Foreign language names of Disney characters
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:21 am
NON-ENGLISH NAMES OF DISNEY CHARACTERS
The thread about watching films in their “native tongue” and the older one about international Disney titles made me think of another interesting topic. Perhaps people could share their information on how character names have been translated into other languages.
Since I didn’t want the topic to be lost in the International DVD section I posted it here for all to read. Feel free to discuss any Disney related films (animated, live action, shorts) and their character/place names.
Some of the names below have been influenced by already existing book translations (Alice, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh) but on the other hand some have been made specifically for Disney films and comics. At least in Finland character and/or place names even in children’s books are not translated unless there are strong grounds for doing so. For example when the readers/listeners are very young, the original name is impossible to pronounce, or the name implies a meaning. Central characters are usually left untouched whereas with more marginal characters one can do almost anything. In the Finnish Harry Potter books, for example, the names of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore etc. are as in English, but character or place names that are more animated or descriptive (like Hogwarts, Snape) have been translated with similar word plays.
Of course there is a big difference between books and films. Since animated films are dubbed for child audiences the names need to be easy enough to pronounce, and it would also help if the translation was in lip sync with the original. Sometimes they manage to get the effect, sometimes they don’t.
There are several different approaches to translating names in Disney films. Here are the ones that I’ve found so far:
1. no translation at all, perhaps some adjustment in typing (Frollo = Frollo)
2. literal translation (Sleepy = Unelias ‘sleepy’)
3. similar sounding name in the target language (Meeko = Miiko, pronounced exactly alike)
4. similar meaning (Happy = Lystikäs ‘funny’)
5. completely fabricated name (Mike Wazowski = Masi Pallopää 'ballhead')
Here are some (hopefully interesting) examples from the Finnish language versions of Disney films:
(original name = Finnish name ‘its meaning in English’)
Christopher Robin (from Winnie the Pooh) = Risto Reipas ‘Chris Brisk’ (reipas meaning brisk, energetic)
Thumper (from Bambi) = Rumpali ‘drummer’
Tinkerbell (from Peter Pan) = Helinä ‘tinkle, jingle’, also a common first name
Chip (from Beauty and the Beast) = Kippo ‘small bowl’, also sounds quite like Chip
Cogsworth (BatB) = Könni (the surname of a 19th century clock maker; a type of grandfather’s clock is actually called könninkello ‘könni’s clock’)
Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) = Ruusunen ‘diminuitive of rose’
Flounder (The Little Mermaid) = Pärsky ‘splash’
Herbie the Love Bug = Riemukupla ‘joybubble’ or ‘joybug’, the nickname of VW Beetle is Bubble in Finnish
Goofy = Hessu Hopo (Hessu is/was a commonly used nickname which also sounds like hassu , 'funny, silly'; Hopo sounds almost like hoopo ‘silly, goofy’ or hepo ‘horsie’)
And although Peanuts is far from being a Disney production, I just have to mention the following gem of a translation:
Woodstock = Kaustinen (after a Finnish folk/world music festival which takes place in a town called Kaustinen; the word ending –nen is actually very common in Finnish surnames)
The thread about watching films in their “native tongue” and the older one about international Disney titles made me think of another interesting topic. Perhaps people could share their information on how character names have been translated into other languages.
Since I didn’t want the topic to be lost in the International DVD section I posted it here for all to read. Feel free to discuss any Disney related films (animated, live action, shorts) and their character/place names.
Some of the names below have been influenced by already existing book translations (Alice, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh) but on the other hand some have been made specifically for Disney films and comics. At least in Finland character and/or place names even in children’s books are not translated unless there are strong grounds for doing so. For example when the readers/listeners are very young, the original name is impossible to pronounce, or the name implies a meaning. Central characters are usually left untouched whereas with more marginal characters one can do almost anything. In the Finnish Harry Potter books, for example, the names of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore etc. are as in English, but character or place names that are more animated or descriptive (like Hogwarts, Snape) have been translated with similar word plays.
Of course there is a big difference between books and films. Since animated films are dubbed for child audiences the names need to be easy enough to pronounce, and it would also help if the translation was in lip sync with the original. Sometimes they manage to get the effect, sometimes they don’t.
There are several different approaches to translating names in Disney films. Here are the ones that I’ve found so far:
1. no translation at all, perhaps some adjustment in typing (Frollo = Frollo)
2. literal translation (Sleepy = Unelias ‘sleepy’)
3. similar sounding name in the target language (Meeko = Miiko, pronounced exactly alike)
4. similar meaning (Happy = Lystikäs ‘funny’)
5. completely fabricated name (Mike Wazowski = Masi Pallopää 'ballhead')
Here are some (hopefully interesting) examples from the Finnish language versions of Disney films:
(original name = Finnish name ‘its meaning in English’)
Christopher Robin (from Winnie the Pooh) = Risto Reipas ‘Chris Brisk’ (reipas meaning brisk, energetic)
Thumper (from Bambi) = Rumpali ‘drummer’
Tinkerbell (from Peter Pan) = Helinä ‘tinkle, jingle’, also a common first name
Chip (from Beauty and the Beast) = Kippo ‘small bowl’, also sounds quite like Chip
Cogsworth (BatB) = Könni (the surname of a 19th century clock maker; a type of grandfather’s clock is actually called könninkello ‘könni’s clock’)
Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) = Ruusunen ‘diminuitive of rose’
Flounder (The Little Mermaid) = Pärsky ‘splash’
Herbie the Love Bug = Riemukupla ‘joybubble’ or ‘joybug’, the nickname of VW Beetle is Bubble in Finnish
Goofy = Hessu Hopo (Hessu is/was a commonly used nickname which also sounds like hassu , 'funny, silly'; Hopo sounds almost like hoopo ‘silly, goofy’ or hepo ‘horsie’)
And although Peanuts is far from being a Disney production, I just have to mention the following gem of a translation:
Woodstock = Kaustinen (after a Finnish folk/world music festival which takes place in a town called Kaustinen; the word ending –nen is actually very common in Finnish surnames)
). On the Saludos Amigos Spanish soundtrack they call Goofy Bucéfalo which i don't know what on earth it means. A variation of Buffalo? I think one word for head is encéfalo, so head like a buffalo? In any case it sounds funny-ish like Goofy 
) Languages are very organic and maleable 
What i find funny (well to my ears) is how they pronounce some unstranslated names like Spiderman. As in Speederman