5 ms·

Off the off topic: why is the English world so intent on translating everything? (Much like the French world I guess) In the Dutch speaking part of Belgium we

by ward 15y ago

Off the off topic: why is the English world so intent on translating everything? (Much like the French world I guess) In the Dutch speaking part of Belgium we try to refer to most movies in their original language (Das Leben Der Anderen, Cidade De Deus, ...), though we do seem to have trouble with Asian titles where we for some obscure reason default to using the English title. Edit: We do translate children's movies.

babarock 15y ago
On that trend of off topics, I was part of a small movie buff group back in Lebanon. Nothing fancy, we just liked to meet and discuss movies we watched and liked. Clearly no title was ever translated. Movies weren't even dubbed (blasphemy!), subtitled if necessary. Now I live in Paris, every time I get in touch with my old buddies they make fun of me for referring to movies by their French titles. Sucks big time ...
- ward 15y ago
  > Movies weren't even dubbed (blasphemy!) We subtitle everything, it's quite handy. I learned a great part of my English by watching English language shows with Dutch subtitles.
TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago
In some cases, foreign films have English titles anyway without translation. A lot of Japanese anime have entirely English titles, for instance, or are dual-titled in Japanese and English.
- Jebus 15y ago
  Would this still happen if the US didn't invade Japan?
  - philwelch 15y ago
    If the US didn't invade Japan, anime likely wouldn't exist.
scott_s 15y ago
In the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, are there a large number of people who will understand what the original-language titles mean?
- ward 15y ago
  German and French titles: yes definitely. Portuguese (like my aforementioned Cidade de Deus)? No, safe some exceptions nobody knows beforehand what it means. Guess we're just used to finding it out afterwards, eg an article about the film could mention a translation in the body.
thomaslangston 15y ago
Guess: A/B testing confirmed that it led to higher movie sales.
- simcop2387 15y ago
  Unlikely to be true A/B testing. More likely that it would be a series of focus groups where they basically get the opinions of a group of people on them. This doesn't measure the actual impact of sales from the title so I'm not sure it's true A/B testing.
forgottenpaswrd 15y ago
"why is the English world so intent on translating everything?" Because in big countries like Germany, France or Spain people could survive without speaking another language, so they do not understand those names and can't remember them. In super-countries like China, USA or Russia this effect is even stronger. Belgium is a small country linked to commerce in the world, and is fairly typical to have normal people speak 3-4 languages. An American could die speaking only her native tongue without the need to learn anything else being able to work over an extension that is bigger than Europe, or just ask for using it whenever in the world she is.
freehunter 15y ago
Because America has few close neighbors (close as in geographically and as in relations) who speak a foreign language and also produce media Americans consume on a regular basis. Americans don't need to learn a foreign language, and when they do it's difficult to get real-world practice. Canadian French and Mexican Spanish are the only two an American would generally run into, and only infrequently. I speak German and Canadian French and struggle to find reasons to use those languages. It irritates me when Europeans get upset about American lack of "worldliness" (for lack of a better term). The US is bigger than the entire European Union, has only one de facto language, and is removed from the rest of the world by 3,000 miles of water on each side. Of course Americans aren't constantly running into people from other countries/cultures, we have states that are bigger than many European sovereign nations. I can drive 3000 miles (~5000km) from New York to LA and encounter nothing but America and English. In Europe, that would get you from Brugge to Burgas and back, going through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. And back. Lisbon is closer to Helsinki than New York is to LA.
- carguy1983 15y ago
  > Of course Americans aren't constantly running into people from other countries/cultures Really? Not to sound like a prick but you must live in the middle of nowhere. I live in LA (santa monica, to be exact). I live next to an eastern European deli, kosher jewish, multiple Chinese restaurants, sushi, ramen, and yaki joints, thai, Peruvian, Mexican, Korean, Caribbean/Jamaican/Cuban Vietnamese, French, German, Ethiopian, Greek, Italian, "middle eastern", persian, mediterranean, russian restaurants / groceries / communities / -owned businesses/ the list goes on and on and on. And of course good ol' american BBQ, burgers and beer, standard fast food, ice cream, southern soul food, tex mex, east coast seafood, southern creole, ... Many people come here from around the world to work in professional jobs, also. And many students and faculty at UCLA, LMU, USC, SMC, etc, etc. It's just that many of those people all speak English, can act 100% "American" when they need to, and their cultures have become a seamless part of American culture. This is something else many non-Americans don't understand (and Americans don't see even though it's right under their noses). In fact, if you count the languages that "Americans" including 1st and 2nd generation immigrants speak, it's vast. Ugly truth: It's just that a lot of Europeans don't count asians, hispanics, blacks, as Americans, so you hear this crap all the time on the internet due to racism and stereotypes of what America is and isn't.

by ward 15y ago

babarock 15y ago

On that trend of off topics, I was part of a small movie buff group back in Lebanon. Nothing fancy, we just liked to meet and discuss movies we watched and liked. Clearly no title was ever translated. Movies weren't even dubbed (blasphemy!), subtitled if necessary. Now I live in Paris, every time I get in touch with my old buddies they make fun of me for referring to movies by their French titles. Sucks big time ...

ward 15y ago
> Movies weren't even dubbed (blasphemy!) We subtitle everything, it's quite handy. I learned a great part of my English by watching English language shows with Dutch subtitles.

TazeTSchnitzel 15y ago

In some cases, foreign films have English titles anyway without translation. A lot of Japanese anime have entirely English titles, for instance, or are dual-titled in Japanese and English.

Jebus 15y ago
Would this still happen if the US didn't invade Japan?
- philwelch 15y ago
  If the US didn't invade Japan, anime likely wouldn't exist.

scott_s 15y ago

In the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, are there a large number of people who will understand what the original-language titles mean?

ward 15y ago
German and French titles: yes definitely. Portuguese (like my aforementioned Cidade de Deus)? No, safe some exceptions nobody knows beforehand what it means. Guess we're just used to finding it out afterwards, eg an article about the film could mention a translation in the body.

thomaslangston 15y ago

Guess: A/B testing confirmed that it led to higher movie sales.

simcop2387 15y ago
Unlikely to be true A/B testing. More likely that it would be a series of focus groups where they basically get the opinions of a group of people on them. This doesn't measure the actual impact of sales from the title so I'm not sure it's true A/B testing.

forgottenpaswrd 15y ago

"why is the English world so intent on translating everything?" Because in big countries like Germany, France or Spain people could survive without speaking another language, so they do not understand those names and can't remember them. In super-countries like China, USA or Russia this effect is even stronger. Belgium is a small country linked to commerce in the world, and is fairly typical to have normal people speak 3-4 languages. An American could die speaking only her native tongue without the need to learn anything else being able to work over an extension that is bigger than Europe, or just ask for using it whenever in the world she is.

freehunter 15y ago

Because America has few close neighbors (close as in geographically and as in relations) who speak a foreign language and also produce media Americans consume on a regular basis. Americans don't need to learn a foreign language, and when they do it's difficult to get real-world practice. Canadian French and Mexican Spanish are the only two an American would generally run into, and only infrequently. I speak German and Canadian French and struggle to find reasons to use those languages. It irritates me when Europeans get upset about American lack of "worldliness" (for lack of a better term). The US is bigger than the entire European Union, has only one de facto language, and is removed from the rest of the world by 3,000 miles of water on each side. Of course Americans aren't constantly running into people from other countries/cultures, we have states that are bigger than many European sovereign nations. I can drive 3000 miles (~5000km) from New York to LA and encounter nothing but America and English. In Europe, that would get you from Brugge to Burgas and back, going through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria. And back. Lisbon is closer to Helsinki than New York is to LA.

carguy1983 15y ago
> Of course Americans aren't constantly running into people from other countries/cultures Really? Not to sound like a prick but you must live in the middle of nowhere. I live in LA (santa monica, to be exact). I live next to an eastern European deli, kosher jewish, multiple Chinese restaurants, sushi, ramen, and yaki joints, thai, Peruvian, Mexican, Korean, Caribbean/Jamaican/Cuban Vietnamese, French, German, Ethiopian, Greek, Italian, "middle eastern", persian, mediterranean, russian restaurants / groceries / communities / -owned businesses/ the list goes on and on and on. And of course good ol' american BBQ, burgers and beer, standard fast food, ice cream, southern soul food, tex mex, east coast seafood, southern creole, ... Many people come here from around the world to work in professional jobs, also. And many students and faculty at UCLA, LMU, USC, SMC, etc, etc. It's just that many of those people all speak English, can act 100% "American" when they need to, and their cultures have become a seamless part of American culture. This is something else many non-Americans don't understand (and Americans don't see even though it's right under their noses). In fact, if you count the languages that "Americans" including 1st and 2nd generation immigrants speak, it's vast. Ugly truth: It's just that a lot of Europeans don't count asians, hispanics, blacks, as Americans, so you hear this crap all the time on the internet due to racism and stereotypes of what America is and isn't.