You've just crushed my whole world.
What? Jaws has an artistic side?
"Smile you sonofabitch!"... Pure Poetry
I don't know about film directors, but some authors do get involved with translations. Herge, the author of the Tintin comics, is know for having taken an active part in the English translations and made suggestions to the translators when he thought they'd missed a pun or a subtelty. The results show, as The Castafiore Emerald, the album in which he had the highest level of involvement on the translation level is also considered the best by many English-language readers. Tolkien was also infamous for criticising his translators and gave some of them a difficult time. Many translations were not begun until after his death, possibly because the publishers wanted to avoided opening fresh and protracted arguments over minor points of style. I'm sure there are many other examples.
So maybe we can conclude from the above gripes that most Hollywood directors either suck at German or don't take enough interest?
Isn't Jaws Moby Dick updated? Just as Clueless was Emma.
Stanley Kubrick is quoted as having once said:
"Dubbing is the revenge of the Germans because they lost the war".
Same with film titles, I guess.
Eh?? "Jaws" means nothing in English? I think you'll find it's a commonly-used word meaning those two big bones on an animal's face, filled with teeth ... the central theme of the movie Jaws .
Is "Kiefer" not used as commonly in German? And by what name is Kiefer Sutherland known in Germany?
I'm not sure if it's the job of the director to ensure a good translation (into whatever language, not only German). I think their job is to ensure the best possible finished product, translation should be the responsibility of the film studios and distributors. That said, I think it would be admirable were directors did take an interest in how their film comes across in a foreign language.
One example that comes to mind is the effort Wolfgang Peterson made in transferring "Das Boot" into English. He had each and every one of his original actors record their own parts in English for the English dubbed version of the film. Something that I think is highly commendable.
Interesting to learn about about Tintin. For what it's worth I always hated The Castafiore Emerald as from my 10 year old perspective, very little happened it in. Prisoners of the Sun and Tintin in Tibet were always my favourites
Kiefer is also the German word for "pine" (the tree).
I prefer the idea of Jaws Sutherland to Pine Sutherland.
Supposedly, his name means "barrel-maker" ... in German, oder?
Mostly in the IKEA catalogue actually.
They sure make some scary stuff.
I guess they really like to know the plot. I was watching the Sixth Sense on one of the German channels last year and was wondering who that actress was. So I pressed the info button on the cablecom remote and started to read the synopsis... and the main twist was revealed in the first sentence!!!
Then about a week ago, The Village was on SF2 and again, the main twist was revealed in the first sentence of the synopsis....
Not such a disaster for The Village, but the twist is what makes the Sixth Sense so good...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Zwei glorreiche Halunke.
Not only does it become two glorious pigs/rapscallions/scoundrels, depending which you prefer, but it loses one of the trio!
Some of these would make pretty good pub quiz questions, what was the english language title of .......? Noone would ever win.
Where can I rent this movie?!?!?
I found the title "Dinner für Spinner" to be hilarious - much funnier than the English version "Dinner for Schmucks." For a long time, we called our kids to the supper table that way.
Almost the same as Johnny Dimwit.....
If we consider those titles as translations it won't work and sounds terrible.
Translation of film names is just impossible and trying to re-translate them into the original version never produces good result (retranslation in general should be avoided).
The German/French/Italian etc. versions of English film names are versions that have to be "sold" to other locutors and that don't have to stick to the original version.
So "Der weisse Hai" is not the german translation of "Jaws" but the commercial name that was chosen for a movie the largest possible German-speaking audience should see.
A dougnut is called here ein "Berliner" and not...
> "Red Riding Trilogy" for the clientele here simply makes no sense, "Yorkshire Killer" by hinting to a killer from Northern England" does
"Jaws" here means nothing except possibly the experience of a dentist, while "Der Weisse Hai" does
"Where Eagles Dare" may be a nice title here for a film about wildlife, done by Prince Charles for the WWF, while "Agenten sterben einsam" sounds interesting
Who was or is "Bridgit Jones" ? "Schokolade zum Frühstück" however sounds interesting
"Der letzte Tango in Paris" unites Tango and Paris and so cannot be beaten, while "Ass Sex" means nothing
You then jump over to dubbing. The problem with dubbing, even if fairly well done is that humour and ambiance of the original goes lost by translation. Read novels of Agatha Christie in English and in German. The translator(s) who did the translating were excellent professionals but the novels in German language miss the "flavour" of the originals
Film-titles like
- Der weisse Hai
- Agenten sterben einsam
- Schokolade zum Frühstück
- Der letzte Tango in Paris
are absolutely excellent and big sellers just by the titles themselves, and of course were a method to push sales ahead
Wolli. Oh dear. You've kind of underscored the point: German-speakers seem to need everything to be so literal . A little intrigue or subtlety just falls flat with Germans and German-speakers (Yorkshire Killer doesn't "hint" at a killer from Northern England, it throws the fact in your face).
By way of examples, Red Riding Trilogy doesn't mean much to anyone south of Manchester, even if they do speak English, but it's an alluring, intriguing title and encourages the astute patron to learn more. Bridget Jones is an entirely fictitious person. Nobody in the English-speaking world had heard of her when Bridget Jones' Diary came out, yet millions bought the books and watched the movies. Why should German-speakers be incapable of developing interest in a movie about a fictitiously-named person?
Oh, it means everything, Wolli, so I've heard.
> Yorkshire is not so well known in German speaking Europe as you possibly assume. It is known to people who were in schooltime interested in history and geography and learnt about the Cathedral of York
http://www.google.ch/imgres?q=kathed...9,r:5,s:0,i:97
> intrigue and subtlety has to be served more literally as in England as it otherwise simply does not reach people
> "Red Riding Trilogy" does NOT alure or intrigue anybody between Hamburg and Luzern and does not encourage anybody to learn more
> "" Why should German-speakers be incapable of developing interest in a movie about a fictitiously-named person? "" Because German speakers are not interested in a movie about a fictitiously named person, unless this "person" is made "known" by a variety of means
> whatever it may mean, the title "Der letzte Tango in Paris" was absolutey superb
Never mind.