Questions tagged [translation]
Determining what characters say or write, or transference of a story from one language to another.
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In Law & Order SVU S24 E2, Grace says something in Spanish to the grandmother. What did they say?
In Grace Muncy's first episode, she says something in Spanish at 12 minutes 50 seconds into the show to the grandmother which seemed to help convince the grandmother into revealing her grandson.
I've ...
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What does this elvish-looking writing mean?
In Knights of Badassdom, a character is wearing a kippah (Jewish head covering for a male) and it has some writing on it. It looks to be in some elvish-type writing. Is there any way to find out what ...
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What was the word translated as "Kamikaze" in the subtitled version of “Godzilla: Minus One?”
In the movie Godzilla: Minus One (2023) the English language subtitles use the word Kamikaze multiple times throughout its runtime, but in several scenes the Japanese language dialog uses a different ...
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In Pulp Fiction, how was the "Catch up!" joke translated into other languages?
In the movie Pulp fiction, the character Mia Wallace tells the following joke:
"Three tomatoes are walking down the street: a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and baby tomato. Baby tomato starts ...
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How often do localized versions of movies localize shots?
When a movie is released internationally, it is not unbeknown to localize credits and title sequences (on top of the must-dos — localizing audio and, often, subtitles).
But The NeverEnding Story takes ...
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What does Ng Lieu Cho really say at the end of S04E11?
At the end of Mad About You season 4 episode 10 ("Get Back"), Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser) "translates" for the dissident poet Ng Lieu Cho (Jim Lau), because he fails to pick up ...
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What is this bottle shown in "An American Tail"?
In An American Tail, one scene (at about 28:20) prominently features a bottle with Yiddish lettering on it:
and ten seconds later (mysteriously with a different font):
(My original guesses (תבצב״ת ...
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What is the deal with the "universal greeting" in Transformers: The Movie?
When Hot Rod & Kup crash-land on the garbage planet, whose inhabitants promptly surround our heroes, Kup resorts to the "universal greeting," which goes something like this:
Bah-weep-...
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What does the Hungarian burn victim shout at Jack Baer?
There is an early scene in The Usual Suspects (@ 20m40s) where FBI agent Jack Baer visits a burn victim in the hospital. The victim starts talking in "not English" (we later learn it is ...
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In Edge of Tomorrow, what is Tom Cruise's exosuit saying when he can't turn his safety off? (Japanese) [closed]
In the beginning of the movie, Cruise has his safety enabled and accidentally switches his suit's HUD to Japanese.
What is the translation of the suit's audio when he can't fire?
It's probably ...
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How do companies like Netflix find sufficiently skilled comedy translators to translate comedians like Ricky Gervais into 160 different languages?
After 04:39 in the Seth Meyers clip Ricky Gervais Isn’t Worried About His Controversial Stand-Up Jokes Aging linked below, comedian and actor Ricky Gervais says:
I've recorded the special but now ...
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What is the Thai man saying to Maria as he drags her through the mud?
In the movie "The Impossible" based on the Tsunami that took place in 2004, as Maria was being dragged through the mud by the older Thai man, he keeps saying something to her over and over ...
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What language are the mother and boys speaking in "Life of Pi" when talking about Hindu gods? Looking for dialog [closed]
I'm working on perfecting the subtitling in my current favorite movie, "Life of Pi." I would like to include the languages as spoken by the characters, along with the translations. I have ...
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What is the translation of the exchange between John Wick and Ares?
In John Wick: Chapter 2, around 66 minutes into the film, John Wick and Ares have an (untranslated) interaction.
Wick and Cassian enter the Continental hotel in Rome, and have a drink. Cassian leaves, ...
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Why do translated subtitles differ from the dubbed voice?
I just watched Disney's Frozen (DVD) with my children and noticed (again) that the German subtitles differ from the German spoken text.
For example, right at the beginning, Anna wakes Elsa, and Elsa ...
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Is there a reason why German Anakin did not bring freedom to his new empire?
In the Revenge of the Sith, just before his fight with Obi-wan, Anakin says his famous words:
I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new empire.
In the German translation of the ...
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Is there such expression as "Charlie someone out"?
There is the following exchange in Deadwood series season 1 episode 3
...
Johnny: Al?
Al: Yeah.
Johnny: That cherry New York dude is downstairs askin’ for ya.
Al: No good. Charlie him the fuck out.
(...
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Deadwood Season 1 Episode 2 - What is "flag T"?
In the Season 1 Episode 2 there is the following dialoge:
...
(Tom Mason bursts into the office, stark naked, holding his dick.)
Tom: This snatch is branded'! (Laughing – Al still has Phil by the ...
user84796
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Why are honorifics not translated in dubbed movies?
Almost all movies broadcast in German or Austrian TV are dubbed into German.
Honorifics, however, are kept in the original language:
"Good morning, Mister Anderson" is translated as "...
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What does the soldier say in Red Corner?
In a pivotal scene in the 1997 movie Red Corner, a corrupt soldier realizes that his boss is no longer going to shield his involvement in a murder. He shouts "Da Gwar!" in outrage plus ...
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How are the letters translated?
I was watching this new serie Control Z (2020), and then I was impressed to see even papers had been translated:
The original language was Spanish, but all the text messages were in Portuguese, and ...
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Al Bundy's References to France in Married ... with Children in the French Translation
In the series Married ... with Children the character Al Bundy seems to have a bit of hatred towards France.
A list of the original (English) statements on France is found on this site.
I've seen the ...
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Why is "witcher" not translated in the Italian dub of the Netflix series?
In the Italian translations of Sapkowski's novels, "witcher" is translated as strigo.1 However, the Italian dub of the Netflix series (and the video games) use the English word witcher.2
Why is this?
...
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Aphorisms and idioms in The Witcher
There are a few sightly strange phrases featured in The Witcher TV series:
I'm not one to look a gift cock in the beak... (Don't look a gift horse in the mouth)
Playing priest's ear... (Playing ...
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What makes the people in the bar laugh at the beginning of Desperado?
At the beginning of the classic Robert Rodriguez film Desperado (1995), Buscemi (played by... Steve Buscemi) tells a tall tale about the mysterious main character of the film.
During his story, his ...
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What is Geun-se (the man in the cellar) messaging to Da-song, the Park family's son?
In Parasite (2019), Geun-se is the man living beyond the Park's house. He communicates with Morse code through the lamps above the stairs. In the last act, he uses this technique, but only the Park's ...
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What makes the "Tweety Bird saw a Romulan" joke funny in the original version?
At the end of The Big Bang Theory season 1 episode 13, Penny asks Sheldon and Leonard:
Tweety bird says "I tawt I taw a... ???"
In fact I am French, I saw the episode in French and Penny ...
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What is being said in the purely Native American language scenes in Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man?”
While Jim Jarmusch’s film Dead Man (1995) is a 19th century American period piece that contains mostly American English dialogue, there are a few scenes in the film that are spoken purely in Native ...
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In the "Dexter" episode "Road Kill" what do the Korean couple say when they break in?
At around time 17:00 Dexter (as Kyle Butler) and Arthur Mitchel (the Trinity Killer) break into Arthur's childhood home. A Korean couple live the home and discuss something when they walk in. What do ...
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What is Eric Bana saying in Chinese in this scene?
In Funny People, Eric Bana's character can speak Chinese (Mandarin).
In this scene, he says something to his children in Chinese, but I don't know what he says.
It sounds something like: " 觉得__你的再见 "...
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Why would Pee Wee Herman and President Reagan say "Mecka-lecka Hi Mecka-hiney Ho" or similar?
Pee-wee Herman and Jambi say "Mecka-lecka Hi Mecka-hiney Ho" in "Jambese" (first video, found in Mecka-lecka Hi Mecka-hiney Ho; Scene from The Pee-wee Herman Show (1981), and ...
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Why is "Captain Marvel" translated as male in Portugal?
In Portugal, Captain Marvel (2019) is translated to Capitão Marvel, which is the male term for captain, female being capitã.
Is there a reason for this, or just a gross mistake from Portuguese ...
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What is the meaning of the Latin exchange between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo in Tombstone?
In Tombstone (1993) Doc Holliday played by Val Kilmer and Johnny Ringo played by Michael Biehn have an unsubtitled exchange in Latin.
What are they saying, and what does ...
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What is the more accurate translation for this scene in the series Kingdom?
Watching the Netflix original Kingdom, I notice that the English subtitles and dubs sometimes say vastly different things.
In one scene someone says out loud "compose yourself" but the subtitle says "...
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What does the Russian soldier say to Sarah Ross while she is pretending to be a guard in the Kremlin?
At one point in Red 2, the team infiltrates the Kremlin in order to retrieve Nightshade. Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) has to stand guard outside a door, posing as a security guard. A uniformed man ...
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How does the internationalization of Forensic Files work?
The true crime docutainment series Forensic Files is broadcast on German TV under its original title Medical Detectives. The episodes (and thus the actual cases) are thereby the original American ones,...
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Moldavian translation from Dracula spoof
In Mel Brook’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It, there are some lines spoken in Moldavian (Romanian) during the dialogue between Van Helsing and Count Dracula as they verbally spar during introductions to ...
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English translation of Russian text in My Way
In the Korean movie "My Way", which takes place during World War II, a group of Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner by the Soviet Red Army after the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. In the prison camp to ...
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What is written on the wall in this scene of The Danish Girl?
I am from India and curious to know what is written on the wall. I am not familiar with these fonts and this language.
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English translation of German conversation in Kelly’s Heroes
Just before Oddball’s tanks launched a surprise attack on a railway yard in France while on the way to meet up with Kelly and his platoon, the two German soldiers in the picture who were on top of a ...
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What does Helsinki say to Oslo in Russian in Money Heist, at the end of S01E12?
I couldn't understand since it's Russian. What does Helsinki say to Oslo at the end of the 12th episode of the first season of the La casa de papel (international title Money heist), while the second ...
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Do translators get a list of jokes and/or puns when making their translations?
In the discussion in the comments to this question about Aladdin, people talk about puns being lost in translation.
For example:
After that, in the end, a free Genie quickly gives the lamp to ...
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What are the characters saying in the first few minutes of Assassins Creed?
The movie Assassins Creed starts out with a scene in Spain in which the characters are having a 5-minute conversation in Spanish. Is anyone able to translate/explain this for me?
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Determine original language of the movie
Sometimes I want to watch some movie in its original language i.e. without translation.
For some movies, it's pretty easy. For example,
Antonioni's Blowup was originally filmed in English
His L'...
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What is the Arabic saying behind “Angst essen Seele auf”?
In Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film Angst essen Seele auf (1974), Ali uses an Arabic saying, in broken German:
Angst essen Seele auf.
(Fear eat soul.)
I wonder if this is rooted in some actual ...
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Magallanes - Translation from Quechua
In the 2014 movie Magallanes, the female lead character Celina, played by actress Magaly Solier, talks/rants in Quechua from 1:40 to 1:41 (scene at the police office when she and Magallanes are ...
user20086
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What was on Aladdin's list?
I was rereading this great answer about the movie Aladdin when this quote from the script caught my eye:
So what you wish I really want to know
You got a wish that's three miles long, no doubt
So all ...
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Why is the spoken German in many US films and TV shows so inaccurate?
Is there a reason why in so many English-language movies and TV series, whenever someone is speaking "German", they (actors, writers etc.) just don't care about if what they say is right or wrong? ...
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Why were the songs not translated/dubbed into German?
When watching Brave in German I noticed that the songs actually haven't been translated (and redubbed accordingly). Rather than that, they were just left in the original English while the rest of the ...
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How does the voicing for "Ma vie de Courgette" work in British and American English?
Ma vie de Courgette is a Swiss/French animation that was nominated for an Oscar this year. In the UK it's titled "My Life as a Courgette", while in America it's called "My Life as a Zucchini" (as that'...
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