The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles Films
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The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles

Molly Mahan Molly Mahan Ranker
Staff 176,793 views 50 items
Sadly, no alternative titles for "Lost in Translation" (though it is called "Lost in Tokyo" in Israel). Nevertheless, it's amazing what translators and marketers get from films and how they think it is best to market them to a different national audience. Read on to have your mind completely blown by some of the most nonsensical, ridiculous and full-on spoiler giving titles of films from around the world.
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  1. 6

    My Best Friend's Wedding - P. J. Hogan

    "Help! My Pretend Boyfriend Is Gay" (Hong Kong). Because that was the real dilemma of this movie.
    BUY @ amazon
  2. 7

    Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles - Neil Jordan

    "So, You're a Lawyer" (Hong Kong).

    So ... you have no idea what this movie is about, do you?
    BUY @ amazon
  3. 8

    As Good as It Gets - James L. Brooks

    "Mr. Cat Poop" (Japan). I don't even think there were cats in this movie...
    BUY @ amazon
  4. 9

    Home Alone - Chris Columbus

    Mi Pobre Angelito -- "My Poor Little Angel" in Spain.
    BUY @ amazon
  5. 10

    Babe - Alex Beh

    "The Happy Dumpling-To-Be Who Talks and Solves Agricultural Problem". Hong Kong has nailed it, yet again.
    BUY @ amazon

items 6 - 10 of 50

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  1. Ja Tepfer
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 11/02/2012 7:30 PM
    Movie Titles Translated That makes sense
  2. Genesis Cardani
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 8/05/2012 2:30 AM
    Film Title Translations?
  3. Laveta Fannings
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 7/01/2012 8:30 PM
    Crazy Title Translations K!
  4. Dane Goelz
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 6/26/2012 9:30 AM
    Foreign Titles for Films That's alright
  5. angel_dos
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/13/2012 5:56 AM
    This one might not be related. In Spain, Hill Street Blues was named "Canción Triste de Hill Street", as they confused the "blues" of cop, for blues as the song. So, it can be translated as Hill Street' sad song.
  6. marvin3O
    The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! at 3/12/2012 2:31 PM
    I think the mexican title is more stupid, this one was called "...and where is the Cop?", and started a trend! Airplane became "...and where is the Pilot?", and White chicks became "...and where are the blondies?"
  7. marvin3O
    Bedazzled at 3/12/2012 2:28 PM
    the title in Mexico is "Al diablo con el diablo", and though that is the direct translation, "al diablo" is an expression in Mexico which means "the hell with it!", so that title would be better translated as "the hell with the devil!"
  8. proxenus
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/11/2012 4:48 AM
    home alone has a direct translation in spain: "Solo en casa". Please check your source.
  9. cinething
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/10/2012 11:45 PM
    The new one: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Mexico: The Spy who knew too much) El espía que sabía demasiado. O The Mole (El topo) in Spian
  10. Tuulikki
    The Shawshank Redemption at 3/09/2012 5:10 PM
    Typing error: it should read "Avain pakoon"
    But who cares - why are the Finns so silent people? B´cs the language is so damn difficult!
  11. Ceci
    There's Something About Mary at 3/09/2012 3:36 PM
    Another latinamerican translation for this is "Loco por mary" (Mad about Mary).
  12. Ceci
    The Pacifier at 3/09/2012 3:35 PM
    "Canguro" (kangaroo) means nanny in some spanish speaking countries.
  13. Olevar
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 11:20 AM
    What about Scorsese´s After hours title in Spain: "¡Jo, qué noche!" (Damn, what a night!)
  14. Wapuro
    Bedazzled at 3/09/2012 7:18 AM
    "Al diablo con el Diablo"

    Is a Slang for

    "F**K the Devil"
  15. rett
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 7:12 AM
    I think it's Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, that was translated as "dos colgados muy fumados", that is "two stoners really high" in Argentina
  16. malee
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 7:11 AM
    there are some inacuracies... for example, con faldas y a lo loco means "in skirts and non stop (well, non stop is as close as I can get to the translation in english xD)", and snatch is called "snatch: cerdos y diamantes", pigs and diamosn it's more of a sutitle. Mi pobre angelito is the title for latinamerica, spain has a different one (usually spain, argentina and the rest of latinamerica translate differently)
  17. DeboraTamaraSchvartz
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 6:48 AM
    Lol! Some titles are AMAZING! I can't stop laughing!
  18. Avain pakoon
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 12:36 AM
    Small correction about 49: It's "Pakoon", not "Pakoom" (which does not mean anything).
  19. Azidrain
    The Pacifier at 3/08/2012 5:36 PM
    In Spain Babysitters are often called "Kangaroos". So the correct re-translation is "Super Babysitter"
  20. Johan
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 2:35 PM
    The swedish title for "Swingers" translates back to
    "Hey you, where are the chicks?"
  21. Spaniard
    Home Alone at 3/08/2012 1:50 PM
    It wasn't called that in Spain. It was called «Solo en Casa», which surprisingly translates to «Home Alone»
  22. Just a nitpicker
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 12:40 PM
    Bedazzled is "The heck with the Devil" in spanish. "Al diablo con el Diablo" is an intended pun.
  23. C. Augusto Valdés
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 12:16 PM
    Two more nominees: "Scrooged" was "The Ghosts attack the Boss" in Spain (Los fantasmas atacan al jefe) and "The Ghosts strike back" (Los fantasmas contraatacan) in Mexico

    "Home on the Range" was "Cowboy Cows" in Mexico and Latin America .
  24. Ernest
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 11:55 AM
    Actually, the translation for "Home Alone" as "My poor little angel" is the latin-american translation, not the spanish one.
  25. mmmcheese
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 10:52 AM
    I called bulls**t on the HK titles, and did some research. The real Hong Kong movie titles, source: YesAsia (the Hong Kong version of Amazon) and Google Translate

    Batman & Robin: Batman & Robin (蝙蝠俠與羅賓)
    Leaving Las Vegas: Two Desperate Hearts (兩顆絕望的心)
    My Best Friend’s Wedding: I Really Want to Marry You (真的想嫁你)
    Interview with a Vampire: Vampire Sensation (吸血迷情)
    Babe: Precious Little Pig (寶貝小豬嘜)
    George of the Jungle: From a Wild Family (至野一族)
    Field of Dreams: Field of Dreams (夢幻成真)
    Barb Wire: An Empty Pursuit (越空追擊)

    It's probably best to not get your information from pirated DVDs. They put any old crap on their covers.
    1. mwahahahaha
      The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 4/06/2012 9:03 PM
      至野一族 is just 'a very wild family', no 'from'. Also, 夢幻成真 is 'dream come true' and not 'field of dreams'.
    1. snowrail
      The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 2:44 PM
      They didn't get their "information" from pirate DVDs. Those "foreign" titles are from a comedy/joke site. They're parody. Not real at all. A simple google search for some of these titles makes that instantly obvious.

      It takes a borderline-racist attitude about "clueless foreigners" to actually believe these titles. I'm sure someone will come up with an equally stereotypical anti-American comment to explain it.

      Hopefully the author is simply trying to extent the joke, and doesn't actually believe this foolishness... because if they believe it, I feel sorry for both their intellect and their journalistic standards!!!
      1. mmmcheese
        The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 3:32 AM
        Wherever it came from, the jokes are in poor taste and aren't borderline racist - they ARE racist.

        I honestly believe Poe's law extends to online sarcasm: any humor that can be misconstrued as sexism or racism is indistinguishable from actual sexism or racism. If someone can't bring across their sarcasm through their writing, they're just trolls.

        And the fact that a lot of the silly titles are real - Army of Darkness was called Captain Supermarket in Japan - leads me to believe that the author honestly thought the Hong Kong titles were real.
  26. speatz
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 10:01 AM
    You have to check some movie titles translation from Poland. I give you just a few examples:
    Lost in translation - 'Between words', Die hard - 'Glass trap', Dirty dancing - 'Twirling sex'. And tust me..there's more :P
  27. Dani
    Home Alone at 3/08/2012 9:59 AM
    Actually, this one is not true. I'm from Spain and this movie title was translated as 'solo en casa', that is 'Alone at home'.
    1. Olevar
      The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/09/2012 11:18 AM
      Yeah, but its accurate for Mexico. The movie was titled "Mi pobre angelito" (My poor little angel).
  28. Riinjswin
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 9:23 AM
    In Spain, "kangaroo" is how we call baby-sitters.

    Also in Spain "Home alone" was called "Solo en casa". Pretty literal
  29. fromthebaconland
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 9:13 AM
    I only checked 6, 7, 8 but there were totally false. I think this list is crap, and not real.
  30. Arturo
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/08/2012 8:30 AM
    There's a mistake in Number 9:
    "Home Alone" in Spain is know as "Solo en Casa" thath means the same like the original. Maybe you reffer to another spanish-spoken country.
  31. JoshuaGibbs
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/07/2012 10:54 AM
    lol
  32. Philip
    The 50 Most Absurd Translations of Film Titles at 3/07/2012 8:31 AM
    I believe the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption" was based on the story called, "Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption". In the story, Rita was on the poster he had on the wall in his cell. I believed they updated the poster for the movie (Raquelle Welch, maybe?).

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