At the end of the video I revealed my favourite movie translation title. On further reflection though, I've decided it's not. Truthfully, I think the real winner was "Wild Speed Mega Max". NOTIFICATION SQUAD: What was your favourite bizarrely translated title? And if you've seen any ridiculous ones I missed out, share them with us below!
Funnily enough Hayao Miyazaki has been quite faithful to the titles of the two English books he adapted, Howl's Moving Castle and When Marnie Was Here. Oh, hang on. I don't actually know what they called them in Japan. Of course, we don't have a good track record of translating Japanese titles (of the pitifully few films that get over to Britain), but at least they don't get he hilarious Japanglish treatment. "Spirited Away" was called "Sen to Chihiro", which was a three-way play on words. "Koe no katachi" became "A Silent Voice" rather than "The Shape of a Voice", and "Kimi no Na Wa" became "Your Name" rather than "What's Your Name?"
David Lloyd Kimi No Na ha does actually mean Your name, not what's your name. Howl's moving castle's translation to Japanese was accurate (Haoru no Ugoku Shiro), and Spirited Away in Japanese is Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (to means and in Japanese).
"Grandpa Carl's Flying House, a timeless classic where a balloon hating elderly must teach a young fat boy who resembles kim jong un about the untold mysteries of his dead wife"
In the rebranding of American Pie, they tried real hard to squeeze in a dirty pun into the title. Pai pai is another way of saying oppai, or tits. The text under it also reads “Goodpai!”
The karate kid one makes sense, since in that movie, the jaden smith jackie chan one, hes leaening kungfu, a chinese martial art, rather than actually karate, the japanese martial art.
It should have been called Brat Boy. We quickly walked out of that movie. I don't remember the original movie. It would have been in the early 90s that I last watched them.
Going the other way around, my favourite Japanese title that I think they needlessly changed in the U.S. is All You Need Is Kill which was renamed Edge of Tomorrow.
The title was changed because Edge of Tomorrow is only a loose adaptation of All You Need Is Kill. Notice that throughout the advertising campaign for the film it was nearly never mentioned that it was an adaptation of anything.
Because it's grammatically incorrect. You can't do an international movie release with hideous English. Furthermore, the English title is more suitable for the story, as the main mimic kept killing them before dawn.
I remember being in Japan when Pixar's "Inside Out" was being advertised, but they were calling it "Inside Head". The Japanese title actually makes more sense, but doesn't sound quite as nice. Off this list, Captain Supermarket is definitely my favorite! I'm almost tempted to import the movie just for that cover. :)
Okay, real talk デッドコースター is actually a clever play on words in Japanese, where roller coasters are called "jet coaster" or ジェットコースター. It has a very similar sound and cadence to it. I have my doubts over whether that's actually intentional though. More on topic of the video, the worst I've come across is John Carpenter's "The Thing," which is called "Thing X from Another Planet" (遊星からの物体X). It makes one of the most terrifying and artful sci-fi horror films ever made sound like a 1950's B movie.
Makes some sense though. From Wikipedia, The Thing...The film is based on John W. Campbell, Jr.'s novella Who Goes There?, which was more loosely adapted by Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby as the 1951 film The Thing from Another World.
I find a lot of Toho Studio movies have a better sounding name in Japanese than English. I love old kaiju movies. Gamera and Godzilla are my favorite. Unfortunately the Showa era of Godzilla wasn't shown when he was the monster of the month.
I don’t know if this is the way in Japanese but my family is Chinese and I speak it fluently and when you word a title like that and refer to the thing as an “X” it actually sounds quite mysterious and cool.
Nope definitely battle Royale with cheese.. describes it perfectly. Hungergames 1 = Battle Royale more or less completely with slight changes Panem 2-3 battle Royale 2... kinda similar in premise.. while the 2nd one only existed as movie and wasn’t too great
When I was a little kid I was once introduced to John Malkovitch, who barely acknowledged me. However, based on that impression I suspect he would prefer a more specific title.
In Germany we do that, too...unfortunately: - "Stripes" (Bill Murray) was called "Ich glaub mich knutscht ein Elch"...which roughly translates to "I think an Elk is smooching me". - "About a Boy" (Hugh Grant) was "Der Tag der toten Ente" or..."Day of the dead Duck". Why though??? - "Hot Fuzz" (Simon Pegg) was renamed "Zwei abgewichste Profis" which means "Two fucked up Professionals" Take that Japan... Great video, Chris
I've been wanting to go study abroad to Japan for college and learn Japanese for some time but just could never find the proper motivation to actually put everything into practice. After watching nearly all of your 2014-2017 videos in about 2 days, I'm now more motivated than ever to actually start picking up the books, apps, and people(as resources) to start. So good on you for giving me that push.
Hi. I am a Japanese person living abroad. This is my first time ever leaving a comment on RU-vid, but I just wanted to say thanks for making this video! I’ve been feeling down the past few days, but watching your video made me laugh so much that I had tears rolling down my eyes. So thank you! Oh how I miss my quirky country ;-)
Not only did Japan get that far superior title, they actually got a much better cut of the movie with a fantastic alternate ending (won't spoil it for those that don't know). The 'Captain Supermarket' cut of Army of Darkness is legendary. It took months of endless searching (this is pre-internet) to find a V.H.S. copy of it.
I stumbled upon one of your older videos and now me and the wife cant stop watching all your videos! The last few days all we been watch is your videos because of all the snow we been getting. Keep up the great work and cant wait to see the movie!
I love watching western movies with Japanese dubbing. It started when I first saw The Matrix in Japanese. Even if you don't speak Japanese fluently - watch it in Japanese dub with english subs - it provides a whole new dimension to the whole experience. It's also a great additional tool for learning.
It's no secret that the Matrix films take heavy inspo from anime. IIRC the Wachowski sisters have mentioned that Ghost in the Shell had a huge influence on the films and the concept of transhumanism and digital identities in their narratives. There's also just straight up an anime spinoff called the Animatrix that serves as a prequel series of sorts, just to drive the point home
"Battle of Silicon Valley" for the 1999 movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" Maybe it does not have the "wow" factor but, I mean, about pirates it's the whole thing!
I remember from a previous video that when he said that he wanted to be a pirate when he grew up it didn't go over well. They thought he wanted to rape and murder people. Which made Muppet Treasure Island weird. If the word pirate has that kind of imagery, then it probably would have marketing problems. "Rapists and Murders of Silicone Valley" TBH I don't know if that would be an accurate title or not. It sounds pretty dark. Oddly in America a movie with that title would still have young children in the audience.
OH you don't know how I've anticipated this video! I always look forward to the notification I get telling me there is another Abroad in Japan video! I thoroughly enjoy seeing you and watching your travels, recommendations, skits, Q&A's, everything! I agree with you, "Wild Speed Mega max" is hilarious! However, I did chuckle at "Grandpa Carl's Flying House."
Chris I love your show. Honestly the only problem I have with it is that its not on more often. I find you refreshingly human in a world that promotes people to be plastic. All my best to you, keep up the good work
Well everything in Germany gets renamed to really stupid names. E.g. Thor: Ragnarok is called "Thor: Day of Decision"... I mean, why? We're even closer to the Norse Mythology region. Why would you rename it to something this dumb? Do they really think their viewers are so stupid? It's not even an English word...
Just want to say thank you. You have motivated me to finally start learning Japanese with the end goal of being fluent and planning a trip to ether Tokyo or Sendai next summer. Aarigatoo gozaimasu
I can't believe I never knew about this channel till a few days ago, been spending most of my time watching it since(instead of studying lol) and loved every moment, can't wait for the Natsuki movie!
Chris I love watching your videos!! You’re one of my favorites. i’ll be having a lunch break & watch them one after the other before I know it i’m late going back to work haha thank you so much for being a RU-vidr !!
I started watching your channel last week to get ideas for my trip to Japan this summer, and now watching your "How to Lose Weight in Japan" series is inspiring me to lose weight before I go to Japan this summer on top of giving me trip ideas to pitch to my brother! Thank you!
In the movie *Being John Malkovich*, there was a hole where a person enters and then their consciousness fuses together with John Malkovich for a limited time.
@@HaohmaruHL In the US the "clean" way to say asshole is a-hole. It seems appropriate. On TV you can say "ass" or "hole", but the word "asshole" is forbidden.
Chris if you're reading this, just know that your videos inspire me and have made me want to pursue a similar career as you, I'm currently at university and I've studied hiragana and katakana and know them well, however I'm struggling to learn the literal translations of words, such as how to say them, in order to then know what characters I must use to write it down. Any advice on how to memorise and learn the actual speaking of the language would be really useful and I'd really appreciate it, especially seeing as Japanese people speak so quickly, combined with the already complex language. Regardless, great content, absolutely love your videos and the British humour is just the cherry on top, especially as I'm from England myself. All the best.
I was going to mention Kelly's Heroes, which released in Japan as "戦略大作戦", and was allegedly altered to be non-comedic (due to something about military comedy being considered taboo at the time), but I couldn't find any sources elaborating on it and so have been going down a rabbit hole all afternoon to get my facts straight (and find out what "戦略大作戦" actually means, since machine translation basically comes out as "strategic grand strategy").
Hey Chris I can understand and love your quality over quantity but I feel I've become addicted to your vids. Can you please make a longer video next time, I even have the strategy/script worked out. 1) Make a normal video with whatever runtime you prefer. 2) Add a 10min segment in the end with you and Ryotaro arguing about British sausages vs German sausages. I'd watch the shit out of that. Cheers.
France also has some great ones. The “Step Up” movies there are known as “SEXY DANCE” and where we had “Meet the Fockers” they got the super catchy “My Parents, Parents-in-Law, and Me”...
I love your vids man!!I hope that you make more of them more often or at least state a schedule.I know it's hard to come up with ideas.To me you're one of the best creators out there!Keep doing what you do!
Ironically, in You Only Live Twice, the title is supposed to be taken from poem written in the style of a Basho haiku. Also, of course, バトル・ロワイアル itself was rebranded in America as The Hunger Games... :)
I know what you are talking about. I live in Germany and especially before the 2000s movies were always heavily rebranded. My favorite one being the movie "Airplane" where the german title is "Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug!" which translates to "The unbelievable journey in a crazy airplane!"
Finally!!! A new Video!!! love your channel chris!! Curious though, has Natsuki ever used your channel to promote his salon? I'd imagine people lining up to get a haircut like yours, complete with your picture on the salon's wall lol.
madisoned More of with a mix of people. But the concept of people having to kill each other to escape isn't nearly unique to Battle Royale so why does everyone claim Hunger Games ripped it off?
What both Battle Royale and Hunger Games have in common: (1) a bunch of teenagers randomly selected to kill each other (2) The whole thing is televised as the audience watch and make bets at home (3) They are notified when someone dies in the arena. The names of the dead will be broadcasted. (4) Participants wear a tracker. (5) Certain areas of the arena are closed off in order to herd the participants closer together. (6) Corrupted government (7) The purpose of the game is to distract the viewers from their bleak situation at home and from revolting against the government. (8) The winners get fame and riches but never really recover from the trauma. (9) Both the main male and female characters survive the game (10) There's a rebel group trying to stop the game/government (11) Both the main male and female characters become enemies of the state after surviving the game
In Theseus and the Minotaur, the goal is to kill the Minotaur, not the other participants. Hunger Games shares too many similarities with Battle Royal. I'm not saying it was plagiarism but for translating purposes (the point of this video), it would certainly make sense to translate the movie title that way so the audience will know right away what the movie is about. Surely, they're not going to translate "The Hunger Games" into "poor people with no food to eat"
Two things, Logan Paul. I’m proud of you Chris for not making 10 videos on the topic. I know it probably infuriated you seeing you always avoided visiting and disrespecting the dead and about to be dead souls in that forest and eventually did go but you were fine and the close McDonald’s being the reason you said might as well.
I recently noticed the same thing with a japanese movie being translated bad into german. The japanese name is "ノルウェイの森" which translates to "Norwegian Wood". And this title is also used in the english version of the movie. But for the german one they used "Naokos Lächeln" which translates to "Naoko's smile"
I had an internship in Tokyo, helping Japanese kids learn English conversation. One of the common questions I would ask to get to know them was, "What is your favorite movie?" Many of the kids would say Wild Speed. I had no idea what it was, so I kind of assumed it was a movie about a horse.
Any sign of the Natsuki Movie? Love your videos Chris and I instant watch your videos as soon as they are released. I even turn of my add blockers for your videos ;)
Army Of Darkness has such an amazing poster in Japan for sure, Captain Supermarket, I think I will try get hold of that poster before I head back to England. Thanks as always for entertaining and often informative/helpful content Chris you have a great channel
