I’ll start with a classic: in French "the Hangover"has been changed to “Very bad trip”
Possibly as a consolation, the French film “Une hirondelle à fait le printemps” (A swallow that made the spring) was called “The Girl From Paris” in English.
Brazilian translation studios butchered this one too. It became Se Beber, Não Case (If Drinking, Don’t Marry).
In the meantime the ones in Portugal translated it literally as A Ressaca, showing that the “creativity” of the above was 100% unnecessary.
Ok, but don’t you prefer the brazilian name? I sure do, specially with the context of drinking and driving PSAs
Germany:
“Airplane” = The Incredible Journey On A Crazy Airplane
Then there’s The Incredible Journey On A Crazy Spaceship (original “Airplane II: The Sequel”)
and The Outragious Journey On A Crazy Bus (original: “The Big Bus”, in no way related to the other movies)
But one scene in the first movie is even funnier than the original in the German dubbed version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEkI0cH_rK4
(The 2 black guys speak a thick Bavarian dialect, which is the closest thing in Germany to Hillbilly slang. The subtitles say something completely different)
Not that bad, but there was a serious lack of creativity:
The Shining - Hotel of Evil
House on the Haunted Hill - House of Evil
ゴジラ (go・ji・ra) somehow got turned into “Godzilla”.
(I’m a native English speaker living long-term in Japan, so I’m not sure which “your language” goes here, but English names of Japanese movies seems like the better bet).
Brazilian translation studios have a fair bit of those:
| Portuguese | Literal translation | Original title |
|---|---|---|
| O Poderoso Chefão | The Powerful Big Boss | The Godfather |
| A Noviça Rebelde | The Rebellious Novice | The Sound of Music |
| Noivo Neurótico, Noiva Nervosa | Neurotic Fiancé, Nervous Fiancée | Annie Hall |
| O Tiro Que Não Saiu Pela Culatra | The Shot that Didn’t Backfire | Parenthood |
Those four are representative examples because they don’t just adapt the original title; they do it without regard of what the original title is conveying, just to throw it into a “this is a movie title!” template.
In the case of The Godfather I get why they changed it - as “padrinho” won’t deliver the same reference to the Italian-American mafia as “godfather” does. However “poderoso chefão” doesn’t do it either, you need a very specific context to interpret “chefe” as “chefe da máfia”, and the augmentative even hides it further.
They had better choices - like calling it “Don Corleone”. Just the “don” plus the promotional images are enough to convey “this is a mafia boss, you simply don’t fuck with him”.
But by far among those four the one that I hate the most is A Noviça Rebelde. Because the literal translation of the original (O Som da Música) sound more aesthetic IMO than it. And it changes the focus from Maria’s connection with music to her rebelliousness.
Is Poderoso Chefão used to mean the leader of a gang/crime family in Portuguese?
Not really - it’s no fixed expression for those; the only word there that can refer to mafia is “chefe” (boss, chief; “chefão” is its augmentative). But even then, “chefe” can be also used for company bosses, video game bosses, restaurant chefs etc., it doesn’t evoke mafia imagery at all unless you specify “chefe da máfia” (mafia boss) or similar.
I’ve seen a few people using “capo” (an Italianism) for that, but I don’t know how widespread this is.
