How movie titles are translated into Polish...

Hello there :)

Today I wanted to share with you my funny experience of Polish translations. I live in Ireland, so I'm used to watching movies in the English language only, but sometimes I have to download subtitles for my parents, so they can watch my movies, too. When I download them, a little sidebar pops up on my laptop screen, and tells me what this particular movie is called in Poland.... and this is the moment when I laugh to tears.

Do you know 'Dirty Dancing'? It's a Great movie, everyone should see it. I think that those two words, 'dirty' and 'dancing' aren't so hard to translate. Well, in my country someone decided that they were way too difficult, and translated the title into... 'Spinning Sex'. Yes, that's right. Spinning Sex. Since when does dirty mean spinning? I kind of understand the connection between dancing and sex, both activities can be very intimate... but spinning? Someone obviously wanted to make us laugh.

Yesterday I watched 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. It's a beautiful and inspirational movie. To my surprise (or not?) some Polish genius again decided to translate it in another way. This time there was no spinning or sex, but 'In love without memory'. I understand that the original title is quite long, but they could have named it something similar. Something that has a connection with eternal sunshine of a spotless mind. If I didn't download it in English, I would probably have never watched it, because the Polish title only reminds me of a boring romance movie for heartbroken girls, which I sincerely hate.

There are many other examples or translations like those above, and they include movies, books, songs etc.. Do you have the same experience with your language?

Good entry!

Thanks for sharing. You obviously have a good grasp of the English language.

Blake