We often come
across unusual translations of movie or series titles and our
first instinct is to blame the translator. But it is worth mentioning that the final decision on
the translation of film and series titles is made, in general, by
the marketing department of the distributor or the platform.
Translating three or four
words seems like a simple task, but the title of a movie can help in its
success at the box office or promote its failure, so several aspects are considered.
1. Does the work already have a consecrated translation?
In the case of book-based
films, it is common for us to use the same title already defined in the
books. This avoids confusion and attracts readers to theaters. An
example of this is Harry Potter books and movies.
However, this rule is not
always followed, copyrights, or titles that are not flashy can be
changed. In Portuguese, for example, Marie Kondo's most famous book is
called "The Magic of Storage", but when she won a series on Netflix,
the title used was "Order in the house with Marie Kondo".
Stephen King's book
"It" was published in Brazil as "The Thing", in his 2017
film adaptation, the title chosen was "It: The Thing" to maintain
reference to the translation already known to the public.
2. Will a literal translation make sense?
Idiomatic expressions and
cultural references sometimes make it difficult to translate
literally. The title "My Mother is a Play", for example, refers
to the fact that the film is based on a play and is a common idiomatic
expression in Portuguese. "My mother is a play",
his literal translation into English, could even refer to a play, but it would
not make sense to an English speaker, nor would it have the meaning that the
person is funny, different or unusual.
Similarly, a literal
translation of "Ocean's Eleven" would be "Ocean's Eleven
Men" or simply "Ocean Eleven". In addition to making little
sense and not giving many nominations about the film, the literal title is not
always well-regarded from the point of view of marketing.
3. Does translation generate cultural malaise or confusion?
It is important to verify
that the title is not offensive or causes any kind of cultural discomfort in
the country of destination. As we said earlier, this can generate major
losses at the box office and determine the failure of the film in that country.
4. Title size
Very large titles have
fallen into disuse and the reasons for this are several. One is that
viewers don't like it, and they usually shorten them whenever possible. In
addition, very large titles are difficult to view on streaming platforms used
on smartphones.
The 1975 classic,
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was published in Brazil as "A
Stranger in the Nest" and is an example of a title that is longer in the
original than in its translation.
5. Titles that are not translated
There are several reasons
why a title is not translated. Netflix has as a rule not translating the
title of works that will not be dubbed, such as its stand-up comedyspecials. A Portuguese title "sells" the idea that a
dubbing is also available.
In addition, films and
series considered "cult" are not translated because of the
characteristics of their own audience, which usually watch the subtitled
series, as is the case with "The OA" and "Stranger
Things". It is common for series to gain translations when they are
now shown on open TV, this generates strangeness for those who were already accustomed
to the original title as "Smallville" and "Breaking Bad"
and come across titles such as "Smallville: The Adventures of
Superboy" and "The Chemistry of evil." These
translations end up not being well accepted by the public who were already
accustomed to the title in English.
6. Use of Subtitles
Although we have already
talked about very long titles, it is still common for the subtitles to be used,
maintaining the original title and adding an explanatory subtitle. So we
have titles such as: "La La Land – Singing Stations", "Forrest
Gump – The Storyteller" and "Grease – In the Shining Times".
7. Copyright
It is also necessary to
verify that that title was no longer used by another work to prevent copyright
infringements and not to cause confusion to its audience.
8. Market Research
In addition to all
cultural and linguistic research, two title options can be "tested"
with a small sample of the target audience to verify which alternative has the
best acceptance.
Thus,
we can consider that a well-made title translation is actually a transcreation,because
all these aspects were considered from the point of view of
marketingand translation for that title of the work be
attractive to its target audience .Contact for more informations with translation agency.
