History Main / LostInTranslation

* The ''WebAnimation/TouhouM1GrandPrix'' is a BokeandTsukkomiRoutine with many puns that lose comedic effect when accompanied by a WallOfText trying to [[DontExplainTheJoke explain them]].

* The ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7887728/1/Shatterpoint Shatterpoint]]" reveals that this is basically the reason Clark assumed that Jor-El intended him to conquer Earth when he first translated the message sent in his ship (as seen in "[[Recap/SmallvilleS02E17Rosetta Rosetta]]". As Raya explains to Clark, Jor-El's translation program lacked cultural context, so the symbol meaning 'Rule' is a variation of the common term, with the specific symbol in the message intended to reflect the idea that Clark was to ''guide'' humanity rather than tyrannically conquer it.
* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In “The Autobiography,” Bolt tries to memorialize his life story into a computer file using a speech program. It translates his attempts as barking sounds.
* In ''[[https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/i_want_to_spoil_you#1 I Want To Spoil You]]'', a ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' doujin, Kyouko asks Mami to call her by her first name. Mami starts to say "Kyou..." but does a LastSecondWordSwap to say that they're having nice weather today, since "Kyou" is "Today" in Japanese. The pun doesn't translate well into English, so the translators had to put in a note to explain it.

**

** In the ''Literature/BookOfEsther'', teenage girls are kidnapped from all over the Persian Empire and taken to the palace, receive free treatments with cosmetics and essential oils for one year, and are presented to King Xerxes (who will then select one of them to be his new primary queen to replace Vashti, who he had killed for treason because she refused to come to his banquet in the nude). The girls are referred to as virgins (which, given that they're teenagers, and most of them come from patriarchal honor-shame cultures assimilated into a larger one, they probably are). In particular, a large part of Esther's appeal is said to be her [[NatureAdoresAVirgin purity and chastity]]. Why that [[NotLikeOtherGirls sets her apart from all the other girls]] who were kidnapped for this purpose is...[[FridgeLogic unclear]]. There is some disagreement as to whether the word translated virgins means ''literal'' virgins or simply "teenage girls."

Some {{Dub Name Change}}s may cause this, and some {{Blind Idiot Translation}}s can, as well. May result in (or be caused by) a WidgetSeries.

* Cuatro, a TV station from Spain has decided to translate ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' as ''Invasión Jurásica'' (Jurassic Invasion). This would be a great title if not for the fact that there isn't a single Jurassic critter in the whole damn series.
** Possibly carrying on the tradition of ''[[strike:Cretaceous]] Franchise/JurassicPark''.

%% * Two Disney series during that time, ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' and ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', had '''literal''' ones in their episodes, ''[[TitleDrop Lost In Translation]]'' and ''Lost And Found in Translation'', respectively. Both are PlayedForLaughs.

** A ''big'' one at the end of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3'', which effects one of the games most important bits of dialogue. [[spoiler: Right before the final execution, [[BigBad Tsumugi]] declares that, having ultimately failed like Junko Enoshima did, she can ultimately take pride in herself as a cosplayer. While she says this, however, the furigana says "copy-cat criminal", ''heavily'' implying that that was her true talent all along, and that what she had done wasn't cosplay at all, but imitating real crimes.]] This trick however is completely nonreplicable in English, however, so the localization instead mashes the line into [[spoiler:"Cosplaycat Criminal]], a phrase which robs the intended WhamLine of most of its impact, and causes [[spoiler:Shuichi's speculation in the epilogue that Junko Enoshima and everything else from the franchise being RealAfterAll]] to make far less sense.

* The dubbing of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' for Latin America has drawn heavy criticism for many reasons, but among others; simply disregarding the source material and making up jokes, using too many Mexican local expressions (generally voice actors in dubbing tend to avoid that and use standard Spanish) and changing the meaning of some jokes apparently thinking that the Latino viewer is not going to get it. For example, when the guys bought a replica of the machine used in ''Film/{{The Time Machine|1960}}'', the Spanish dubbing changed the jokes to make references to ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. Like no one in Latin America knows what The Time Machine is.

** A ''big'' one at the end of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3'', which effects one of the games most important bits of dialogue. [[spoiler: Right before the final execution, [[BigBad Tsumugi]] declares that, having ultimately failed like Junko Enoshima did, she can ultimately take pride in herself as a cosplayer. While she says this, however, the furigana says "copy-cat criminal", ''heavily'' implying that that was her true talent all along, and that what she had done wasn't cosplay at all, but imitating real crimes.]] This trick however is completely nonreplicable in English, however, so the localization instead mashes the line into [[spoiler:"Cosplaycat Criminal]], a phrase which robs the intended WhamLine of most of its impact, and causes [[spoiler:Shuichi's speculation in the epilogue that Junko Enoshima and everything else from the franchise being RealAfterAll]] to make far little sense.

** In the French edition of ''Asterix in Britain'', the Briton chieftain's name is Zebigbos, which is "the big boss" in a French accent. While this can be understood fairly well by most English speakers, the translators changed it to Mykingdomforanos, which is a pun on "my kingdom for a horse" in their local accent, but is [[AccentDepundent confusing]] to anyone outside of certain regions of England.

** While Christian tradition holds that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, some scholars have pointed out that the word used in Isaiah 7:14 (which supposedly predicts the birth of Jesus and was later referenced in the Gospel of Matthew) is "almah", which more accurately translates to "young woman" and does not necessarily imply virginity. However, the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14 uses the word "parthenos" here, which ''does'' imply virginity. This remains a subject of considerable debate among scholars, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement which is all we're going to say about that.]]

** While Christian tradition holds that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, some scholars have pointed out that the word used in Isaiah 7:14 (which supposedly predicts the birth of Jesus and was later referenced in the Gospel of Matthew) is "almah", which more accurately translates to "young woman" and does not necessarily imply virginity. However, the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14 uses the word "parthenos" here, which ''does'' imply virginity. This remains a subject of considerable debate among scholars, [[Administrivia\RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement which is all we're going to say about that.]]

** While Christian tradition holds that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, some scholars have pointed out that the word used in Isaiah 7:14 (which supposedly predicts the birth of Jesus and was later referenced in the Gospel of Matthew) is "almah", which more accurately translates to "young woman" and does not necessarily imply virginity. However, the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14 uses the word "parthenos" here, which ''does'' imply virginity. This remains a subject of considerable debate among scholars, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement which is all we're going to say about that.]]

* The English home page of Website/TVTropes describes itself as being "a ''buttload'' more informal" than Website/{{Wikipedia}}, a turn of phrase which is nearly impossible to translate into other languages (and indeed seems not to have been) because of all the implications about the speaker and slight differences between different words used in English for bottom.

* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': One joke that loses its touch in English is Deep telling his friends something his brother's brother told him, and Pian replies "That's your brother right?" Deep could be his own brother's brother in English, but the word for brother used in Malay is "abang", used for ''older'' brothers specifically, which rules Deep out as his "brother's brother" in the Malay audio.