In Japan, movies are released with their unique Japanese titles, called “邦題 (ほうだい / hōdai)”. Rather than translating the title directly into Japanese, the marketing people at Japanese film distribution companies give it a title that is easy to hook people.
For this reason, when you talk about movies with Japanese people, they often have no idea what movie you are talking about… Today I’m going to give you guys some quizzes on Japanese movie titles! How many can you guess?
「レミーの美味しいレストラン」
(れみーのおいしいれすとらん / RemĪ no oishĪ resutoran)
The literal translation is “Remy’s Delicious Restaurants”. Can you guess?
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“Ratatouille”
Remy is the name of the main character mouse.
「アナと雪の女王」
(あなとゆきのじょおう / Ana to yuki no jō-ō)
The literal translation is “Ana and the Snow Queen”.
Too easy…?
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“Frozen”
It is the story of Anna, the main character, and her sister, Elsa, the Snow Queen, which gave it this Japanese title.
「天使にラブソングを」
(てんしにらぶそんぐを / Tenshi ni rabu songu o)
The literal translation is “A love song for angels”. Any thoughts?
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“Sister Act”
I guess it’s a movie about nuns and gospel music, so that’s why they gave it this title. Maybe.
「あの頃ペニー・レインと」
(あのころぺにーれいんと / Ano koro penĪ rein to)
The literal translation is “Back then, with Penny Lane”. Does the name Penny Lane ring any bells?
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“Almost Famous”
Penny Lane is the name of the woman played by Kate Hudson. As far as I could tell from Wikipedia, most non-English countries used the original title or a literal translation, so this kind of title was only available in Japan.
「ミニミニ大作戦」
(みにみに大作戦 / mini mini daisakusen)
The literal translation is “Operation Mini-Mini”. A hint: This movie was released in 1969 and was remade in 2003.
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“The Italian Job”
I think this Japanese title was chosen because there are two car models with “mini” in their names, Mini Coopers and Mini, in this movie.
「ワイルドスピード」
(わいるどすぴーど / Wairudo supĪdo)
The literal translation is “Wild Speed”. Any guess?
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“The Fast and the Furious”
“Fast and furious would not be understood by Japanese people. Moreover, movies about cars are not easy to become a hit. Wouldn’t it be better to use simple English words that the Japanese can understand?” In an interview, the person in charge of the film distribution company said that this was the reason for the name.
How many of the six questions did you answer right? I’ll be back with another quiz because sometimes they change not only movie titles but also song titles to Japanese ones 😉