[Weekly Update] Foreign Film Titles

Hope you are having a good October! Hollywood doesn't seem to be having a good month, though. Joker 2 is bombing hard, and the only other major release is Smile 2.

Hopefully there's an surprise indie hit around the corner, or this is going to be a really weak Halloween.

CHANNEL UPDATE

I hope our Junji Ito video was an interesting watch. It was a topic I feel particularly passionate about, so I put in some extra effort in adapting the manga panels to a video screen. If this is your first time learning about Junji Ito, I hope it opens your eyes to a world of new experiences.

The video isn't doing too great, unfortunately. Junji Ito fans are pretty passionate, but the subject matter is ultimately niche. Added with our month long absence altering the algorithm, and the Uzumaki anime killing enthusiasm, I can maybe see why engagement is low. If you find the video interesting, a world of recommendation would be very much appreciated.

Meanwhile, our video on Yakuza is nearly complete. It should come out sometime around the TV series' release, maybe before it actually comes out, just in case the show is a real stink bomb lol.

As for bonus video, maybe we can talk about the first The Platform? I'm honestly not sure. Let me know if you have suggestions.

MEDIA TALK

I hinted at this topic before, but I honestly think it is a discussion worth having a full video on. One of the biggest hurdle for getting into foreign films is honestly the fact that so many movies have untranslated titles. This is especially a problem with Japanese and Indian films.

Think about it, how many Japanese movies do you remember that has untranslated titles? Yojimbo, Ran, Rashmon, maybe Rurouni Kenshin, Tampopo... that's really about it. And all but one of them are one word titles.

Imagine if you stumble upon a foreign film, and it has the title of "Gokudo no onna-tachi: San-daime ane". Would you be able to remember it, so you can go home and watch it? If you watched it, would you be able to recommend it to your friend?

By the way, the title means "Yakuza Wife: The Third Chairman".

Why isn't the title translated? I honestly have no clue. I guess the film was never meant for foreign distribution?

This seemed like a rather unique problem for Japan and India, by the way. Nearly all Chinese movies are released with an English title, many of which are printed directly onto the film. Some Filipino films have untranslated titles, but the split is close to 50/50 in my experience. But for India, I have never seen a movie with an English title.

Stranger still is that a cursory research shows that India used to show movie titles in English, Hindi, and Urdu, but began phasing out that practice around the 2000s.... AND NOBODY KNOWS WHY. The declining popularity of Urdu is one thing, but why English, too? Consider Indian films do get international distributions quite often.

There's also a funny reverse situation in Japan: When Hollywood movies come to Japan, their English titles are also often untranslated. The result is a clunky Katakana title: "ロード・オブ・ザ・リング,, which means "Lord of the Rings". At least the subtitle is actually translated.

I'm not sure about the situation in India, but I'd assume it's similar. But at least with India it makes sense, since English is an official language.

I understand that this may be my Chinese language bias in action. Along with Quebec French, Chinese is one of those language that actively resists loan words. If you've ever check out those videos on YouTube comparing languages, Chinese is always the one to stick out because it translates by meaning rather than pronunciation. For all I know, maybe Hollywood movies are released with English everywhere except in China.

All that's to say... This is one thing I have no way of researching on my own. That's why I'm asking you about this topic: How are movie titles treated in your country? Do films from your country come with English titles? Do foreign films receive translated titles when they come to your country? I'd be curious to know!

See you soon with a new video!