17 Apr 2012, 4:13 pm
18 Apr 2012, 8:22 am
18 Apr 2012, 11:13 am
Be glad that you live in an English-speaking country. The vast majority of U.S. movie titles are changed for the German release, and the altered titles are often godawful. The German title is usually not a translation but means something completely different and has nothing at all to do with the movie plot.
For example, the German release of the 1975 movie "Mr. Ricco" was called "Was nützt dem toten Hund ein Beefsteak" (what use is a beef steak for a dead dog) 
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", which is an accurate translation of the Italian title, became "Zwei glorreiche Halunken" (two glorious scoundrels). Probably because some Germans can't count to three 
And Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" was renamed to "Die Satansweiber von Tittfield" (the she-devils of Tittfield). The cineastic mind boggles.
Occasionally, the original English title is changed into another English title that the production or distribution company thinks will be easier to understand for us uneducated German people. The movie "Cradle 2 the Grave", for example, was renamed to "Born 2 Die". Well, at least they kept the "2" 
And "Black Eagle" was changed to "Red Eagle" for no conceivable reason whatsoever. Perhaps the German distributor thought we'd like red better than black.
But that's the least of a German movie aficionado's problems. English language movies are also dubbed in German cinemas and on TV. It's impossible to watch the original without waiting for the DVD release. In scenes where the face of the speaker is visible, the dubbed translation is lip-synchronous rather than literal and often makes no sense at all. Not that the rest of the translation is much better, mind you. The translators don't seem to have the slightest idea what they're doing, especially when it comes to colloquial U.S. English. I often watch the German trailer on youTube after watching the English original of the movie, and I've found as many as five gross translation errors in a three minute movie trailer.
To make things worse, there seem to be less than 20 German voice actors, so you get to hear the same annoying, overacting voices in every damn film. And in every TV show of course. Imagine you're watching a Hollywood movie and hear Johnny Depp speak with a voice that you've come to think of as Al Bundy 
And yet, they still manage to assign different voice actors to the same Hollywood star in two different movies. On top of that, strong language is often a lot tamer in the German version, so the dubbing process also involves some censorship. Sorry for the long rant, but this really annoys the heck out of me
18 Apr 2012, 2:56 pm
^ Apparently Die Hard was titled A Hard Nut to Crack in Russia. 
Maybe it makes more sense in that language.
I wonder what they called Darkman III: Die Darkman Die in Germany. If they just translated it literally, the subtitle would be The Darkman The.
18 Apr 2012, 5:10 pm
Maybe it makes more sense in that language. Die Hard was titled "Stirb langsam" (die slowly) in Germany. In that case I can understand the decision to rename it, because a literal translation of "die hard" into German would make as little sense as "die soft"
But they could just have kept the English title. They did that with Lethal Weapon, although they felt the need to add a silly subtitle.Well, they probably wouldn't read "die" as a German article, but "stirb Dunkelmann stirb" sounds just as silly
Kraichgauer
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 49,751
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
19 Apr 2012, 4:05 am
For example, the German release of the 1975 movie "Mr. Ricco" was called "Was nützt dem toten Hund ein Beefsteak" (what use is a beef steak for a dead dog)
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", which is an accurate translation of the Italian title, became "Zwei glorreiche Halunken" (two glorious scoundrels). Probably because some Germans can't count to three And Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" was renamed to "Die Satansweiber von Tittfield" (the she-devils of Tittfield). The cineastic mind boggles.Occasionally, the original English title is changed into another English title that the production or distribution company thinks will be easier to understand for us uneducated German people. The movie "Cradle 2 the Grave", for example, was renamed to "Born 2 Die". Well, at least they kept the "2"
And "Black Eagle" was changed to "Red Eagle" for no conceivable reason whatsoever. Perhaps the German distributor thought we'd like red better than black.But that's the least of a German movie aficionado's problems. English language movies are also dubbed in German cinemas and on TV. It's impossible to watch the original without waiting for the DVD release. In scenes where the face of the speaker is visible, the dubbed translation is lip-synchronous rather than literal and often makes no sense at all. Not that the rest of the translation is much better, mind you. The translators don't seem to have the slightest idea what they're doing, especially when it comes to colloquial U.S. English. I often watch the German trailer on youTube after watching the English original of the movie, and I've found as many as five gross translation errors in a three minute movie trailer.
To make things worse, there seem to be less than 20 German voice actors, so you get to hear the same annoying, overacting voices in every damn film. And in every TV show of course. Imagine you're watching a Hollywood movie and hear Johnny Depp speak with a voice that you've come to think of as Al Bundy
And yet, they still manage to assign different voice actors to the same Hollywood star in two different movies. On top of that, strong language is often a lot tamer in the German version, so the dubbing process also involves some censorship. Sorry for the long rant, but this really annoys the heck out of me I had had a professor who had told our Modern Germany history class that you haven't lived till you've seen Bonanza dubbed into German!
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
19 Apr 2012, 8:18 am
19 Apr 2012, 2:24 pm
Die Hard was titled "Stirb langsam" (die slowly) in Germany. In that case I can understand the decision to rename it, because a literal translation of "die hard" into German would make as little sense as "die soft"
But they could just have kept the English title. They did that with Lethal Weapon, although they felt the need to add a silly subtitle.Well, they probably wouldn't read "die" as a German article, but "stirb Dunkelmann stirb" sounds just as silly
I'm getting flashbacks to the days when I'd often watch German television: 'Reich Und Schön' (The Bold & The Beautiful, but actually 'Rich and Beautiful') and 'Raumschiff Enterprise: Das Nächste Jahrhundert' (Star Trek TNG, but actually 'Starship Enterprise: The Next Century').
And of course Jory was just referencing a Simpsons episode in which resident psychopath Sideshow Bob is wearing a shirt that says 'Die, Bart, die!' and explains it away by saying: 'It's German, it means "The Bart, the."' Obviously, Sideshow Bob missed the classes on noun gender.
While the Netherlands no longer dub shows, they changed the titles of some American and British shows into Dutch titles up until the early 90s. 'It Ain't Half Hot Here, Mum' became 'O Moeder, Wat Is Het Heet' (Oh Mother, It's So Hot), 'Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em' became 'Moeders Mooiste' (Mother's Finest) and 'Who's The Boss?' became 'De Baas In Huis' (The Boss At Home, or King Of The Castle)'.
Flanders still does this, as far as I know. 'Niehgbours' is 'Buren', 'The Bold & The Beautiful' is 'Mooi en Meedogenloos' (Beautiful and Ruthless).
Anyway, about the Avengers... I think it's pretty fair they change it to Avengers Assemble in the UK. The Avengers with John Steed (and Emma Peel) is just too iconic, even though I was never a fan of that show, and I'm instead a big lover of the Marvel comic with Cap and Iron Man. It's not a bad title imo, either. It presents the premise of the movie quite nicely: they are Avengers, and they assemble.
19 Apr 2012, 4:17 pm
20 Apr 2012, 11:50 am
20 Apr 2012, 3:13 pm
Kraichgauer
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 49,751
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
20 Apr 2012, 3:27 pm
20 Apr 2012, 4:21 pm
23 Apr 2012, 8:54 am
