At our book club meeting two days ago, when we were discussing the book we were reading on each topic, one of the relevant topics was the title. If I am not mistaken, I had an article in which I talked about this title. This time, however, I would like to discuss a more interesting and different aspect of it.
Our book was the novel "Definitely Maybe", one of the works of Arkadi and Boris Strugastki. If you've never heard of it, it might sound a bit fascinating. That wouldn't be surprising. I don't know if this was the authors' intention, but I'm sure they succeeded.
To multiply the examples, here are the names of the novels translated into English: "Snail on the Slope", "Roadside Picnic", "Hard to Be a God" and "Monday Begins on Saturday".
Sometimes you come across a book and think its title is ordinary, and you even remember that you have heard similar titles before. On the other hand, there are those that are similar to the examples just given. These are completely unique, unheard of, appealing and definitely make you curious and at least want to find out what the book is about.
Of course, another factor that affects all kinds of works (novels, series, films, etc.) that contain titles and need to be translated is the mode of translation. Let us change the subject.
Since the original language of these books is Russian, I shared the Russian version during our meeting, and since it is the universal language, I shared the English version for that very reason. I wanted to make comparisons in all three languages and get the opinions of my friends who were present. Because I think the theme of the title is one that always arouses curiosity.
We saw that when it was translated from its own language into Turkish, it was a direct translation. But the English was different. This translation was also clever, not problematic or illogical. Nevertheless, it was clear that there was a difference. But why? Why does the Turkish translation contain a literal translation of the title, while in another language it is different? This is the question I want to address today.
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You saw a film when you were a child. The title sounded simple, but it was memorable. You had no difficulty talking about it with your family or telling your friends about it. But, strangely enough, another friend of yours pointed out that he had seen the film with the same name, but in a completely different way. You were confused, and maybe one of you was even called a liar. But you were both right.
Although the above scenario is funny, it has happened to me. As children, we do not understand how such foreign productions are made. But the funny thing is that sometimes we still can't come up with a coherent explanation. So I did some reading and it confirmed some of my thoughts.
First of all, I learnt that the authorities who decide on these translations are called film marketing or distribution officers. In other words, yes, there is a translator, but there is also someone who decides what kind of logic and thinking this film should be translated with. Of course, this can be decided by those who buy the distribution rights of the film in that country.
There seem to be many reasons for the variety of translations. Let us look at them in no particular order.
Commercial interests, branding and publicity. There are some films that, interestingly enough, have a name that lends itself to branding or that directly bears the name of the brand. In such cases, of course, they intervene and prevent advertising. The first film that comes to mind is The Devil Wears Prada. As you know, Prada is a brand name. But the Turkish title does not contain it and says "brand" instead.
Incomprehensibility and local context. Imagine a film in which the name of a foreign country, a celebrity or a local event is mentioned. Two factors seem to come to the fore here: first, the appeal of an unfamiliar name that sounds different, or the choice of a brand new title that is relevant and helps to eliminate obscurity.
Since we have no information about the area where the film was made, the series was filmed or the book was written, the emphasis on the place names mentioned here may prevent us from connecting with the work. In my opinion, this kind of translation should be applied more to visual works. It may sound a bit cruel, but to put it simply, everyone can watch television, but not everyone can read books. One tends to absorb what is presented to them directly, while the other tends to be curious and exploratory. Therefore, adapting visual works that are more popular and accessible to the local culture and audience can make them more appealing and understandable. I think the example of "The Shawshank Redemption" is a good one. Shawshank in the film is actually the name of the state prison. But in Turkish the title is something like "Price of Captivity".
Cultural difference. This is similar to what I explained above, but it has more to do with recognition on a social level. In other words, even if the name mentioned is actually known, it may not sound very warm to people in another country, or it may not shape anything about the film in their minds. For example, the film "American History X" is translated as something close to "In the Shadow of the Past". Almost everyone in the world can say many things about America. However, it may not be possible to get an idea of the content of what is mentioned in the Turkish title. Of course, this has not always been the case. For example, the film The Italian Job was translated as a direct translation. Of course, this kind of translation, which makes sense, also applies to all the clauses I will mention in this article.
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Impact on people and periodicity. Undoubtedly, in such cases, we can look at each country as a personality and see which country (i.e. its people/general audience) watches which kind of films and series more. I think the best way to understand this is to look at the work done locally. In Turkey, works of horror, science fiction, fantasy, thriller and adventure have always been in second or even third place, while works of drama, tragedy and violence have almost always been the crown jewels. While there are genres that change periodically - and this is probably based on other factors such as generational differences, the average age of the general audience, and the way the audience incorporates things from the film into their everyday conversations - I think this is generally based on comedy. In our country, comedy stands out as a means of temperament development. Therefore, whether it is funny or not, the popularity of comedic productions with less "negative" or "sad" emotions - even at the level of absurdity - is also on the rise.
With all the factors mentioned above, the titles of imported series and films (if translation is required) will change in this way. If it is the period of romantic dramas, related words such as "love", "affection", "relationship" are often used, even if they are not in the original language. This can be done without following the translation or without being the dominant theme of the film. For example, "Sweet November" is translated as "Love is Different in November", while "Leon: The Professional" (the film is actually about a hitman and the little girl with him) is translated as "Leon: The Power of Love". This is because the film also features a girl who falls in love with the hitman because he is after those who killed her family.
Continuing on the same theme, words that emphasise themes of interest to the target audience (both in terms of age and genre) can also be chosen for the same reason. Words such as "journey", "war", "man", "woman", "sex", "fun", "friend" in teenage or romantic films, and words such as "evil", "horrible", "death", "killer" or "murder" in thrillers are more likely to appeal to people who like that genre or want to try it. In other words, the connotation of simple-looking and unoriginal words can be used.
Book adaptation. Some films are adaptations of books. So if there is a translation of the book into that language, it is usually used. I think this is probably to avoid abusing their already existing reputation. Otherwise, it would be more confusing. Just as some films (especially series) have two names, or because more films have been produced than anticipated, at some point the name takes on a completely different dimension and becomes meaningless in terms of sequencing.
Compatibility with the context of the film. This is relatively more logical. Because the author who gave the title may have wanted to give an interesting title. Maybe he had a personal reason, known only to him, and wanted to use it in this way. Maybe the word used is actually translatable, but it is inappropriate and does not encompass the main narrative. In such cases, the decision-makers who are going to share the film can use a title that they think is more appropriate, since they have already seen the film. Of course, issues such as the competence of the people buying the rights, the correct understanding of the film's intentions and market suitability come to the fore. The choice of "Immortal Love" in Turkish for the film "The Crow" instead of "Karga", which means crow (both the word mortality and love, good choice), will not seem strange to those who have seen the film.
Another famous example is probably the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", which we all know. The title, something like "From Scratch/From Beginning" in Turkish, is actually enough to understand the content of the film. This example can also be used to check the clause about deliberately shortening long and confusing titles. I see no need to mention this again, as it is obvious.
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Meanings lost in translation, absurd and incompetent choices, direct use of translations used for other films, or choosing the most appropriate translation and leaving the original title as it is... As far as I know, we all watch "Friends", and nobody calls it "Arkadaşlar".
Wherever you are in the world, the title and the translation can convey the same sense of illogic. It can even be fun to make comparisons. In fact, as far as I have observed so far, the productions translated into German, French and Japanese are usually the ones with the sharpest and most unique changes. I think this is the combined effect of the structure of the language, the decision of the institutions and the localisation policy.
In the current situation, I look at the fact that we use the direct titles of the productions. Look at any TV series or film on the streaming platforms you use. How many of them are translated into your language? How many of the translated ones have become confusing? In which genres or productions from which countries is this problem more common? I leave this part to the enthusiasts who want to go into detail.
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