one explanation, one example.

    A rabbit hole literally exist and is translated this way literally in Spanish and French but not for a title. It would be a dumb title and would either attract people’s attention in both French and Spanish. So stop trying and wanting to get a literal translation for movies titles.

    Fist of Legend gets a bad translation, it could have rather been El puño legendario,in Spanish. In Chinese it was literally translated (Hero of Jing Wu) and in French they have kept the original English title,”Fist of legend” and also the sequel Fist of legend 2. And the last one to have a similar title , ”Legend of the Fist : Return of Chen Zen” of 2012, also kept the original English title in French version. I admit the title translation they made in Mexico for that one was bad.

    Another title translation in both Spanish and French was for Sleepy Hollow, in Mexico they translated it to ”El Jinete sin cabeza” (The headless Knight) which I think was a good title In Mexico for the movie. While in France and Canada they kept the original title even in French Canada, ”Sleepy Hollow” although this can not be understood from French speakers if they are not perfectly bilingual, though as it is the name of the place and proper names should not been translated according to the French mentality or culture, they kept the original title. Without understanding what is Sleepy and Hollow mean in French, French people could get it was the name of the place in the movie so the name of the movie. For those who want a translation, they just have to search for it. This way it makes people learning English too.

    Remember they don’t translate or have to translate the title, it is not about translating movies titles but build, make new ones custom-made, for another country, culture and language. A title does not have to respect the original title either, as long as it makes sense in the translated idiom, as long as the will be comprehensive and which people of which country will rather like according to focus groups.

    As titles translations may vary from one country to another even in the same language, Life of Pi was both called ”As aventuras do Pi” and ”A historia do Pi” in Brazil and Portugal, I don’t know which Portuguese translation apply in which country though.
    In Mexico I remember it was ”La historia de Pi” /Story of Pi. While in France it was literally as to the original title, ”La Vie de Pi” But in Canada the French title was L’Histoire de Pi/Story of Pi, as it was in Mexico and in Portugal or Brazil. The German title is interesting, which meant Naufragio con un tigre in Spanish, Naufrage avec un tigre in French, (Shipwrech with Tiger). Which in that case although it shows titles vary from country to country and from language to language, the German title perfectly suits and makes sense even literally translated into Spanish, French or English

    For Point Break, I understand the title but I did not see the movie and to translate something properly, we need to know what the movie is all about. As a word and a sentence may have different translations or may work for one case but not the others. Otherwise it could be Dirija la pausa. but it is a free translation without seeing what the movie is about. You shall see the movie prior the translate just the title in the air like that.

    Weekend at Bernie’s was also a bad translation in Mexico. It could have been Fin de semana con Bernie, rather than Este muerto está muy vivo ,or something like that,and rather than Fin de semana a la casa de Bernie as it would be literally in Spanish but would be to long.
    And they could have just changed Bernie’s name to make it more Spanish if they wanted to make the title sound Spanish. In French they translated it literally, Week-end chez Bernie. They even used the English word ”week end” now accepted in French but there is a French term for Week end which is used and known and existed way before the World Anglicization, which is Fin de semaine, but in France they love to sound like they can speak English, they find it’s cool even when and if they actually can not speak English. It seems like Mexico especially, more than other countries, France or Canada, don’t respect the titles even when they could.

    • Anonymous says:

      Someone studied anthropology…

    • Anonymous says:

      I’m very late to the game here but just have to say, while in a few cases what you are saying is true, it generally does not apply here. What makes the translation thing funny is not that the titles don’t match perfectly, it is that they are either (1) way off the mark or (2) so on the nose that they oversimplify the point or are actually spoilers

      I too, am fluent in Spanish (mother tongue), English (spoken since I was 4 years old) and French (Spoken for the last 20 years) and have lived in countries where each is spoken and often work as a “licensed” translator. In no way, do I find this article offensive. I am often baffled by the movie title translations. Sometimes, they upset me because I am in line at the theatre and see the Spanish version poster where the title is a spoiler, why would they do that?

      The example you used, My Girl should be translated to “Mi chica”. The ambiguity of whether it refers to a daughter or a girlfriend is also present in the English title, since the movie is about a girl’s coming of age and how her relationship evolves with both her best friend and her father (mostly, her father). So, “Mi chica” is actually the perfect title.

      The “Fist of Legend” translation into “Jet Li es el major luchador” is horrible. It is akin to having El Laberinto de Pam (Pam’s Laberyth) translated to “Guillermo del Toro is the Best Director” or translating “Top Gun” to “Tom Cruise es el mejor Actor”. It deserves to be mocked to no end.

      The movie “Possession” was translated to “Personalidad Múltiple”. Well, thanks for putting that right out there, never mind that I actually wanted to see the movie to figure out the plot twist on my own! “Small Apartments” was translated to “Mi vecino, el asesino”. Well, thanks for the heads up… I’m surprised “Harry Potter: and the Deathly Hallows” wasn’t titled “Harry Potter: y Voldemort muere” or “Harry Potter vence a Voldemort”.

      Often, movies are given very well thought out, poetic or cryptic titles, that have a meaning and a close relation to the core of the movie. More often than not, those are translated into titles that seem trite and silly, taking away from the movie as a masterpiece (yes, movies are works of art). For a simple example of little consequence, “Warm Bodies” which was translated to “Mi novio es un Zombie”, how on the nose is that?? And does it not miss the whole point of the movie, human warmth??

      To delve deeper, and truly demonstrate what I mean, lets use an example in which the English title comes from a French word, with latin root “The Prestige” (from the16th century French prestige- meaning deceit, imposture, illusion). I understand that the literal translation “prestidigitación” would be a mouthful, but consider “La Conjuración”, “La Ilución”, “La impostura”; I’ll even take “El desegaño” which is total opposite to the original title, but appropriate to the point of the movie (figuring out the prestige). Any of those and so many more would have been a much more appropriate title, more in line with the movie than “El Gran Truco” (might as well have called it “abra cadabra”).

      “Seven Pounds”, a title of great depth. It references the Shakespearian “pound of flesh”- figuratively used to refer to a harsh demand or penalty in settlement of a debt that must be repaid- but taken as literal in “The Merchant of Venice”, where the debtee is awarded the right to claim a pound of flesh from the chest (closest to the heart) of the debtor as payment. If you have seen the movie “Seven Pounds”, you would understand how pertinent this reference is. In the translation, it is reduced to “Siete Almas”, thereby completely missing the point. It is not like Shakespeare is an obscure reference, and has not been translated to practically every language. To add insult to injury, movies like “101 Dalmations”, one that did not require nor merit an overcomplicated title was translated to “La noche de las narices frías” in an attempt to make it cuter, more poetic, I don’t know? But why simplify the titles that merit complexity and complicate simple titles?

      So, while I understand that sometimes, there is no possibility of a literal or accurate translation (Die Hard), but even in those cases, the translated title should aim to preserve the intent of the original title. Mostly, the translations that are so oblivious to the original title’s intent that they completely miss the mark, come off as absurd and laughable.

      • Anonymous says:

        Just a further question… “Die Hard” does not make that much literal sense in English, either. I considered the title as more of a play on the word “diehard”. I don’t speak Spanish, but a quick Google search for a translation of “diehard” in Spanish produced a number of words that seemed to provide a more reasonable title than something about a glass jungle.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Actually many titles are often bad translated also towards other languages than just Spanish.
    The same happen in French and every language too. Speaking 3 languages and having lived in Mexico, and Canada and watching movies in French , English and Spanish I know that.
    The translation is really cultural, it often varies even between countries of the same language. American movies often have a different title in Latin America than the ones in Spain. Titles even often vary between Mexico and other Latin American countries. The same happen for American movies titles in France, Belgium, Switzerland or in Canada. The marketing and culture are not the same so the titles tend to be different too. Titles of American movies or from other foreign countries are rarely translated into the same French title in both Canada and Europe and that happens not only into many languages but for any other foreign movies than just American movies. Actually, the same does apply for you guys when a foreign movie goes on the big screen in USA, or when the Americans do a remake of a foreign hit movie as they often do when they like a movie and when a foreign movie is good instead dubbing it and translating the title, but either when the Americans do have a foreign movie on the big screen (which is rare because of their imperialism) and when the Americans make a remake of a foreign hit movie, don’t go thinking they do translate the title titles good and properly. I know that for the remakes the Americans did from hit movies from France and Canada. They do remakes of movies from all the World, Japan, Germany etc, But I don’t know what was the original titles when the original movie was not in French. A remake of a German movie that I know and the remake of Ringu/The Ring kept the same translation but not always. All the remake Hollywood mad from French Canadian hit movies or from France movies, were not translated literally either.

    When we happen to hear how they put the title in USA, we also laugh or find it dumb too. Languages can rarely be translated literally and countries don’t have the same culture and mentality. Many English original titles of American movies, are a saying or there is a pun which can not be translated at all or at least can not be said in 2 words or not in the same words.
    You have the American mentality but as too often, you guys would like and think all the planet would have the same culture and mentality! It does not works this way. Every country’s got its culture, mentality and language and its way to speak its language which can vary from one country to another even though they speak the same language so imagine if they don’t. .

    It’s true what Barbara says, still it would be too long to argue and comment about all the critics and opinions you wrote which I don’t agree with many of your comments. But here are a few: If they would have translated Mrs Doubtfire in Spanish literally as Sra Doubtfire, it would not be an option. Most people in Mexico don’t understand what Doubt means, they won’t understand the title and there is not such last name in Spanish which either exists or which you could invent. That said, in Canada, the French title remained the same as in USA or almost, they kept Doubtfire and just translated Mrs. for Madame. People understood that was the name of the main character and the nanny’s name but still, people who don’t speak good English could not get the the sense of the title in all its meaning. But for instance, though, Hangover could have been translated in proper Spanish to La Resaca or in Mexican slang as to La Cruda.
    In French Canada the Hangover title was ”Lendemain de veille” and respected the original title and was not translated into slang but into proper international French. But sometimes we can not translate properly and literally.

    While translating ”It’s Complicated”for Es Complicado, would not make that much sense or would not attract people’s attention that much in Spanish.It sounds to me we could translate it literally in French ”C’est compliqué”. One thing is to understand Spanish but you really have to understand the culture and think in Spanish before criticizing. Up In The Air would not make sense at all translated literally into Spanish. It’s an English saying. You may say ”Arriba en Los Aires” but it’s not commonly used and said in Spanish either in French. It’s literal but does not make sense. Spanish is not English. What would be Spanish or French though would be just ”In Flight”, En vuelo/ En Vol, but would not translate all the English meaning of Up In The Air.

    Though I don’t remember how they did translate that one in French, in Canada. Exceptionally they keep the same English title in Canada even for the French title but rarely. Well, people is more often bilingual in Canada than in Mexico. In Mexico, you just can not keep the original title, you can’t translated it literally either. Understand that. Spanish and French are not English language and culture.

    DIe Hard, as in France was also called Piège de Cristal (Cristal Trap) In French Canada.
    Very similar to Jungla de Cristal in Mexico as Die Hard has no translation in Spanish either in French language. It would just make no sense at all translating it literally or keeping the same original title, people would often not get the meaning.

    Besides speaking Spanish perfectly I also saw the movie The Help so I could see whether the translation in Spanish makes sense or not and I agree I either see the point. Se me hace que hubieran podido traducirlo por ”La Ayuda” o algo parecido al título franco canadiense que fue La Couleur des Sentiments (El Color de los Sentimientos) en español, (The Colour of the Sentiments) in English. That translation is right and makes sense in French and would make sense in Spanish as well, as it is all about colours and racism.
    Now, regarding Grown Ups, there is just no such word to say ”Grown Ups” in both Spanish and French, The same works for many Spanish and French words in English, they don’t exist in English, so stop criticizing something you don’t understand.

    About Brokeback Mountain, I remember the title in French was Retour à Brokeback Mountain (Back to Brokeback Mountain).Maybe as a reference also to Back to the Future.
    The titles ”Back to” are often used in French but not for original French movies but for American movies, but I don’t know why. As in USA they often use ”Meet the parents, Meet the Fockers , which was a pun as the Fuckers. In both French and Spanish saying Meet the…could be understood too but is not a Spanish nor French phrase. But the Title Meet the Fockers, could not have had such a pun and literal translation in Spanish and French.
    So that’s why it would not be translated literally that way as ”Meet the Parents or Meet the Whatever it is”. that is American English culture and mentality, not the World’s one. Each culture has its common phrases and customs, That is why in France they called the movie ”Mon beau-père, mes parents et moi” or in English ” My Stepfather, my Parents and Me”. While in French Canada the movie Meet the Fockers was called ”L’Autre Belle Famille” /The other Stepfamily.It’s another example of title that can not be translated literally and which also varies in the same French language between France and Canad,a and not because France’s title is not understood in Canada or is not international, either because the Canadian French title is not international French or would not been understood in France , both are good but different titles for different countries.

    Americans often have a hard time understanding all that and that things may differ in other countries as in theirs. What I say is true. Not only that mentality is bad but I heard that mentality all the time from Americans and not especially about movies titles but about just everything, while in Canada or Mexico and other countries where I was , Americans I would often hear Americans complaining about things or too much things been in French language while they are in Canada (such as restaurants menus, streets’ names or complain about the fact most of the time they don’t accept the US currency or when they do they do charge a commission.
    I would often hear the same from Americans in Mexico,

    Es definitivamente algo muy trillado (cliché) de ustedes. Se imaginan que todo el Mundo debería de ser y pensar como ustedes americanos, que todo el Mundo debería de manejar el dólar estadounidense, que todo el Mundo debería de funcionar y tener sus nombres de calles en inglés etc etc etc. Desafortunadamente, aplicas la misma mentalidad errónea por la traducción de los títulos de películas estadounidenses. Déjame decirte que ya me peleé muchas veces con los estadounidenses como tú que piensan como tú, ya sea en Canadá y en México. Se imponen e imponen a todo lo que es de ellos, su mentalidad, su idioma, si divisa, incluso a su cultura. Y cuando no es como en los EE.UU. muchos de ustedes, estupidamente y por razones que no me puedo explicar, se quejan ja ja ja, Ay ¡no manches!

    In French they often keep the original title or part of it, when it can not be translated.
    Well Brokeback is the mountain’s name and proper names don’t translate as they say, as last names either. Still the title ”Secreto en la Montaña” perfectly says what it is and perfectly makes sense. ”Secreto en la Montaña” would also makes sense in French translated literally as ”Secret à la Montagne” but they chose to call it Back to Brokeback Mountain in French. I can’t explain why you don’t get why it’s called Secreto en la Montaña, as their love affair is actually a secret and such a big one, which only happened on that mountain. All the story is about this mountain and their secret love affair, so the title ”Secreto en la Montaña”. is fits and makes sense. Why are you criticizing that one? That is dumb and just the same as those Americans criticizing just about nothing and pointless for street names to be in another language in another country and criticize about the voice indications in the subway (metro) are not in English in Mexico or French Canada (My bad!) saying they, poor Americans, feel lost and can not pronounce and understand the names! Do they think restaurants menus, street names or the voice indications in the Subway in USA come in German, Italian, French or Spanish ha ha ha!
    When we travel, we get to adapt ourselves. Still people is generally way more bilingual than in USA in Canada or Mexico at least in the tourism industry but they would still complain because it’s not as in USA and because they don’t see just English language everywhere, although all the danger indications and main indications are in English too even if they come second and smaller. Well Canada and Mexico are not English and don’t belong to USA.
    What you say clearly shows that mentality, the American Empire mentality which we know and which can not be denied. They want all the World being as USA and speak English and they would also like to conquer all the World. They tried it with Mexico, with Canada twice 1775 and 1812, in Puerto Rico and it worked out, in Cuba too but got out as twice in Canada. In Costa Rica and Panama they tried to do the same. I won’t mention all the countries where they applied that American Empire mentality of yours. But they do and that is why wherever you go, the Americans are hated. I see once again, your mentality guys is if it is not in English or as in USA it is not god and you are the best and the champions right? Or am I wrong? I don’t speak for myself, I see it. I know this because I traveled and as a Canadian in Mexico and wherever in the World, where I have been, Brazil,Morocco, Hawaii, Thailand, Greece, Spain etc etc, they often take us as Americans and they often hate the Americans and we are victims of it so I know that well and they are always pointing out the American Empire mentality as to be rude with us taking us for Americans. It’s not just in my mind that American Empire mentality I am talking about and which you show, My point is, you have to understand you may not translate titles literally and each country has its own culture and this thing you seem not to understand is something I often see from you Americans about different things. The day you guys will accept and understand that, the World will live much more in peace. Still, there are also lot of bad translations, which may be is explained because they don’t understand English good or because they do translate the title from the synopsis and not from the movie itself.

    And I will stop here because it would be just endless going with everything you mentioned.

    • Anonymous says:

      I meant …did translate. I changed my text and did not correct myself. I agree Thelma & Louise should have been Thelma y Luisa or just changed the names but using both names of the main characters, as in French the movie was called Thelma et Louise. There are bad translations, I’m not saying there are not. But lot of what you say there is no other option but to find another title because the English American one just makes no sense in French or Spanish or implies a pun or way to speak that does not exist but only in English and often only in American English not even in Australia, England and sometimes not even is in Canadian English. Sometimes they even have to find another title for English Canada even if it is apparently the same language but they do not always have the same slang and culture even in between USA and English Canada part. I don’t recall examples as I am not English and don’t live in English Canada although I know lot of American original titles I don’t know generally the titles in English Canada, made for English Canada when they do change, but I happened to see differences somewhere even in English between the American and English Canadian titles of an American movie. I hope you got it.

  17. I would have to say the worst movie title translations I have seen in my life are:

    Thelma & Louise = Un Final Inesperado (An Unexpected Ending)
    I mean, they’re already preparig you, and it misses the impact.

    The Devil’s Rejects = Violencia Diabólica (Diabolic Violence)
    Really?

  18. This I learned from a friend who studied Filmmaking. In Mexico the titles of the movies are given by a focus group based on the synopsis, not the movie itself.
    I don’t know why, but that’s the way it goes.

  19. Lina says:

    Great post! This situation has been a source of fun/sadness for many years. Here are some of my favorite examples:

    * The sound of music = La novicia rebeld (the rebel nun) and in Spain Sonrisas y Lágrimas (Smiles and Tears)
    * 101 dalmatians = La noche de las narices frías (the night of the cold noses… I actually like that better in Spanish)
    * My girl = Mi primer beso (my first kiss) and then they had that terrible situation of a sequel, and they just went with Mi Primer Beso 2.
    * Rabbit Hole = Los secretos del corazón (the secrets of the heart…. which sounds like a bad self-help book)
    * Must love dogs = Se busca pareja (Date wanted)
    * Top Gun = Pasión y gloria (Passion and Glory)
    * Riding in car with boys = Los chicos de mi vida (The boys of my life)
    and… Juno = Crecer, correr y tropezar (Grow, run and stumble)…

    Thanks for the laughs!

  20. Ana says:

    Hahahaha, thanks so much for this. I believe a sub-genre (?) of Spanish movie title translations is the “moralizing type”. A recent example- La Reina Infiel (The Unfaithful Queen) standing for A Royal Affair. And that one earns double points for the sexist subtext. And in the spirit of “Bruce Willis is a Ghost”, there’s “Un final inesperado” for Thelma and Louise. I mean, really?

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks Ana, I like your point about the ‘moralizing type’. Guessing Secreto en la Montaña would probably fit in that category also? 🙂

      • Anonymous says:

        ”Secreto en la montaña” is a good title because they is actually a secret happening there on the mountain, a love affair which was secret and which they only lived on this mountain. So I don’t understand why you and the one who made the article criticize this title.

  21. Leo says:

    Hey, smart guy, “desafío” means “challenge”, not “struggle”. By the way, how do you translate “lucha”?

  22. Anonymous says:

    I´m a spanish girl and most part of the tranlations are not true (maybe in Hispanoamérica, but not in Spain)¿mi pobre angelito? ajjjaa, I saw this film and it was “solo en casa”, literally

    • Dicker says:

      Hola y gracias por leer!
      The majority of these examples are from Latin America (specifically Mexico).
      Saludos!
      Dicker

    • Oh, the spanish titles are best?, don’t make me laugh! Here are the worst “translate” titles of Spain:

      Angus ? El gran peque se va de ligue (Patrick Read Johnson, 1995).
      Rosemary´s baby ? La semilla del Diablo (Roman Polanski, 1968).
      Jing wu ying xiong (Fist of Legend) ? Jet Li es el mejor luchador (Gordon Chan, 1994).
      Beverly Hills Ninja ? La salchicha peleona (Dennis Dugan, 1997).
      Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind ? ¡Olvídate de mí! (Michel Gondry, 2004).
      The Fast & The Furious > A Todo Gas
      Braindead > Tu madre se ha comido a mi perro
      Die Hard > La Jungla de Cristal
      Superbad > Supersalidos

      An the list goes and goes on.

      Greetings!

      • Dicker says:

        Haha, thanks José! Love the Jet Li example. More a claim than a title 🙂
        And I recall ‘Superbad’ was released as ‘Supercool’ in Mexico.

      • Maria Luísa says:

        Well, I think most of these translations are far better and more creative than the English originals… many of them even sound lame in English to begin with. I always loved “la salchicha peleona” (one of my favorites). Histerical!

  23. Anonymous says:

    One recent one is Life of Pi. If you look on IMDb down the list of the release titles around the world, I think nearly all of them have “Pi” somewhere in the name of the film, apart from the South American title, which is “Una aventura extraordinaria”. It’s like they got an eight-year-old to watch the film and come up with an exciting name for it 🙂

  24. Dicker says:

    Hey Gustavo, thanks for reading amigo.
    Good question! I’ve only ever seen written material translated on screen in animated movies (though I can’t think of any specific examples right now). Usually when some important written information appears, they have a guy quietly say it in Spanish as a voiceover. I’ve gotten used to this technique, although I recall once almost crapping my pants in a thriller when a particularly tense moment was burst by the voiceover guy suddenly translating something on screen.
    Maybe some of our OTC readers have seen an example of what you’re looking for?

    • María Luisa says:

      I think I know what you are talking about. I’ve never seen that in movies, but in cartoons, particularly bugs bunny and the roadrunner (el correcaminos). They would have the voice over when there is a sign in English indicating a location or a warning sign. I never thought of it as odd, you get used to it, but I imagine how weird must be in a movie, especially a thriller. Interesting!

  25. Hi, Dicker.
    I love your site and I enjoy it a lot.
    I am leaving a comment for the first time to see if you or any of your followers can help me find one particular thing: have you ever seen a translated version of an American movie (preferrably into Spanish) in which a sign, notice, letter or any other written material has been replaced for a translated one, instead of just adding subtitles or a voice-over read? In other words, an example of a movie in which the translators have actually altered the original film -however slightly.

  26. Joel says:

    Thanks for the making this list Dicker. I am learning spanish and found it very funny to read. I was just reading another blog with a similar topic, when I found out that ‘Grease’ had been translated as ‘Vaselina’.

    • Dicker says:

      Hah, ‘Vaselina’! An English language movie called ‘Vaseline’ would probably be a porno. Thanks for reading amigo and good luck with the Spanish.

  27. Alex says:

    hahaha o como nos reímos en México y en varios países de habla española jajaja a causa de que la H es muda, pero bueno me gustó mucho leer esto ya que como mexicano estoy totalmente de acuerdo con lo que dices sobre las traducciones tontas y ridículas que hay en la mayoría de las películas en títulos y frases durante la película , mientras estaba leyendo tu articulo pensaba en que es verdad que los títulos los ponen por marketing y cultura de cada país y no por una traducción literaria, me acordé de que en USA es muy común utilizar títulos como meet the… mientras que por acá a pesar de que se escucharía bien (en mi opinión) una traducción literaria conoce a … o descubriendo a… pero debido a la cultura de una población que mayoritariamente no conoce el inglés , viéndolo desde el punto del marketing la mayoría de la gente no le llamaría la atención una película con un el titulo de conoce a los robinsons por ejemplo (meet the robinsons) quienes son los robinsons??? no me interesa… diríamos (yo no) entonces que se les ocurrió , nombrarla La familia del futuro (the family from the future) en México un título DUH muy obvio… pero acepto que por ese cambio hubo más mexicanos sentados en el cine viendo la película que si se hubiera llamado conoce a los robinsons, claro hay títulos como los que mencionas que por donde lo veas no sabemos porque demonios eligieron esos nombres, pero también acepto de niño sin conocimientos del inglés si me daban a elegir, elegiría Mi pobre angelito por encima de Solo en casa… tal ves porque el primero en mi cultura me resultaría gracioso y navideño mientras el segundo me sonaría a película de terror :S pero como tu dices este artículo va más dirigido a los que tienen nativo el inglés o muy bien aprendido, por lo cual esto es muy gracioso, ah por cierto un gran problema que tengo con esto de las traducciones es que aquí aveces es muy complicado mencionar algunas películas cuando solo conoces el nombre original,casi siempre te van a preguntar “pero cual es el nombre en español” no podemos simplemente darles la traducción literaria porque la película no va a existir… por ejemplo se que la película se llama Pandorum y me preguntan ” pero como se llama en español” y yo pongo cara de vergüenza u.u eww y tengo que responder “Pandorum: terror en el espacio” :S “Pandorum:Terror in space” que en si es verdad tiene tintes de Dead Space , pero en México una película con ese título es llamado “churro” algo así como una película que es pésima y estereotipada ,”a must not see”, pero en mi opinión a mi gusto es una buena película algo diferente en cuanto a todas las películas con sangre en el espacio, entonces esto de las traducciones de marketing es un problema la mayoría de ocasiones, OK a lo que iba es que todo es por el dinero obtenido del marketing el cuál depende del tipo de cultura, por ejemplo si en México hicieran una película de comedia llamada “El Niño Negrito y su sandía” obviamente por marketing y cultura en USA jamas las traducirían como “The little black boy and his watermelon” más bien elegirían cambiarle el titulo a “the boy and his fruit” IDK… ya que mientras en México no hay cuestiones de racismo , en USA es un tema muy complicado, aunque la película no tenga nada de racismo el solo nombre haría indignarse a la mayoría de personas en USA con mucha razón, bueno creo que ya escribí demasiado lo siento Dicker n_n mi inglés esta en proceso y como noto que sabes muy bien el español mejor lo escribo en mi idioma.

    TL;DR

    I loved reading this..

    & all depends on marketing and country’s culture =0 single word MONEY =)

    saludos from Monterrey México hope you can read this

    Fracture = Crimen Perfecto (Perfect Crime)
    Push= Heroes
    Lucky number Slevin = Asesino a sueldo (hired killer)
    Shot em up = La huída (the escape/flight)
    Unthinkable = El día del juicio final (the doomsday)
    Unstoppable = Imparable ( Unstoppable… w..wait wait =0 its a miracle hahaha) 😉

    • Dicker says:

      Haha, thanks Alex for sharing those other examples. Glad to know we’ve got a fan in Monterrey!

      I saw a new release on the weekend called ‘Seven Psychopaths’. In Spanish they named it… ‘Seven Psychopaths and a Dog’.

      Saludos y gracias por leer
      Dicker

      • Alex says:

        hahahahaha LOL yeah I saw the trailer the past weekend, I didnt noticed the english title hahaha “and a dog” that one is funny hahaha 7 psychopaths is too violent … so let’s add a dog to the title hahaha

        Saludos from this new fan of yours 🙂

        • Jared says:

          Oye Alex, sólo porque estoy tratando de perfeccionar mi español, pregunto si en vez de decir “traducción literaria” deberes haber usado “traducción literal”, ya que ambos tienen (según mi entendimiento) un sentido completamente opuesto. Porque la traducción literal de “Home Alone” sería “Solo en casa” y uno literaria, o traducción libre, sería “Mi pobre angelito”. Me gustaría si me puede aclarar la duda. Gracias.

          Hablando de los títulos cinemáticos, acuerdo cuando estaba en Chile y vi la película “El ocaso de un asesino”, que nunca vi con marketing en inglés. Estaba tratando decir a un amigo australiano que lo debería ver, pero no supe que se llamaba sencillamente “The American”.

          Bueno, mis saludos a ambos, Dicker y Alex, y los demás. Jared

  28. Rafa says:

    Curribarcelo: Then how can you explain the language mess within the actual movie. Ie: Cars: WTF is a “Lamina” (in place of the english word : Lemon). Then we also have the ridiculous use of Mexican expressions, such as “Pinche (XYZ)”, “Padrisimo”, “A Guevo”, “piruja” “me late” “Chinga tu madre” (Which is actually closer to MotherF^cker than to F You)… and so on…? I really hate Mexican translated movies. They’re the worst possible. I’ll take a “pudrete jilipollas” any day before I have to listen to anothe “Orale cabron!”

  29. Nicolas says:

    With books we have the same problems (i´m from Argentina) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is “Un mundo feliz” (a happy world)

    This was quite funny

  30. Sonia says:

    There is an Argentinian artist called Liniers who has a lovely character that is called “El señor que traduce los nombres de las pelìculas: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rZAgGltrvs4/T0Chx_t6DWI/AAAAAAAABGU/Fa5JDK0FKJ4/s1600/Imagen+2.png

    Google it, there are some great ones. 🙂

  31. Pedro Albornoz says:

    Yup, all these translations were aimed at Latinamerican countries. I’ve seen all these titles and slapped myself silly time and time again. My favorite was when they translated “Mean Streets” as “Calles Feas” (Ugly Streets). Oh, and “Sean of the Dead” is called “Muertos de risa”. Strangely enough, we have a “Juan de los Muertos”… wonder how these geniuses will translate that one into English…

  32. curribarcelo says:

    As a translator and subtitler, I must say that the translators are never (or practically never) in charge of the title of the movie. This task is usually done by the Marketing or Sales department, or any other person in the publisher or distributor, who thinks they know so much English, they understand what everything is about. Unfortunately, it is always easier to blame the translator. in this case, it is not 🙂

    On the other hand, Dicker, I would like to know where did you take these titles. Even though I now live in London and I haven’t watched a dubbed movie in Spanish for 8 years, I do remember that the movie “Home Alone” was translated as “Solo en casa” (so, yes, “home alone”, so a proper translation). Also, “The Hangover”, was translated as “Resacón en Las Vegas” (so “Huge Hangover in Las Vegas”), probably because they didn’t know that it was going to be a second part 🙂 Well, this is, at least, the Spanish translations for the films distributed in Spain. Maybe your examples were for Latin America.

    So, well, that is the only thing I wanted to say. Have into account that translating a piece of text is not easy. It is not about “I can speak two languages, therefore, I am a translator”. You need to know your native/target language very well and a lot of many more things that would take a full blog post to explain it. If translating a document is difficult, imagine translating a movie, where the original is English, a language with many words that are monosyllabic (i.e.: words that have only one syllabe, just like “word”) and the translation is Spanish, with most of the words being of 2-3 syllabes. Now you tell me how am I going to fit a three-syllabe Spanish word into the split-second-pronounciation of an English word. So, as you may think, pretty difficult to try to find the shortest words and sentences, so that the translation fits in the same time-lapse than the original English. To make it even more exciting, most of the companies deliver their movies to be translated with all the screen in black, and only the mouth of the actor is visible. This is for copyright reasons. So, how will you know what they are talking about if you can’t see it?

    Do you understand now why it is not fair to always blame it on the translator? 🙂

    Thanks for the post and the list. There are plenty more. In fact, you missed my favourite one: Die Hard was translated as “La Jungla de Cristal” (at least, in Spain), which is translated as “The Glass Jungle”. That is because Bruce Willis sees himself surrounded by broken glass and plenty of enemies trying to kill him 🙂 (it does makes sense, somehow ;)).

    • Vanesa says:

      The titles in spanish that he uses in this article are the “latino” titles. Home Alone is definitively Mi pobre angelito here in Argentina.

      • Dicker says:

        Thanks Vanesa, good to know 🙂

        Coming from the land that created such wonderful films as ‘El Secreto de Sus Ojos’, you’ve got much better stuff to watch than ‘Mi Pobre Angelito’!

    • Dicker says:

      Hola curribarcelo, thanks for reading!

      I’m definitely not a professional translator or subtitler, so it’s very interesting to hear your insights into the business, especially how the companies deliver the movies almost all blacked out! They sound like real cabrones 🙂

      This particular list is from Mexico, although it sounds as though these titles are also used throughout much of Latin America (thanks Vanesa).

      Love your ‘Glass Jungle’ example! Poor Bruce Willis. First his ex-wife hooks up with Ashton Kutcher, then he gets stuck in a Glass Jungle. I hope you don’t mind if I add this example to the list?

      Gracias de nuevo 🙂
      Dicker

      • curribarcelo says:

        Sure!! Be my guest, Dicker.
        There are plenty more, but I can’t remember now. I just discover some of the silly titles when I have to explain my British boyfriend why some movies in Spanish have so many strange titles 🙂 Then he laughs at me for about a week (also, as I am a translator, he kind of plays with the thing of: “you, translators, have no idea how to translate movie titles”, tee hee). Maybe I should do one day a complete list of “ridiculous movie titles” 🙂

        If I remember of any others, I will let you know. 🙂

        Ah, and you can call me Curri. I don’t know why shows the username and not the full name 🙂

    • Jean-Noël says:

      Hi there,

      Die Hard is called Duro de Matar (which means Hard to kill) here in Peru, and Piège de Cristal (which means Cristal Trap, similar to your explaination) in France, my home country.

      As movie translator too, I share your anoyance (jajaja) about the title. I’ve never translated any title yet.

    • Anonymous says:

      Ha! that was my favourite one, but only because they had to translate the rest of the Die Hard series as “Glass Jungle 2, 3, 4” as well, even though they had much less to do with broken glass !

  33. Film distributors are to blame! Unfortunately, choosing the Spanish title is not the translator’s choice, and that’s why there are translations like Hulk, el hombre increíble (Hulk, the incredible man) or the ones in this article.

    Ah, film distributors… you have to love them!

    • Dicker says:

      Jaja thanks Javier, I hadn’t seen the ‘Hulk’ translation before. He certainly is an ‘incredible man’. Although I’m surprised they didn’t call it ‘Hulk, el hombre verde’. Seems to be their preferred approach 🙂
      Saludos!

  34. Lurdes says:

    But what is done here in this article is a word for word translation from the Spanish translated title… In addition, when someone has to translate titles he has to take into account that it must be an attractive title… it s not all about literally translation friends…

    • Dicker says:

      You’re exactly right Lurdes, I’ve been a bit cheeky with some of the examples by translating things word for word. Still, hopefully for those people who don’t speak Spanish, they have fun reading the article and seeing how tricky (and sometimes funny) it can be when movies cross the language barrier. Thanks for reading 🙂

  35. Anonymous says:

    I would translate Brokeback Mountain –> Montaña rompetraseros. 😉

  36. Producers decide titles, not translators. And translations must be adapted to lips movement and customary rethorics. You can’t say in Spanish something like “The shit is going to hit the fan” without being veryç very rude.

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks Rafael, I totally agree. Translating movies sounds like a tough gig! And as for the ‘mierda’ hitting the ‘ventilador’, I guess it’s one of those English idioms that can’t easily be translated, but it’s still funny for English speakers to see someone try 🙂

  37. I think most of those titles aren’t the ones used in Spain, they must be titles used in other Spanish-speaking countries. Usually the distributor in each country is in charge of marketing and decides the title according to their own criteria, that is why we end up with some ridiculous titles. Titles aren’t decided by film directors, script writers or translators, but by marketing departments.

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks Dalia, you’re right, these titles are mostly from Mexico. And sip, seems those marketing departments / distributors are the ones to blame 🙂

  38. Irene says:

    The thing is titles should not be translated, but localised. These Latinoamerican titles would not work for Spain (they usually sound ridiculous, “too sweet” or stupid), we always have them localised in a different way.

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks for reading Irene, interesting to hear that the Latino titles sometimes sound ‘too sweet’ in Spain! I don’t think anything comparable happens across English-speaking countries. ‘Jack and Jill’ sounds equally crap in the US or Australia.

  39. Margie * says:

    Algunos títulos me parecen acertados por los regionalismos. Ejemplo: The Hangover traducido por ¿Qué pasó ayer? a mi humilde percepción es un acierto. La traducción no siempre consiste en el traspaso literal de un segmento. Sin embargo, es verdad que otros son un tanto descabellados. Saludos.

  40. Carmen says:

    Where were these Spanish titles used? For sure not in Spain, where many of these movies titles were simply left in English…

    And also, please note that many times are the film companies who choose the titles, for ¿marketing? purposes.

    It’s tricky, but for sure some of these titles were better accomplishments than others…
    Thanks!

    • Dicker says:

      Hola Carmen, they’re mostly from Mexico. And yep, it sounds like the ‘marketing departments’ are the ones who deserve all the culpa 🙂

  41. Anonymous says:

    Saying the titles in Spanish has a different effect / feeling, but when it is translated to English it, of course, sounds kind of dumb. That said, there were some horrible translations there, especially the Ferris Beuller one, lol

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks for reading Anonymous, I think you’re right: things will inevitably sound a bit different when translated from English to Spanish. So I’ve tried to limit the above list to those translations which are objectively ridonkulous. ‘An Expert In Fun’ definitely fits that description 🙂

  42. ATXMEX says:

    Not only the titles but the translations in the movies themselves are bad
    really good example watch Barbershop in Spanish it also sounds like the
    same people translating in every movie. 1 of the things that frustrates me the most is that they never seem to know when to animate the characters or lines. when I would visit my family in Mexico City they would be very hyped up to watch a movie, then I’m watching the movie knowing the lines are wrong but I don’t ruin it for my family because they are excited to watch it I personaly think the Spanish speaking customer base has been and still
    are cheated from the true experience in movies. Thanks for bringing this to light.

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks for reading ATXMEX,

      You’re dead right, sometimes the translations of the movies themselves are pretty funny also. The other day I saw a movie where a character said ‘the shit is going to hit the fan’, and it was translated as ‘las cosas se van a poner muy dificiles’ (things are going to get very difficult). Doesn’t really capture the mess. Although, to be fair, I don’t think I can think of a better translation!

      Saludos!
      Dicker

      • Jaime says:

        Hey Dicker: Thanks for the post! I have been reading it in the distance, as I am Spanish and in Spain titles are almost always different from LatAm. However, I have to talk about this “shit hitting the fan” thing: although the translation proposed might not be the better option, I hope you are not implying the Spanish version should say: “La mierda va a golpear el ventilador”. That would make no sense at all in Spanish.
        Title translation is usually a decision of the distributor of the movie in the target market, much to the dismay of the translators.
        I have to tell you I have seen some translation masterworks at the movies (for instance the dubbing of Disney/Pixar movies into European Spanish is just delightful).
        Re. subtitles, you guys have to take into account the huge space limitations translators have to deal with.
        Cheers!
        Jaime

        • Dicker says:

          Thanks Jaime for your comments, and certainly not implying that any mierda should golpear with any ventilador! 🙂 It’s just fun to see how these idioms get translated in the movies.
          Saludos!

  43. H says:

    Hiya! Love this piece 🙂 I’ve just written a blog on bad film title translations myself and found your blog doing some research. I assume these are the Latin American titles for these films though right? In Spain most of them don’t have titles which are half as funny (unfortunately for my blog!).

    • Dicker says:

      Thanks for reading H.

      Yep these ones are mostly the Latin American titles. I’m planning on popping down to the local Blockbuster (or ‘BlockBooStaire’ as it’s known here) this week to see if there are any new titles worthy of inclusion here at On The Couch. Be sure to check back 🙂

  44. Ed says:

    Obviously they use tricky names to justify their jobs, so non native Spanish speaker can take them over! In reality, the google translator can do a better job most of the times. Thanks, finally somebody did want I wanted to do all my life 🙂

    • Dicker says:

      Agreed Ed, but Google Translate wouldn’t be as ridiculous. I’d take ‘Secreto en la Montaña’ over ‘Montaña Brokeback’ any day.

  45. Barbara says:

    Seriously… sometimes there is an easy way to have the same English title in Spanish. For some reason someone thinks, “no-let’s put our own spin to it.”

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