I don't know who translates movie titles to Portuguese, but I'm pretty sure they're not the brightest of people (at least not all of them).
For purpose of illustration, I'm showing you the original title, the Portuguese title, and a litteral (as much as possible) translation back to English of that Portuguese title.
For instance:
- Closer
- Perto Demais
- Too Close
Get the idea? The movie is called "Closer", is advertised in Portugal as "Perto Demais", which is Portuguese for "Too Close".
Here are some of the most recent ones (I had a leaflet from a cinema at home):
- Little Black Book
- As Amigas do Meu Namorado
- My Boyfriend's Girlfriends
- Team America
- Team America - PolÃÂcia Mundial
- Team America - World Police
- Blade Trinity
- Blade Trinity: Perseguição Final
- Blade Trinity: Final Chase
- Are We There Yet?
- Estás frito, Meu
- You're Toast, Dude
- Romasanta
- Romasanta, A Caça ao Lobisomem
- Romasanta, The Hunt to the Werewolf
- Million Dollar Baby
- Million Dollar Baby - Sonhos Vencidos
- Million Dollar Baby - Dreams Won (?)
- Back to Gaya
- Back to Gaya, Pequenos Heróis
- Back to Gaya, Small Heroes
I especially like the translation for "Are We There Yet?"
I mean, it's not that hard, is it? It's just "Já chegamos?"
And don't tell me it's a matter of culture or anything, because that's a sentence every Portuguese kid says in every car journey... several times!
Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they don't even bother translating the title (they use the original, as if everybody knew English).
To end this rant, here's one of my personal favorites:
- The Last Warrior
- O Décimo Terceiro Viking
- The Thirtheenth Viking
FFS!! The guy wasn't even a Viking!!!
Re:I disagree
cog on 2005-05-13T14:01:39
Having checked IMDB again, I agree with you on Team America.As for Blade Trinity, I don't agree on adding tag lines to the movie title; at least not in this case.
Regarding Romasanta... well... OK.
The 13th warrior had a really bad translation, and as for the "Little Black Book", I can understand...
However...
You have to understand that these were just the examples I had at hand
:-) I could go on and on all day long, because each movie title has a worse translation than the previous one, and this is not just my opinion: this is something people discuss from time to time, and I am yet to see a Portuguese person saying movie title translations from English to Portuguese are well done. See the "Are we there yet?" translation? We get that kind of translations all the time! And it sucks!
Don’t get your feathers in a ruffle. It may be silly at times, but it’s pretty standard fare for movie titles, I’m afraid. The same happens with German translations, the same happens with Greek translations (which are sometimes comically stupid), the same even happens with English translations – of German movies, in this case.
It’s just how it is.
Re:
cog on 2005-05-13T15:29:06
But it's not just the titles... They do the same (or, actually, worse) with subtitles.Most people either pay attention to the sound or to the subtitles; I, OTOH, have the handicap of using both. This means that I get suddenly confused when the two don't match.
Look what they've done with one version of The Hound of the Baskervilles:
"I could swear this was the right spot."
"Ia jurar que havia aqui uma mancha."
"I could swear there was a stain here."They're looking for a body, the guy is sure they're on the right spot and he complains that there should be a stain on the ground? Of what, ketchup?
Sometimes, it seems that they don't even take the trouble of seeing the movie!
:-\ (I have to start taking notes of these things when I see them, so that I have a handful of them ready)
Re:
Aristotle on 2005-05-13T15:37:16
Who said I was talking about just the titles…?:)
