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Titles are very frequently changed, this is because titles are supposed to sound catchy and what sounds catchy in one language often does not in another. Spirit
by Blikkentrekker 3y ago
Titles are very frequently changed, this is because titles are supposed to sound catchy and what sounds catchy in one language often does not in another. Spirited Away in Japanese was also literally more so “Sen and Tihiro's mysterious disappearance. The Vanishing*'s original Dutch title was “trail-less” literally, which sounds good in Dutch, but very poor in English though I suppose “without a trail” would work.
- greybox 3y agoI had a Japanese teacher who liked to talk about how surprised she was about the title in English. She also gave me a little insight into the word 神隠し which, apparently comes from a saying. When children used to go missing, people used to say that "God snatched them away", which is why the first kanji 神 is 'god'. Her translation of the title was "God snatched sen & chihiro away" which of course isn't a literal translation, but I thought it was interesting
- lupus9 3y ago"In Japanese folklore, spiriting away (Japanese: Kamikakushi (神隠し), lit. 'hidden by kami') refers to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person, after they had angered the gods (kami). There are numerous legends of humans being abducted to the spirit world by kami." [0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away?wprov=sfti1
- Blikkentrekker 3y agoIt should be noted that “神” can probably better be translated as “spirit” in many contexts, and denotes a wide variety of supernatural beings, which actually makes “spirited away” an interesting choice.