History Main / CulturalTranslation

* In the American dub of ''Series/{{Tweenies}}'', the song "Five Currant Buns" song has its' lyrics changed to be about rasin buns, likely because currant buns aren't as common in the United States as they are in the United States.

* The following references from ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' have been changed for the show's German dub:
** In the episode "Spelling Applebee's", references to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Spelling Tori Spelling]] are replaced with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_O%27Donnell Rosie O'Donnell]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allen Tim Allen]]. One reference to Creator/EllenDeGeneres is also replaced with Creator/JodieFoster.
** In the same dub of the episode "Little Orphan Hero", [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Biv_DeVoe Bell Biv DeVoe]] is replaced with Creator/MarilynMonroe.
** In "Super Nanny", Captain Hero's line "Auf Wiedersehen, Frenchie!" is dubbed over with "Vaya con dios, darling!"
** ''Film/ForrestGump'' is mentioned in place of Jose "Daddy Long Legs" Martinez in "The Lemon-AIDS Walk".
** In "Wooldoor Sockbat's Giggle-Wiggle Funny Tickle Non-Traditional Progressive Multicultural Roundtable!", Wooldoor asks Clara, "[[Literature/DavidCopperfield David]] oder [[Literature/DavidCopperfield Copperfield]] (David or Copperfield)?", in which Clara replies, "Copperfield." In the original, he asks her, "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_magic Street]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas,_Nevada Vegas]]?", which she gives "Vegas" as an answer. In the same episode, the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan is mentioned in place of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denny%27s Denny's]].
** In "Mexican't Buy Me Love", [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Biv_DeVoe Bell Biv DeVoe]] is once again replaced, but this time with the Music/PussycatDolls.
** In the original version of "Lost in Parking Space, Part One", when thinking of names beginning with "Captain," Foxxy lists Cap'n Crunch as one of them. While in this dub, she lists ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|and the Planeteers}}'' instead. In the same episode, Captain Hero refers to his right hand as his Creator/StephenHawking hand, where he refers to it as his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dole Bob Dole]] hand in the original. This is due to Dole's obscurity in Germany.
** In "Lost in Parking Space, Part Two", the reference to ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is dubbed out, and is instead replaced with ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lou_Retton Mary Lou Retton]] is replaced with Music/BritneySpears in "Breakfast Food Killer".
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiznos Quiznos]] is referenced in the original "Toot Goes Bollywood". But in this dub of the episode, UsefulNotes/McDonalds is.
** In the episode "Freaks & Greeks", the "Seacrest" in Ling-Ling Hitler bin Laden Seacrest replaced with Küblböck, a German pop-singer and actor who achieved short-lived celebrity in 2003, in the media-circus that surrounded the first season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS), the German version of Pop Idol.
** In the first two seasons, the words "Jew" or "Jewish" were often censored. The Jewish Producer, for example, is in Germany known as "Geldgeiler Produzent" ("geldgeil" is German and means he has a ''Main/MoneyFetish'')
* The Italian dubbed version of the ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' episode "Freaks & Greeks" has the "Seacrest" in Ling-Ling [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] [[UsefulNotes/OsamabinLaden bin Laden]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Seacrest Seacrest]] replaced with [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obama]].
** In the episode "Mexican't Buy Me Love" in the same dubbed version, one reference to Music/JenniferLopez replaces the mentioning of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_James_Olmos Edward James Olmos]].
* In the Hungarian version of "Little Orphan Hero" on ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', Captain Hero sings Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "Under the Bridge", whereas in the original he sings Five for Fighting's "Superman (It's Not Easy)".
* The Russian dub of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' had references to Russian commercials and reality shows inserted into it, replacing some of the more obscure references to American culture.

* The earliest case of Quebec localization would be the ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', where not only were the voices dubbed locally, but many character and place names were changed to make them sound more "Quebecois", even if this made them different from the European French dubs. Fred Flintstone was renamed Fred Caillou (a small rock) in Quebec, while in France he was named Pierrafeu (or "Pierre a Feu", the French for Flintstone). And Mr Slate, the owner of the stone quarry, was cleverly renamed "Mr Miroc", a reference to a ciment company operating in Quebec at the time. The show kept the European French name of "Les Pierrafeux", however.

** In the German dub of the episode "Parasite Lost", the parasites in Fry's intestines greet the miniaturized heroes with ''"Welcome to Darmstadt"'', which is an actual German city whose name has changed over centuries to now sound exactly like "intestine city".
** ''Futurama'' also parodied the pandering variant in the episode ''Reincarnation'', part of which was done in a pastiche of a badly-dubbed 80's anime. Several distinctly Asian landmarks (by which we mean exactly the same one, used repeatedly) were shown with English text directly superimposed over their names, reading things like "Omaha, Nebraska".
* The English version of the US Acres quickie following the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "Attack of the Mutant Guppies" has the guppies wanting to guest star on ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies''. In the Spanish version, the guppies wish to appear on ''Sabado Gigante'', a long-running Spanish variety show that dates back to 1962.

* The Danish dub of the Creator/CartoonNetwork TV series ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee'' changed several references to America to Danish ones, including references to Jutland, Zealand and other Danish areas.

** Downplayed with WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries. In the Danish dub Sabrina lives in Grøndal, which is not only an actual city in Denmark but a literal translation of Greendale.
* The European Portuguese dub of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' used this extensively, one notable example being changing Bugs Bunny's [[RunningGag wrong turn at Albuquerque]] to Vila Franca de Xira, and Foghorn Leghorn's Texan accent to an Alentejan one.

** In the Spanish dub it is Levi Strauss ([[FridgeLogic Levi Strauss underwear?]]) because there was no foreign underwear brand that was particularly famous in Spain at that time. Ditto for the Italian dub.

* ''Film/MenInBlackInternational'' features a scene where M stares at an alien-monitoring screen that features celebrities who are secretly extraterrestrials, to which High T claims "It's never who you think it is". In the original, it's Music/ArianaGrande, Elon Musk, Creator/JJAbrams and Creator/DonaldGlover. But internationally it changes according to the country, including Piers Morgan in the UK, Jerome Boateng in Germany and Sérgio Mallandro in Brazil.

* For the French dub of ''Film/ScaryMovie'', in the opening where the girl originally said ''Film/{{Kazaam}}'' is a scary movie due to Shaq's bad acting, she instead says ''Film/SpaceJam'' and Michael Jordan.

** The Québec dub is generally considered to be about as good as the original (if you can get over Homer having a deep, gruff voice), replacing some celebrity appearances with local ones when it fits, and generally making it sound both natural and very close to the original. This also works in favor of the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]", where Bart not being able to understand French is changed to Bart not being able to understand the overly-formal Parisian French instead of his usual Québecois French.

* ''Film/PercyJacksonAndTheLightningThief'' has a scene where Hades turns into a BigRedDevil and Grover asks "Please, stay in the Music/MickJagger thing!" The Brazilian dub changes the reference to local singer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9_Ramalho Zé Ramalho]], [[https://twitter.com/MauTadeuu83/status/1345089730132791296 who does resemble him more]] (after all, Mick Jagger doesn't use a beard).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' was co-produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/IlluminationEntertainment, and released in the United States before it did in Japan due to the latter's involvement. The "Super Japanese version" of the movie replaces the English script with one written by Nintendo for Japanese audiences. Changes include reducing the sarcasm and "Amerikan Jooku" (jokes), more use of Japanese [[{{Pun}} wordplay]], more subtle use of honorifics, and [[DubPersonalityChange minor changes to characters' personalities.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' was co-produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/IlluminationEntertainment, and released in the United States before it did in Japan due to the latter's involvement. The "Super Japanese version" of the movie replaces the English script with one written by Nintendo for Japanese audiences. Changes include reducing the sarcasm and "Amerikan Jooku" (jokes), more use of Japanese wordplay, more subtle use of honorifics, and minor changes to characters' personalities.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'':
** In the French dub, Marty's [[ImMrFuturePopCultureReference brand name]] was changed from Calvin Klein to Pierre Cardin (which can be confusing, as Pierre Cardin is more commonly associated to ''haute couture'' than affordable underwear).

* Several {{Brit Com}}s have successfully undergone Americanization, including ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'' (turned into ''Series/ThreesCompany''), ''Series/SteptoeAndSon'' (''Series/SanfordAndSon''), and most famously ''Series/TillDeathUsDoPart'' (''Series/AllInTheFamily'', and in Germany as ''Series/EinHerzUndEineSeele''). More recently, ''Series/{{The Office|UK}}'' has been as successful on the left side of the pond as the right. An American version of ''Series/TheITCrowd'' was dropped after the first viewing. ''Series/QueerAsFolk (UK)'' was script-recycled into ''Queer as Folk (US)''.

** A three-part episode features the vencidad's residents on a vacation in Acapulco. When it was dubbed for Brazilian viewers, Acapulco became Guarujá for second and third parts but remained Acapulco for the first one.

* In addition to [[{{Bowdlerize}} censoring certain scenes]], American version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' also changes some Australian terms. "Thongs" are refered to as "sandals", and "capsicum" is changed to "pepper". These changes also apply to the American releases of the tie-in books.

* ''La Chica de Ayer'' (''Yesterday's Girl'', a reference to [[http://youtu.be/qEIjZHPplG4 a classic 80s pop song]]), a Spanish remake of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''.
** And the upcoming Italian version ''29 Settembre'' (''September 29th'').

* An odd case with ''Film/StrawDogs'' and its 2011 remake. The original was directed by Creator/SamPeckinpah and starred Creator/DustinHoffman, both Americans, but took place in the UK. The remake will take place in the Deep South, swapping the negative portrayals of rural Englishmen for negative portrayals of American rednecks.

** In the Japanese dub, Shrek's original Scottish-ish accent is rendered as a KansaiRegionalAccent (due to analogous cultural associations between the two accents).

* The Russian dub of ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' replaced the song Wayne sings to attract the dragony alien with Alla Pugacheva's song ''Iceberg''. The result was hilarious. (It's a love song addressed to a man, to begin with...) "And you're so cold, like an iceberg in the ocean..."

* Creator/FrancoisTruffaut's [[TheFilmOfTheBook film version]] of ''Film/{{Fahrenheit 451}}'' is set, surprisingly, in England, whereas the novel is set in the United States. It's never stated, but everyone has UsefulNotes/BritishAccents (except the Austrian star actor), the post boxes and houses are very [[TheSixties period]] British, [[http://www.retrosellers.com/images/F451.jpg the clothes]] are as well, and the children in the school (one of the last survivors after TheGoodOldBritishComp was created the previous year) chant "Twice two is four, twice three is six..." Americans generally say "two times two", not "twice", when doing math.

* In the ''Film/SeventeenAgain'' trailer, Michael says to his friend, "You look like Clay Aiken!". In the Russian version of the trailer, his line was replaced with "You look like Music/EltonJohn!". Apparently, this is done because most Russian viewers don't watch ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and have absolutely no idea who the hell Clay Aiken is, while Elton John is quite famous. But the problem is that this guy does resemble Clay and in fact ''doesn't'' look like Elton.

* In the Brazilian dub of ''Westernanimation/TheIncredibles'', the teacher trying to prove Dash put a tack in his chair was given a Portuguese accent.

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' film, the character of [[Characters/CarsFirstFilm Guido]] speaks only Italian, except for a heavily accented "Peet stop!" For the Italian dub, Disney wanted to keep the "language barrier" gag, and did so in a unique way. While the rest of the characters were dubbed into standard Italian, Guido wasn't. Instead, he was dubbed into the very distinctive local dialect of Modena (home to Ferrari, which Guido and especially his partner Luigi ardently support in-universe).

** The German dub of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' translates the UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan reference "It is morning again in America" (even in the afternoon) as "Amerika erwache!" (America, awaken!), a variation on "Deutschland erwache!", a slogan of the NSDAP during their rise to power. Naturally, this doubled as a TakeThat at Reagan, who had caused controversy in West Germany with his deployment of [[UsefulNotes/PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower Pershing II missiles]] in the country and his 1985 visit to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, which saw him speak at a German military cemetery in Bitburg where 49 members of the Waffen-SS were buried.

** In ''Shrek 2'', the Brazilian dub changed the reference to Music/ShirleyBassey (when Donkey says that a bush looks like her), mentioning the Brazilian singer Fafá de Belém instead. It also changed the reason why the bush resembles the singer: in Bassey's case, it's the arms pose; in Fafá's case, it's the [[GagBoobs bust size]].

* Literature/TheBible: As the the Bible has been translated multiple times across many languages and for many different cultures, some attempts at this have been made:

* A ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' sketch spoofed this, with Creator/PhilLaMarr as a wrestling agent who helps ''[[MaskedLuchador luchadores]]'' get into American wrestling organizations. He spends most of the sketch trying to convince his client that, regardless of how much it speaks of his strength and honor in Spanish, "El Asso Wiper" is ''not'' going to be a successful name in the US. [[HereWeGoAgain The sketch ends with him asking his secretary to send in "Senor Bag-O-Crap"]].

* The moose in the Portugeuse dub of ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' are voiced by "Toni" & "Zezé", another comedic duo. Their RunningGag of [[StylisticSuck poor grammar]] comes up near the end. Doubles as a Woolseyism, as there was no way to match the correct sentence, "Eu gosto de ti" to the movements of "I like you".

* In foreign editions of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', four points of Steve's list of things he missed while being frozen[[note]]More precisely, the ones that in the North American English version are covered as ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Creator/SteveJobs, Disco music and either the moon landing or the Berlin Wall, depending on the version[[/note]] are replaced with popular stuff from the country the dub comes from, chosen via polls on the various international Facebook pages. In the British version, for example, the points are Music/TheBeatles, Creator/SeanConnery, ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''[[note]]which raises the question of who plays Sherlock and John in the MCU, since [[CelebrityParadox Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman both appear in the MCU]][[/note]] and the 1966 Football World Cup finals. In the foreign versions of this list, ''Franchise/StarWars'' is not penned out like in the North American version. Other countries' versions can be seen [[http://luciawestwick.tumblr.com/post/82010300995/do-you-remember-the-scene-where-steve-shows-page here]].

* In foreign editions of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', four points of Steve's list of things he missed while being frozen[[note]]More precisely, the ones that in the US version are covered as ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Creator/SteveJobs, Disco music and either the moon landing or the Berlin Wall, depending on the version[[/note]] are replaced with popular stuff from the country the dub comes from, chosen via polls on the various international Facebook pages. In the UK version, for example, the points are Music/TheBeatles, Creator/SeanConnery, ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''[[note]]which raises the question of who plays Sherlock and John in the MCU, since [[CelebrityParadox Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman both appear in the MCU]][[/note]] and the 1966 Football World Cup finals. In the foreign versions of this list, ''Franchise/StarWars'' is not penned out like in the US version. Other countries' versions can be seen [[http://luciawestwick.tumblr.com/post/82010300995/do-you-remember-the-scene-where-steve-shows-page here]].

** The huge character overhaul is somewhat mitigated as the original JewishMother theme can be found also in Italian culture, so to Italian viewers Sylvia-Assunta's [[MeddlingParents relentless interference in Fran's life]] was perfectly normal, especially as the family was portrayed as coming from a rural and old-fashioned area.

** Conversely, the show wasn't changed for the British, and whilst the Jewish love for Streisand is easily understood, the lack of existence of the JewishMother trope except for in imported US media means that examples of it are accepted as MyBelovedSmother or MeddlingParents at the best of times, downright confusing at the worst.