The challenges of translating movie titles

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.