On Friday, David and I went to go see "Up in the Air"...in German. I think the audience found the movie funny and entertaining...but a think several of the jokes didn't quite come through.
The best example is a brief dialouge between George Clooney and an airplane stewardess at the very beginning of the movie?
Stewardess: Do you want the can sir? ( Do you want cancer?)
*blank stare from Clooney*
Clooney: What?
Stewardess: Do you want the can....sir?
From the way that this scene is shot, there is a small pause that is supposed to let the audience know that this is just a bit of black humor.
I found myself chucking a bit, only to realize that I was apparently the only one who got the joke.
When I hear German, it is a natural thing for my mind to translate i
t back to English. However, it German...the scene just isn't funny.In German the word for can is Dose. So in German the stewardess says: "Wollen Sie die Dose?"
Just doesn't have the same ring to it...
Haha, that's pretty funny, "Do you want the can, sir?" I got a good little chuckle.
ReplyDeleteSort of similar experience: I was watching Beauty and the Beast in French. Instead of "Be Our Guest," they sing "C'est la Fete." Which means, "It's a party!" Kinda weirded me out. Of course, they say that because it rhymes - but it bothered me a bit that the meaning was totally different. I suppose that's the trial of every translator: the spirit of the word vs. the letter of the word.
ReplyDeleteConnotations -- inflection --- context -- so many ways to misunderstand -- and now, Amy, you can do it in two languages.
ReplyDeleteHa.