15 Weird "German" Versions of English Movie Titles | Feli from Germany

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Why does Marvel's Captain America have an English title in Germany but IT'S DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH TITLE?! From "Thor" to "Bend it like Beckham" to "Zootopia" - in this video, I'll share 15 English movie titles with you that, for some reason, weren't translated into German for the German-speaking market nor did they keep the original title but instead, they gave the movie a NEW English title. Let me know in the comments below what other movies have gone through a weird title change for their release in another country! :)
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 26, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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[@FelifromGermany]

Let me know in the comments below what other movies have gone through a weird title change for their release in another country! :)

[@dutchgamer842]

Not a movie but a TV show in Germany, Married with Children in German is, Ein Schrecklich nette familie

[@Gemoron]

Moana-Vaiana turns out there is an actress of the barely dressed bussiness with the first name so they picked the later.

[@rivenoak]

@@dutchgamer842 "Home Improvement" = Hör mal, wer da hämmert :D

[@SYCHR0N]

There is a chain of martial arts movies where the first one got another english title. Then a movie with just that english title came out, so it's title had to be changed in germany to another english title. This continued for about 6 or seven movies :)

[@juicer67]

I was told by a Romanian friend that “Inglorious Basterds” was entitled “Assholes Without Honor” (English translation of the Romanian title) in her home country. Also, the old TV show “Hogan’s Heroes” is called “Ein Kafig voller Helden” in Germany. There are some clips on KZbin.

[@mattesneumann4500]

The first time I was confused with this, was when somebody told me that "Der weiße Hai" ("The white shark") is actually called "Jaws" in the original😅😂

[@lacicsiszi5749]

In hungarian version it was called "Cápa" (Shark)

[@AntoineRx]

Same for me: my native language is French and here the movie is called "Les Dents de la Mer" (the teeth of the sea) haha

[@WeisserPaladin]

And now the million dollar question: Where did you learn about the English title? Correct answer: From Back to the Future, where they travel to the year 2015 and there's a huge VR shark as an advert for "Jaws 19" directed by Max Spielberg :D And I was a confused kid wondering why in the future, "der Weiße Hai" is replaced with "Jaws"...

[@tonyhogg9839]

@Rico Ten I never really realized it but you are right. I think in the US if you hear a title called "The White Shark" and you find out it's a actually about a vicious white shark, you tend to think it will be a low budget film with bad script writing and acting. Maybe because you think they didn't put much effort into the title, why would the movie be good, which probably is how it turns out a lot of times.

[@theopuscula]

@@tonyhogg9839 It is also that Jaws is the nickname of the specific animal in the film, and the German direct equivalent "Kiefer" can also refer to a spruce (the tree) (i think, might be a pine, definitely needlewood) and generally just doesn't sound cool...like no one would ever give a vicious shark that nickmane in German. I guess that had the film only come out today, they would have called it "Jaws - Grauen des Ozeans" or something like this, so likely it also has something to do with the bad titling being a fad of the last two to three decades. At least this one isn't cringy. Some book and movie titles (Sephen Kings ones especially for me) literally make no sense in German.

[@Oversamma]

As a German with a deep appreciation for the English (American, to be precise) language, these pseudo-translations tend to irritate me quite a bit, to be honest lol. My favorite (actual) German ""translation"" of an English movie title, however, definitely has to be "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", which we aptly renamed "Die Ritter der Kokosnuß", meaning "The knights of the coconut".

[@nickthomas181]

Wow, absolute class, never let it be said the Germans don't have a sense of humour.....

[@Oversamma]

@@nickthomas181 Many stereotypes about Germans hold true, whereas others do not; humor - or the alleged lack thereof - in my experience as a native, definitely falls into the latter category. And thank the gods for that, for a life without humor is not one worth living. At least to me.

[@Oversamma]

@@jongordon7914 Now that's what I call meta lol.

[@nickthomas181]

@@Oversamma Nothing wrong with the Germans any country that has two cracks at the world title is fine by me.

[@LymanPhillips]

Classic. Excellent choice - it has the same zaniness of the movie itself.

[@shelltherrien]

Apparently the German title for Murder She Wrote is "Mord Ist Ihr Hobby" which is just the funniest thing ever

[@TazDevil93]

They actually changed the title to "Mord Ist Ihr Hobby" later. In the beginning it was called "Immer wenn sie Krimis schrieb" --> "Everytime when she was writing crime novels"

[@Oversamma]

Allow me to translate the German title of "Murder She Wrote" just in case: "Murder is her hobby".

[@MrAlsachti]

The French title is "Arabesque", for some reason.

[@ChrisAtheist]

I always said to my mother she is the true killer and pays the others to to confess/to take the fall

[@alastairward2774]

@@Oversamma given how many people drop dead around her it's fitting.

[@alfhokie]

My wife is German, so we have a lot of German DVDs in our collection. My favorite German title is "Elliot, das Schmunzelmonster" for Pete's Dragon.

[@KR-uc9ei]

One of the funniest changes I remember is the german "Babynator", originally "The Pacifier" with Vin Diesel.

[@ChrisTian-rm7zm]

"Der Schnuller" wäre ein ziemlich dämlicher Titel für einen Film mit Vin Diesel, finde ich.

[@dragonweyr44]

I would think they'd use the British term The Soother

[@ChrisTian-rm7zm]

@@dragonweyr44 Se suuser? No tscherman will anderstend eiser.

[@dragonweyr44]

@@ChrisTian-rm7zm Entschuldigung, ich verstehe nicht

[@ChrisTian-rm7zm]

@@dragonweyr44 Sorry, ich habe nur den deutschen Akzent nachgemacht. Germany woundn't understand "The Soother" either.

[@PmA3786]

Yes we got sometimes the same thing in France like "The Purge" is named "American Nightmare"

[@marcanthony7020]

Damn, I like that title way more

[@plzignoremyname7911]

‘Dirty Dancing’ is called ‘Wirujący Seks’ in Polish, which translates to ‘swirling sex’. 😂

[@jimmym3352]

American Nightmare? you mean the last 4 years? :-)

[@chieflouie2821]

@@jimmym3352 He meant now!

[@i_like_chomp6382]

@@jimmym3352 don't start shit

[@1SantinO2]

I remember being confused about the Disney-Movie "Moana", which in europe got changed to "Vaiana" (including the main characters name and all the song-lyrics referencing moana). But after finding out about the reason, it made a lot of sense for a disney movie, because apparently there is an italian porn actress with the name "moana", which you certainly wouldn't want to see your child find on google, while looking for the movie :D

[@mr.hanfblatt9152]

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@coltjames9159]

Whoa. That's wild. LOL

[@MM-dw4ew]

Nevermind the fact that there’s the word MOAN in the name which is just as awkward in English honestly 😂

[@liversuccess1420]

When I lived in Germany, my landlords asked me if I'd seen the movie, "The Bizarre Journey in the Crazy Airplane" or something like that. It took me a while to realize they were talking about the movie "Airplane". I guess Germans wouldn't have been interested in a movie just called "Airplane" so they had to jazz up the title a little bit 🤣🤣🤣

[@officerloop7207]

"Airplanes" sounds like a documentary

[@officerloop7207]

@@daykibaran9668 my english isn't good.

[@officerloop7207]

@@daykibaran9668 "Flugzeug" hört sich wie ein Dokumentarfilm an. Die Deepl Übersetzung war wohl nicht so toll.

[@officerloop7207]

@@jongordon7914 yes, i know

[@rudolphkarstadt9322]

Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug Airplane! Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Raumschiff Airplane II: The Sequel Die haarsträubende Reise in einem verrückten Bus The Big Bus The german title including "verrückt" (crazy) lets you know - it's a comedy

[@kevinb2469]

“Hog” is also a nickname for a Harley Davidson motorcycle. So Wild Hogs has a double meaning.

[@jillpruett4772]

H.O.G. is also the acronym for Harley Owners Group. They just couldn't leave that alone.

[@RaphYkun]

If it was actually a movie about hogs, BOARn to be Wild would've been a nice punny title.

[@emergencynurse02]

Exactly .....

[@brianplum1825]

That nickname is too obscure for the German Girl. She'd only heard of the nickname Bimmer after coming to America -- despite her being a native of Munich, Bavaria.

[@chitlitlah]

What is the other meaning?

[@chrisj.9882]

I guess they feel "The First Avenger" in the title has more appeal outside the US than "Captain America."

[@3.k]

They could have called Spiderman “The First Wallcrawler” then. ;)

[@theofficialphoenixtv5765]

@@3.k and his weakness is bugspray XD

[@KR-uc9ei]

Especially since certain army iconography, or pandering to some sort of nationalism or patriotism does not go all to well in germany. I'm somewhat in tears trying to imagine Disney publishing "Hauptmann Amerika".

[@manuekhuntyk2563]

Well, at least they did not translate half the title and kept the other half in English...(Italy, I'm looking at you.)

[@meelo4159]

It depends on how the movie is. Captain America was a very good movie and that's what matters, right?

[@annamc3947]

When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s beauty contests had an actual consolation prize for Miss Congeniality. This prize was chosen by the contestants not the judges, and was for the contestant most well-liked by her peers.

[@HansMaurer.]

"Sechsundneunzig Auas" - sounds about right, regarding the number of punches (and bullets) delivered.

[@Mayagick]

Fantastic, "aua" as hours, zhe sound of beating up. Introducing a Liam Neeson star vehicle movie, rather than an ensemble feature film of those myrads of superpower. Just one Explosion after another. Think of proper labeling products for sugar, cabs. Movies need to indicate their Body Count.

[@HansMaurer.]

@@Mayagick They did something like that in the parody movie "Hot Shots! Part Deux": kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5LUoKN7htdqras There are even KZbin videos about the body count in Disney movies.

[@Ilnath]

Miss congeniallity is Agent Catwalk in Denmark🤣

[@amatije]

In Croatian is "Cura na zadatku" which literally means "Girl with a task" 😃

[@HeyItsSarah30]

I like that one better 😂

[@HeyItsSarah30]

@@amatije 😂😂

[@brianplum1825]

That's a much better movie title. We need more Danes in Hollywood.

[@NikSvobodniy]

It's much, much worse in Russian. They just selected the word that looks like it should be a translation of the word "Congeniality" -- "конгениальность", but this word means different thing in Russian, and 99% of people do not know what it means -- it is a philosophical term, that nobody uses in everyday language. I believe that most of the people think that "congeniality" means something like "super genious", and it's wrong in both English, Russian and movie =)

[@micromario]

"Miss congeniality" is actually a prevalent yet dated phrase in America referring to beauty pageant contestants who don't necessarily win but are super nice; sort of a consolation prize. It was common to refer to a super nice female of high school or college age who is also attractive as "miss congeniality" especially in the 80's and 90's. This is where the movie got its title. It was not clear that you were aware of the reference.

[@wesleybush8646]

Plus, I often hear people being referred to as "congenial," generally nice or affable.

[@dwightjones3114]

"Mis" is also a prefix meaning something like "bad" and the main character starts off being un-congenial, so the title is a play on words since mis-congeniality means the opposite of congenial.

[@deanmcmanis9398]

The title also reveals the plot line where Gracie (who is an antisocial loner) has to adapt to understanding and caring for other people, and in the end is seen as the friendliest contestant. But as mentioned, this was an outdated pageant award, that is not widely known even in America, so it was smart to change the movie title for other audiences.

[@jeromemckenna7102]

I thought it was a great title for that movie.

[@hairyairey]

My favourite line "tougher sentences for parole violators... and world peace!" (Or something like that)

[@uncinarynin]

The person who decided NOT to translate "The sixth sense" to German was just cruel. Which German can pronounce the sequence XTHS without an accident?

[@jk-jl2lo]

that's seriously sadistic. i've lived in the US my whole life and all native english speakers trip over the word "sixth" at least 80% of the time when we say it.

[@EyMannMachHin]

Funnily enough the German-Belgian-Dutch clothing company C&A has a clothing line called "Sixth Sense" since at least the 1980s ...

[@araymffm7854]

Oh i've several memories about that topic, because im working in a (german) Cinema (that also plays a lot of ov's) for 15 years now. I always have to look up the original titles, so that I know what movie a customer wants to see. As an E.g.: A Ticket for "the fault in our stars" was requested by an us customer at my counter and I had to take out my Phone and look the movie up, because the german title is: "Das Schicksal ist ein mieser Verräter" (lit. Fate is a lousy traitor/backstabber). Our booking system had almost exclusivly the german titles for the movies then, but it got better the last couple of years (nowadays we mostly have the original titles in our system). I have similar memories with some of the titles you mentioned XD

[@HansMaurer.]

"Chef" (2014) was called "Kiss the Cook: So schmeckt das Leben" in Germany, probably because "Chef" in German means "boss", not "cook".

[@emilyvershina]

For the Russian market they translated "Silver Linings Playbook" as "My boyfriend is a Psycho"! At least Germans have a clue which movie "Silver Linings" refers to :))

[@TazDevil93]

That's a very stupid title :D

[@emilyvershina]

@@TazDevil93 Exactly! It still blows my mind 🙈

[@timmyasikin3953]

Very funny translation......a lot of imaginations......hehehe....

[@Storytime2023x]

Интересно, хороший фильм!

[@HeyItsSarah30]

The way you can go from thick German to perfect American accent is 🤯😗👌🏻

[@Brathly82]

She does not have a perfect American accent. You can still hear that she is German, the accent is just less prominent.

[@HeyItsSarah30]

@@Brathly82 but it pretty much is. I have several friends from Germany and they all have thick accents. Hers is barely noticeable and she actually sort of has this type of accent that people from Ohio have too and it sort of covers up her German accent so she basically sounds American haha.

[@DRWH044]

Just wanted to mention that, like "The SUITE Life" is a play on the same sounding word "SWEET". "MAID in Manhattan" is a play on same sounding word "MADE"

[@jacobvriesema6633]

“You can’t be sure how to pronounce an English word just by reading it.” Yuuup. It’s hard for us English speakers as well!

[@bluebalu3]

It's funny that only the first of the Taken-movies was called only "96 hours" in german. The second part was called "96 hours - Taken 2" and the third one also "96 hours - Taken 3" 😎

[@williamh-ii3236]

"The First Avenger" was the official international title for Captain America:The First Avenger, some countries wouldn't like seeing "America" plastered all over the place in advertising. I would assume Germany just picked up the International titles for the Captain America movies.

[@stephenplatt5048]

When I visited Spain in 1981 I saw the movie "9 to 5" was called "Como Eliminar a su Jefe" ("How to Eliminate Your Boss").

[@EyMannMachHin]

Yeah, Germany used a similar title "Warum eigentlich … bringen wir den Chef nicht um?" ("Actually ... why don't we just kill the boss")

[@morthenpedersen3289]

😂😂 great. I love the translation of Bridget Jones Diary in german. It's called Schokolade für Frühstück (Chocolate for breakfast)😂😂😂

[@Pesthauch666]

In the past some titles and title translations were even weirder: Airplane! = Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug (The incredible journey in a crazy airplane) Airplane! II = Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Raumschiff (The incredible journey in a crazy spaceship) Ruthless People = Die unglaubliche Entführung der verrückten Mrs. Stone (The incredible abduction of crazy Mrs. Stone) Alien = Alien - Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt (Alien - The scary being from a strange world) Stripes = Ich glaub' mich knutscht ein Elch! (I believe a moose is smooching me!) btw. the title is just a german expression for being flabbergasted in some way Animal House = Ich glaub', mich tritt ein Pferd (I believe I've been kicked by a horse) Jaws = Der weiße Hai (The white shark) Once a time upon in the west = Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod (Play me a song of death) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly = Zwei glorreiche Halunken (Two Glorious Scoundrels) The Great Silence = Leichen pflasterten seinen Weg (He left a trail of corpses on his way) - a very loose translation of the german title which used a very outdated expression that also could be interpreted as "corpses paved his way". I still remember a satire of that title in the printed german version of the MAD magazine from the 80's where they drew a cartoon with indeed living corpses i.e. zombies putting tiles on the floor for someone to walk on Don't Look Now = Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen (When the gondolas are wearing mourning) Stagecoach = Höllenfahrt nach Santa Fé (Hell ride to Santa Fé) Groundhog Day = ... und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier (... and everyday, the groundhog greets) - "Murmeltier" the german name for groundhog could be translated as "murmur animal" if you're feeling silly North by Northwest = Der unsichtbare Dritte (The invisible third) Monty Python and the Holy Grail = Die Ritter der Kokosnuß (The knights of the coconut) Murder by Death = Eine Leiche zum dessert (A corpse for dessert) Carrie = Carrie: Des Satans jüngste Tochter (Carrie: Satan's youngest daughter) Snatch = Snatch: Schweine und Diamanten (Snatch: Pigs and diamonds) The Boondock Saints = Der blutige Pfad Gottes (The bloody path of god) Rope = Cocktail für eine Leiche (Cocktail for a corpse) Dracula A.D. = Dracula jagt Mini-Mädchen (Dracula chases miniskirt girls) The list is almost endless...

[@adamrspears1981]

Servus Feli & viel Dank! Der Film, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story -mit Ben Stiller & Vince Vaughn. Auf Deutsch » VOLL AUF DIE NÜSSE Auf Englisch » STRAIGHT IN THE BALLS 🤣🤣🤣 I absolutely love how Germans think!! Bleib🇩🇪 Bleib😎

[@RO-zv9im]

Hi Feli, another great video! I was not aware that some American movie titles were changed when shown in other countries. However, it makes perfect sense. Many American movie titles have double meanings or hidden meanings that may not be understood if you are not an American, so it would be necessary to change the title when attracting the interest of people who speak another language and who are from a different culture/country. I am very fond of foreign movies and some of the German movies, I've seen, are at the top of my favorite movies list. One of those movies is a German movie entitled, "Mostly Martha," released in 2002. The American remake of this movie came out in 2007 and the American title of the movie is, "No Reservations." In my opinion, the German title fits the movie best and the German version of that movie is far better than the American remake of the same movie. Just a side note: The foreign movies available to view in America on the streaming channels and cable channels are never dubbed, they only offer English subtitles. Therefore, that maybe why more Americans don't watch foreign movies, which means many Americans are not being exposed to the film making style, expertise and culture of other countries through their films. Please keep up the good work, Feli!

[@higgme1ster]

I've had a subscription to The Criterion Channel streaming on ROKU for several years just to get foreign and independent films. I was slightly addicted to Zatoichi films and watch them again in order periodically.

[@p.zeller]

But sometimes there are quite subtile ones: „Now you see me“ in Germany is called „Die Unfassbaren - Now you see me“. And „Unfassbar“ can be translated into „incomprehensible“ as well as into „uncatchable“. And that hit‘s the point.

[@masudaharris6435]

They do the same sort of things in Japan. For example, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was changed to "Ashita ni Mukatte Ute! (Shoot at Tomorrow!)" which I personally think loses something in the translation but means more to the Japanese than just names of two individuals.

[@oswaldoarellano2515]

Here in Mexico happens same, the original titles are modified sometimes. For example, ''Home Alone'' (American title), but in Mexico this movie is named ''Mi pobre Angelito'' , definitely very different xD. Greetings Felicia, good content,

[@lacicsiszi5749]

@Rico Ten Ohh hungarian made a "much better" title for home alone... Reszkessetek betörők ( ~Robbers be affraid ) and for an unknown reason it is always played at every Christmas on tv in the last 10-12 years.

[@HansVonMannschaft]

I'm convinced there's one guy whose job it has been to translate titles in Germany, he's been doing it for 50 years, and he thinks he's really funny. He has no friends.

[@coltjames9159]

LOL I'm crying.

[@ollektriinu]

Hey! I am from Estonia and here are some off translations here, that I can remember straight away :) 1. "Maid in Manhattan" is translated to Estonian as "Manhattan`s Cinderella" 2. "Coyote Ugly" have got extra title here . Here it is translated as " Ugly Coyote : Only girls in bar" 3. "Married with Children" is translated as "Doves" ( meaning like lovebirds) 4. "The Parent Trap" is translated as "Like 2 Drops Of Water" ( as we have this saying here about something very similar : similar like 2 drops of water , and it is transferred to describing twins) 5. "Meet the Parents" is translated as " Meeting the Father In-Law" 6. "Die Hard" is translated as "Resilient Spirit" 7. "Miss Congeniality" is translated as "Miss Special Agent"

[@Beeza2996]

*Triinu Ollek* Very interesting, thanks for sharing 🙂

[@stevennelson9504]

"Hog" is also a nickname for a Harley Davidson Motorcycle, the classic American Motorcycle. But I'm sure that is a reference that Germans would not understand.

[@JeffMusa1]

@naturenorth Hog for a Harley? Probably inspired by images of brute power and snorting noise. It's a term of affection with Harley riders. They're not refined motorcycles but deeply loved by their fans.

[@HauptgefreiterB]

Thanks for the context. I would assume that I am more knowledgable about US culture than the average German but never heard that before. Not into motorcycles though, so Harley-Fans might know it even on this side of the pond.

[@stevennelson9504]

@naturenorth It comes from an organization called the "Harley Owners Group". But these days is used for any Harley Davidson Motorcycle.

[@timmmahhhh]

@@stevennelson9504 thanks I had no idea that hog was an acronym.

[@topher7853]

We do the same thing in Canada, in particular for the Québécois market which is understandable however they even translate titles which are originally in French. The Netflix series, « Dix pour cent » became « Call My Agent » in English and became « Appelez mon Agent » for the Québec market as they translated the English title into French

[@AmericanEnglishRussell]

You explain things so well. Great channel, Felicia!!!

[@nunyabizness1097]

Hey Felicia, great video! I’m new to your channel. I find it very informative though. I took two years of German in High School. I still don’t know a lot of German words though. Keep up the awesome videos. You’ve got a nice singing voice as well. 😊

[@daimlerbenzstuttgart]

I love how you explain every little detail 😊❤ Brilliant!

[@glengamble526]

Off topic, but...your voice and accent are lovely and soothing. I say that in a strictly friendly manner. I can come onto your channel in a crap mood, and your voice, smile and charm seem to lift the black clouds. So...thanks!

[@arkangel3249]

this might go unnoticed, but ive been checking out a couple videos of yours here and there and watching these really makes me want to get in touch with my german heritage. My father was born in Iserlohn germany and migrated to canada with my nana and such some years after the war, around 1965-1970/75. You do a fantastic job with your youtube videos so keep it up! its very entertaining to learn my heritage in multiple ways from a native german! =D

[@HAIckes]

I can think of Charles Bronson's "Death Wish", which became "Ein Mann sieht rot" (A man sees red) when it had its German release . . .

[@2Skinny]

Your impression of a stereotypical German speaking English is humorous.

[@jimmym3352]

am I the only one who found that kind of sexy? LOL

[@brianhiles8164]

... And please, _please_ Feli, wear your _Dirndl_ in a future intro. Yes, it´s _completely_ a cultural prejudice! That´s why it would be funny! *P.S.:* Your German accent is not too bad at all....

[@lilliecast5826]

This was so great. I never knew that movie titles would be changed. Great job. I'm curious about other movie titles now. Thank you for making it interesting.

[@theflockfather4377]

Great video! Well done!

[@therealdante]

My favorite example from the video game world is the game "Thief: The Dark Project". Probably because the TH sound being complicated for Germans and the word not being very well known in 1998 it became "Dark Project: Der Meisterdieb" (Meisterdieb = Master Thief). The sequel "Thief 2: The Metal Age" of course became "Dark Project 2: The Metal Age" in Germany. In 2004 they obviously had more confidence in the German's English, as by then the third part just released under it's normal name "Thief: Deadly Shadows".

[@japunaka]

Wow, I don't know, why I find this so funny🤣

[@hansmeyer7225]

Das lag schlichtweg daran, dass zu der Zeit des dritten Spiels eigentlich jeder die Vorgänger unter dem Originaltitel kannte.

[@andrear.berndt9504]

Yes , it's quite hard to talk about movies with friends from other countries "Out of Rosenheim" is "Bagdad Cafe " for example

[@erictrumpler9652]

This one is interesting, because it is actually a German movie with an English title, given a a new name for the American market.

[@hansmeyer7225]

Dabei ist doch Rosenheim so unterrepräsentiert 😅

[@gwillis01]

Hello Feli nice video. I should enlighten you on the double entendre obvious to Americans but no one else concerning the word [ hog ] There is a famous venerable motorcycle manufacturing plant in the northern state of Minnesota that makes the Harley Davidson motorcycle. It is a point of intense pride that Harley Davidson is an All American brand instead of Japanese made like its competitor Yamaha. There are groups of Americans who get together to show off their immaculately clean, beautiful motorcycles to each other on Saturday afternoons and then go on 100 mile round trips around the local area to enjoy talking, riding, and admiring the outdoor scenery together. These groups are called Harley Owner Groups or HOGs. Sometimes the Harley bikes are also called hogs because people feel unrestrained and wild while riding.

[@joecaccamise5926]

Always interesting topics with an entertaining presentation.

[@nicoleisabelle3012]

I remember being confused when silver linings came out in Germany, I didn’t understand the title at all 😂

[@dragonweyr44]

It comes form our saying "Every dark cloud has a silver linings" which means that even in the worst situations, something good always comes out of it

[@bosshog_bremen]

Ich sehe einen Silberstreifen am Horizont is a common term in Germany but seems outdated for younger people. My first thought of silverlinings was Silberne Haarsträhne which litterally means silver coloured strand of hair.

[@frankschwittay2719]

Zootropolis ? ohh. isn't that where zooperman lives ?!

[@Beeza2996]

Ba dum tss!

[@10secondfilmschool]

I love this channel! I am a film researcher and teacher, looking to teach abroad. I am very curious if you could do a video about German movies (especially comedies) that never made it to the US but ones that you would highly recommend. I show Lola Rennt and Revanche (Österreich) in alternating years in my intro to film class but I’m always on the lookout for more German-language titles. Danke!

[@bobellingson4025]

I wasn't aware that this was still a common practice. When I was touring Germany in 1979, I remember seeing a movie poster for Neil Simon's "California Suite", which was given the German title "Das Verrückte California Hotel" (Verrückte means "Crazy" in English)

[@bernharddoll3464]

Two of my favourite movies are (ger.) "Eine Frage Der Ehre" (ori.) "A Few Good Men" (1992) and (ger.) "Flucht Ins 23.Jahrhundert" (ori.) "Logans Run" (1976)

[@dragonweyr44]

Oh I love Logan's Run Did you get the Logan's Run tv series too

[@bernharddoll3464]

@@dragonweyr44 I heard, that there is a series too, but I never saw it. The series is not listet in the German Movie-Databases - I couldn't find it yet. The remake of "Logan's Run" is very good too: "In Time" (2011) with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried...

[@dragonweyr44]

@@bernharddoll3464 I've never heard of it on any streaming service that I know of

[@bernharddoll3464]

@@dragonweyr44 Maybe you know this already: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYHTqqRtlN2bnLM

[@EyMannMachHin]

Also in 70s SF: Soylent Green, initial German title "Jahr 2022 - Die überleben wollen" (Year 2022 - those who want to survive) Or Escape from New York in dt. Die Klapperschlange (The Rattlesnake)

[@karlsmith2570]

Mad Max 2:The Road Warrior was released in the U.S. titled simply as "The Road Warrior" based on the suspicions of the filmmakers that American audiences might not have seen Mad Max in order to make the connection between the two movies

[@tinkerwithstuff]

Ah, there was this 1970's American detective series called "Rip tide" - in German it was called "Trio mit vier Fäusten", i.e. trio (3 guys) with 4 fists :D The series featuring 2 ex military blokes turned private investigator, and the 3rd of them was a skinny computer nerd (in 1970 rather 'exotic' / mysterious), and he wasn't all that well equipped for the more physical situations of PI work ;)

[@carap7591]

Wow, I didn’t know they did this! That’s very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

[@MultiElodiee]

Same things are happening in France: "Silver linings playbook" has been rebranded "happiness therapy". "Miss congenialiity" has become "Miss detective". Thé worst example is "the hangover"- --> "very bad trip"

[@timmyasikin3953]

Very funny....I like those titles.....

[@MrAlsachti]

Pure speculation on my part, but I think that the "French" title "Very bad trip" was inspired by "Very bad things" (1998) which is a similar movie.

[@keti.rg.editzzz]

Miss Undercover ist mein Lieblings Film! Und für mich ist der englische Name unausprechlich, und ich kann es mir nie merken😂

[@stephaniejordan9486]

Taken and Zootopia. Your episodes are always fascinating!

[@Jim_Jimworth]

This is a thoroughly fascinating topic - especially given 1.) the German fascination with English-language media, coupled with 2.) the different manner in which English words and phrases are perceived by German speakers. Also, your English pronunciation is, by orders of magnitude, better than I can reasonably expect my German pronunciation to ever be. Keep up the great work!

[@FalcoPolaris]

Since you've done movies in this one, could another for television shows be coming?

[@mohamedak2648]

In Kuwait "Cliffhanger" was called "Rambo the Climber" in Arabic

[@TBustah]

One of my favorite examples is Weird Al’s movie, “UHF”. It’s about a guy who turns a local television station (which in the days of terrestrial TV, operated on the UHF band in America) into a menagerie of hilarious and bizarre programming. Since the UHF band isn’t used in some other countries, they needed to come up with a new title for international releases that would make sense. Weird Al suggested “The Vidiot”, but then the studio ended up tacking “from UHF” to the end of that anyway, totally defeating the purpose of a rename.

[@dragonweyr44]

Badgers? Badgers? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BADGERS

[@SCBariTone]

I first became aware of this handling of movie titles the first time I traveled to Germany, in 1978. The 1977 hit "Saturday Night Fever", starring John Travolta, was translated as "Nur Samstag Nacht".

[@mohamedfaizan9844]

Not only is her English accent so perfect (and obviously the German one) but she also NAILED the English-with-a-strong-German-accent trope as seen in the intro :-)

[@LiveSimpleLiveFree]

Fascinating!

[@TMD3453]

Thanks GGIA! You’re the best. Love the opening. Glad you’re back in America. / I think you’re right on with the pronunciation difficulties and cultural awareness issues these titles bring up. All the best schoenen Gruss!

[@DavidBoe]

Love your enthusiasm!! How about some classic movies? The Wizard of Oz. It’s a Wonderful Life. Airplane. (I saw another KZbin video that explains how it has a completely different name in Australia, which is very weird.) Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. These are among the most famous Hollywood movies ever. I’m almost sure they’re all in the top 100. What are the titles in German?

[@signupstuff]

:28 I just noticed, you dropped the 2nd 't' in twenty. You have a true American accent :D

[@blair424ify]

Couldn't tell if you know it's a tradition in American beauty pageants for the contestants to vote on who's the nicest and friendliest contestant and the winner is awarded the title "Miss Congeniality".

[@FelifromGermany]

Nah I didn't know that, thanks for sharing :)

[@cevyne6440]

@@FelifromGermany Exactly - that is why the name "works" in English. Its has a unique meaning in the US. Love your work by the way. I work with people trying to learn english and find location of tongue and how far you open you mouth has a big influence on how people speak english. Have you considered a video on what you do or don't do in english/german to sound "local"

[@stepheneddleman8936]

fun topic... thanks... like the videos with your brother too. keep up the good work.

[@donovanfoto3263]

I remember watching 'Den strassen von San Francisco'. Karl Malden was older and had a deep voice. The actor who did the voice over was younger and thinner so had a MUCH higher voice. It was very comical to watch and I couldn't stop laughing. The family I stayed with could not see what I was laughing about.

[@americanpsycho2255]

Home alone: Kevin - allein zu Haus Home alone 2: Kevin - allein in NY Home alone 3: Wieder allein zu Haus Home alone 4: Kevin - allein gegen alle ... best one: Career opportiunities: Kevins Cousin allein im Supermarkt 🤣🤣🤣

[@Ul.B]

These films are probably the reason why Kevin is considered a bad name for a child in Germany. Teachers in Germany say Kevin is not a first name, but a diagnosis.

[@darkinertia2]

hey you do a perfect german accent impression! /s

[@kevinb2469]

The German accent is hilarious considering Feli probably must fake that accent now.

[@elnino0841]

Well it's easy for her since she's german.

[@darkinertia2]

@@elnino0841 welp theres always one guy that doesnt get the joke, and youre it lol. i even put /s to make it more obvious

[@elnino0841]

@@darkinertia2 Welp, pretty bad joke mate. Not funny at all.

[@elnino0841]

@@darkinertia2 And what does even /s mean? I don't know all these damn abbreviations.

[@Zhaggysfaction]

In Finnish we do this sometimes also. I mean that the finnish translation is deiiferent from the english title. I can't think we've ever done that we'd just use a different english title alltogether. But we are usually also very aware of the original title and use it often more often so it isn't a big confusion usually. Some from this video: Bend it like Becham is translated into Finnish as "Better than Beckham". Zootopia is translated as "Zootropolis - The City of the Animals". Miss Congeniality is translated "Miss Badass" Shawshank Redemption's finnish title is "Rita Hayworth - The key to Escape" Back to the Future is "Return to the Future" Silence of the Lambs is "Sacrificial lambs" Goodfellas is "Mafia brothers" 12 Angry Men is "The decision of the Jury" Pulp Fiction is "Pulp Fiction: Stories about Violence" Once upon a time in the West is "Harmonica Avenger" Also as big Star Wars fan: Star Wars is translated more like "The war of the stars" and we have official finnish titles for episodes 1-6 but we don't for 7-9, we even have so that the legendary opening text crawl is in Finnish for 1-6 in yellow flying through the space, not just subtitled. For the ones we have they are usually translated directly except for "Empire Strikes Back" is "The counterblow of the Empire" and "The Phantom Menace" is more like "The Dark Threat".

[@GunterJPN]

Here in Japan, my favorite retitle was for The Karate Kid. It was called “Best Kid,” because he’s the best around. Other titles I remember offhand - Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts was called “Pretty Bride” to capitalize on their pairing in Pretty Woman, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was retitled “Austin Powers Deluxe.”

[@rorosp5443]

From watching this I just realized, my husband (Austrian) asked me about some movies and said I didn't know them but turns out I do! Especially 96 hours lol!

[@amatije]

Here in Croatia is also 96 hours and the sequel is 96 hours: Istanbul

[@holger_p]

On the wikipedia-page of each movie, they always give the original title. On the english page, you sometimes can click to the other language, to get the local title.

[@ishatawde2026]

Ich lerne deutsch Sprache, 😅 I'm trying my best and you helped me alot with this:) love from India ❤️

[@amatije]

Es ist deutsche with e. Du schaffst das 👍 Viel Glück bei lernen 😃

[@triviaweise]

Wow nice :) greetings from Germany

[@zeroisland7]

I saw your interview with Local 12 [Cincinnati, Ohio], loved your interview, very good!

[@UlliStein]

There is a great film from 1992 about a military lawyer (Tom Cruise) titled "A Few Good Men" In German it is titled "Eine Frage der Ehre" ("A Matter of Honor").

[@jonmiguel]

I thought they (some idiot with studio marketing) was concerned that "Captain America" would be an offensive title in Germany since the character was originally created to oppose the Nazi's and the 'villain' was a Nazi-based cult. You've talked about WWII and I don't believe the target market audience would have been offended at all.

[@brianplum1825]

There's some degree of anti-Americanism in Europe -- even if it's just a minority of people. Captain America may evoke pride an American audience, but resentment overseas. Movie companies just want to reach the widest audience and make money.

[@suedenim]

This is the first I've heard about retitling for the German market, but I remember the first Captain America movie was retitled in Russia because they assumed Russians would react badly to the title. But it turned out Russians didn't care, and all subsequent movies just had the same title as in America.

[@markusbuchenau2611]

@@brianplum1825 Another reason is probably that Captain America is an iconic comic book character in the US - but these comics are little known in Germany.

[@woodenhatrecords]

Supporting you even blurred! 😃

[@Whitbypoppers]

#14 Begin Again/Can a Song Save Your Life?: I notice these are two separate photos on the movie boxes, likely taken during the same photoshoot. Traffic in the background is different, and the guitar is covered in one photo and exposed in the other.

[@solvingpolitics3172]

Don’t forget: “Saving Ryan’s Privates!”

[@dragonweyr44]

There's already a Saving Ryan's Privates, I believe it's a pornographic movie

[@TribalGuitars]

@@dragonweyr44 Yup. I was out about a month after the mainstream movie.

[@LymanPhillips]

Internet lore says it was "Shaving Ryan's Privates."

[@dragonweyr44]

@@LymanPhillips Yes Shaving Ryan's privates is also along with every possible variation of that title that could possibly be imagines as well

[@verissimus3008]

Interesting to think about a German watching saving private Ryan. Would have to be kind of awkward I would assume.

[@3.k]

Silver lining, they could have called it “Silberstreif” in German, like in “Silberstreif am Horizont.”

[@leDespicable]

Tbh, as a German, I've not once heard someone actually use Silberstreif am Horizont as a phrase, so maybe that's why they didn't pick it.

[@3.k]

@@leDespicable Yeah, it’s rather a term of written language, than of spoken language. Or it’s just old fashioned. But I like the poetical sound of it. :)

[@leDespicable]

I'd say it's rather old-fashioned, so many don't even know the German equivalent anymore. It's a double-edged sword. Picking that title would've meant two things: On one hand, most Germans not knowing what a Silberstreif's supposed to be, and, on the other hand, those Germans who do know the English phrase "a silver lining" thinking Silberstreif is a bad Denglish translation.

[@dragonweyr44]

@@leDespicable It comes form our saying "Every dark cloud has a silver linings" which means that even in the worst situations, something good always comes out of it Playbook is a book in which sports strategies are written in.

[@HalfEye79]

As long as it doesn't become "Silberblick".

[@theonijkerk3012]

Hi Felicia, In the Netherlands titles aren't changed, as far as I know, except for children's movies. Until about 10 years they also dubbed. Above ten everybody uses the subtitles, or not, when you understand the original languange. But even Flemish is subtitled sometimes, as well as Dutch dialects. Titles of movies are only changed in that age group under 10 and then only when it's functional. So Alladdin stays Alladdin, but Snowy White becomes Sneeuwwitje, Cinderella becomes Assepoester. In Poland they have a very Spartan way of dubbing: All the charaters by own person, one voice. Even in cinema's, but in cinema's you can also chose the original language of the movie with Polish subtitles.

[@iskandartaib]

11:05 - also I think the "hogs" in the title might refer to the motorcycles on the poster photo (Harley Davidson motorbikes are often referred to as "hogs"). Never actually watched it myself so I'm just speculating.

"96 hours" is the translation of the original name of the film, "96 heures" in French.

[@heinzherbert1706]

Which came out in 2014 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/96_Hours) as opposed to Taken in 2008. ;)

[@SnowmanTF2]

"Cradle to grave" is an expression, granted does not come up very often. Traditionally it was used for something someone might have their whole life; like being lucky, rich or struggles. More recently it has come around in political circles as something the government would offer citizens their entire life, most commonly universal health care.

[@ricksipixi312]

Interesting :) actually I remember a similar expression in German "von der Wiege bis zur Bahre" means almost the same and I guess ist used similarly, but not really frequently. Wiege means cradle but Bahre does not mean grave but the bed on which a body is layed out.

[@ebick77]

It’s also commonly used in scientific research for “lifecycle analysis” of energy sources, materials, etc. For example, assessing something like lithium batteries from cradle to gravel would mean from mining the raw materials, to manufacturing, to deployment and use, to disposing of or recycling/reusing the batteries at the end of their life.

[@Henning_Rech]

Agree. "from the cradle to the grave" was also a decription of the UK welfare system, when it was still existing, long before Thatcher. I learned this expression in (german) school, 45 years ago.

[@johnnybode3620]

The danish film "En kongelig affære" from 2012 (feat. Mads Mikkelsen) has in Sweden been given the more selling title "A royal affair". Not an english word is spoken through the entire film, it's in danish with swedish subtitles.

[@TheCrazyFreak]

One Slovenian translation I like is for the movie War Horse. It's called Grivasti vojak (The Maned Soldier) which just sounds a lot more poetic and interesting than "war horse."

[@3.k]

Still waiting for The Fellowship of the Avengers The Two Universes The Return of the Avenger ^^

[@dorderre]

Hey, nich spoilern ;)

[@Asgar1205]

Can we agree that Hollywood is a label that stands for high production value, not necessarily high quality?

[@randyschaff8939]

Dear Felicia. I would buy you a coffee in a heart beat! Your videos about Germany and the Germans are incredibly fascinating for me. Good luck and all the best ❤️🇨🇦

[@RosemaryWilliams49fruits]

Since I don't know German I don't know which definition for maid you put on there, but I think that this English title is also supposed to kind of be a play on words, as a "maid" can also be a young unmarried woman/girl. It's an older word usage, but I think it comes directly from having "maids" and "man servants" in households performing cleaning and organizational labor within the house. So I think the title "Maid in Manhattan" is also quite punny and hints at the romance or possibility of romance without outright stating it. For me that makes the English title very cute. I like and can totally understand the change for German audiences. I think it makes a lot of sense to adjust things for the audience...I mean of course that's why we have people whose job it is to not only translate materials, but localizes the content for the new culture. :3 It can be a really difficult job, and since I don't speak German I can''t speak to how well those titles were adapted, but most of them make sense to me, though I think Mean Girls should've kept the original title, since they added the descriptive German tagline to help understand it, but that's just a personal bias since it is such a classic :P

[@EyMannMachHin]

Actually the word maid for a young unmarried woman is Germanic in origin, it's just pronounced slightly different and really oldfashioned, you'd only find it in medieval films, RPG and reeanactment groups :) And in German the maid as maidservant is definitely newer as maid as young/unmarrierd woman. Unfortunately, I never saw the film. But after quickly skimming the plot. An unimaginative German translaten (people say we have no humour..) would be "Ein Hausmädchen in Manhattan" would have worked but it would have lost so many levels of the original title. It is pretty punny I think. I see alsa a 'Made in Manhattan' (as in created in M.) or a 'Might in Manhattan' (as in maybe in Manhattan) as the film has magical options, or is it just me seeing the Cinderella parallels here?

[@RosemaryWilliams49fruits]

@@EyMannMachHin It's been a long time since I've seen the film, but it definitely has some Cinderella vibes from my memory. I think because I use American English I'm more likely to use "older English", as it's not that uncommon in American English to use phrases like "old maid", or "young maiden", in jest or media, so I definitely think it had that as an added layer of meaning in the title. It's old fashioned in the US too, but it was used pretty frequently in media when I was a child and growing up with that meaning of an unmarried young girl or woman. Interesting to know it comes from German, but most of English comes from some other language XD; mostly just meant to comment on how cute and punny it is as a title, since it is an American film, and we do use that word in that way.

[@Gamer478]

Another Marvel movie, Thor: Ragnarok has a different Titel in Germany. Thor: Tag der Entscheidung (Day of judgement)

[@jenjen3041]

Tag der Entscheidung is the translation of Ragnarok tho

[@sschmidtevalue]

That makes some sense - Ragnarok is (very roughly speaking) a Norse equivalent of the biblical judgment day.

[@mccardrixx5289]

Ffffreshes Gelaber und Gequatsche!!!! Weiter so

[@misschris5846]

With respect to the movie, "Wild Hogs", I wanted to add this fact in case you did not already know. Why do they call a motorcycle a hog? The Harley-Davidson team's mascot was a small pig, which they would take around the track with them on victory laps. ... It is because of this mascot that Harley-Davidson motorcycles are called "hogs." By the way, I stumbled upon your KZbin channel and love it!

[@nataliehanke6391]

The English title of the 2004 French movie "Chorists" was a direct translation from the French "Les choristes". However, its German title is, for some reason, "Die Kinder des Monsieur Mathieu", which means "The children of Monsieur (Mister) Mathieu".