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Mordum

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15 Oct 2016
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Hello.
This is my first post/query, I have 7 Japanese movie titles that I'd like to get a second opinion on translations I've seen for them, I don't speak Japanese at all, but I have been searching through a bunch of Japanese websites trying to nail down the correct way in which these titles should be translated into English. I believe Google translate and similar translation tools only give a 'literal' translation and I'm guessing translating Japanese into English is much more complicated than that.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling here's the first title.
マンホールの中の人魚
The English translation I've read is Mermaid In A Manhole. I believe that is correct as a literal translation, but when watching the film, Mermaid In The Sewer, Mermaid From The Sewer or even Mermaid Down A Manhole would seem more apt. Is the literal translation correct, or are there more levels of interpretation when trying to translate the Japanese language?
If anyone could offer any help I'd really appreciate it and I'll post the other six titles.
 
Hello.
This is my first post/query, I have 7 Japanese movie titles that I'd like to get a second opinion on translations I've seen for them, I don't speak Japanese at all, but I have been searching through a bunch of Japanese websites trying to nail down the correct way in which these titles should be translated into English. I believe Google translate and similar translation tools only give a 'literal' translation and I'm guessing translating Japanese into English is much more complicated than that.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling here's the first title.
マンホールの中の人魚
The English translation I've read is Mermaid In A Manhole. I believe that is correct as a literal translation, but when watching the film, Mermaid In The Sewer, Mermaid From The Sewer or even Mermaid Down A Manhole would seem more apt. Is the literal translation correct, or are there more levels of interpretation when trying to translate the Japanese language?
If anyone could offer any help I'd really appreciate it and I'll post the other six titles.
All of those are reasonable translations. There is no "correct" answer in this case. It usually comes down to what the translator feels is best. A different translator might choose differently.
 
All of those are reasonable translations. There is no "correct" answer in this case. It usually comes down to what the translator feels is best. A different translator might choose differently.
Thanks for the reply, that does explain why I've seen some Japanese films have so many different titles on various releases.
I probably don't need to waste your time with the rest thanks to your input already, but I'll post just two more of the six I have just to see what your thoughts are and I'll leave it at that.
戦慄! 死なない男
The existing English title for this release was He Never Dies, I believe the literal translation is along the lines of Horror! (or Shock!, Shudder!) The Man Will Not Die. Both pretty much mean the same thing, so I guess both are correct. Does it matter that one translation omits the first word, one that is followed by an exclamation mark?
ピーターの悪魔の女医さん
The existing English title for this release was Devil Doctor Woman, the literal translation I think is Peter The Devil Woman Doctor. This one is a lot more confusing for me to come up with a more clearly defined translation. In the film Peter is a cross-dresser, who happens to specialise in many different diseases (although it's not made clear whether he is an actual doctor or just our narrator/presenter). Is the term "woman/female" present in the title to refer to his cross-dressing habit? If so could that term be swapped for transvestite? Also, the word Devil in the title is another that I've struggled to clearly understand, could it be swapped for any word that represents evil?
Sorry for the long post, I'll make this the last one on the subject.
 
I moved your posts.

死なない男 is a noun phrase, not a sentence. It's literally a man who won't die, i.e., immortal man.

ピーター is the name of the actor(actress?), so the nuance is "Peter's".
悪魔の works as an attributive "demonic".
 
Is the term "woman/female" present in the title to refer to his cross-dressing habit? If so could that term be swapped for transvestite? Also, the word Devil in the title is another that I've struggled to clearly understand, could it be swapped for any word that represents evil?
Woman is present only in the sense that it says "woman doctor." I don't think there's anything in the title to suggest cross-dressing except perhaps the juxtaposition between "Peter" and "woman doctor."
Yes "devil" (demonic) is not the only acceptable translation. You could say "evil" for example. Satanic. Whatever seems most appropriate.
 
Thanks for the responses, it's greatly appreciated. I've started pondering the idea of learning the language myself, even being able to just read it would be useful to me.
 
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