Bilingualism in movies

Hey, guys. It's Enrique again. Do you still remember my post on bilingualism in TV drama? I'm glad that you guys find it interesting :)

Today, I will focus on bilingualism in movies and this time I will focus on the translation of English movies.

Under globalization, more and more Hollywood movies are shown in Chinese market. Again, the movies' names are translated into the dominant language in China, i.e. Chinese. There is an interesting phenomenon. The Chinese names of the movies can be very different among Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.

I have chosen three movies to have the comparison. 

Mr and Mrs. Smith

Chinese name in Hong Kong: 史密夫決戰史密妻

Chinese name in Taiwan: 史密斯任務

Chinese name in mainland China: 史密斯夫婦

The first significant difference among the three Chinese names is the translation of the surname 'Smith'. In Hong Kong, it is called '史密夫', while it is called '史密斯',because Hong Kong people speak Cantonese, whereas Putonghua is widely used in in Taiwan and mainland China.

There is another major difference. It seems that the versions in Hong Kong and Taiwan are similar. However, the mainland version is the direct translation of the name. I think the translators in Hong Kong and Taiwan have watched the movie before doing the translation. Thus, the names in Hong Kong and Taiwan can somehow shows the content of the movie, but the mainland one can't.

I, Robot

Chinese name in Hong Kong: 智能叛變

Chinese name in Taiwan: 機械公敵

Chinese name in mainland China: 我, 機器人

Again, it seems that translators in Hong Kong and Taiwan are more hard-working. They know what the movie talks about and make sure audiences can have a framework of the movie from the Chinese names. The mainland name looks funny. However, I don't think it's a good translation because the translator simply translates the name directly without acknowledging the content of the movie.

The Day After Tomorrow

Chinese name in Hong Kong: 明日之後

Chinese name in Taiwan: 明天過後 

Chinese name in mainland China: 後天

For this movie, all the Chinese names are direct translation. They can't tell the content of the movie. However, we can see that the mainland one is quite different from the other two.

Indeed, some Chinese names of Hollywood movies in mainland China are very funny :o)

英文名: The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers 
香港譯名: 魔戒二部曲: 雙城奇謀 
大陸譯名: 指環王2: 兩座塔

英文名: 007: Die Another Day 
香港譯名: 新鐵金剛之不日殺機 
大陸譯名: 新鐵金剛之擇日再死

英文名: Catch Me If You Can 
香港譯名: 捉智雙雄 
大陸譯名: 來找我啊，如果你可以
 
英文名: Pretty Woman 
香港譯名: 風月俏佳人 
大陸譯名: 漂亮女人
 
英文名: Indecent Proposal 
香港譯名: 不道德的交易 
大陸譯名: 不道德的建設
 
英文名: The Passion Of Christ 
香港譯名: 受難曲 
大陸譯名: 耶穌的激情

英文名: Finding Nemo 
香港譯名: 海底奇兵 
大陸譯名: 海底都是魚
 
英文名: Top Gun 
香港譯名: 壯志凌雲 
大陸譯名: 好大的一支槍
 
英文名: Aliens 
香港譯名: 異形續集 
大陸譯名: 珍奇異獸之風華再現

英文名: The Powerpuff Girls 
香港譯名: 飛天小女警 
大陸譯名: 通天女公安
 
It seems that the translators in mainland China need improvements.

原文網址: 大陸好笑電影譯名 | 網路追追追 | NOWnews 今日新聞網 http://rumor.nownews.com/rumor/rumor.php?eid=5810#ixzz2hlBkZLaT