History Main / TranslationWithAnAgenda

* Michael Wood's ''In Search of Alexander'' documentary, following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, gets a subtle one in thanks to a pointed translation of his Greek guide Arrian. When Wood reaches what he believes to be the site of the famous Battle of Gaugamela in Iraq, he gets out his copy of Arrian and describes Alexander's preparations for war - most prominently offering up prayers to the gods Phobos and Deimos for their aid the next day. Traditionally Phobos and Deimos are translated as something like "fear" and panic" or "terror" and "disarray", but here, in the middle of Iraq, not long after the end of the second Gulf War, Wood chooses to translate them as "shock and awe"...

* ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'': In order to better motivate a crowd of Muslims to support the Bolsheviks, Zinoviev uses this trope to replace Reed's call to class war with a call to jihad.

* A famous, and somewhat universal, joke has a translator interpreting what a captured rich man is saying, and vice versa his captors. Repeated demands for the location of a treasure, threatening the hostage's life, only get the answer "I won't tell." from the hostage -- until one of the bandits draws a weapon, at which point the hostage shouts where the treasure is hidden. The (clearly greedy) translator looks at the other bandits, and says "He says you don't have the balls to shoot him, boss."

* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'', the title character notices something strange in the translations of the Rus soldiers captured in the Imperial invasion of their territory, and has her second lieutenant, a HeroicRussianEmigre, to sit around one such interrogation and give her unbiased translation. Sure enough, the military translators are exaggerating the soldiers' hardline Communist leanings - whatever worry they have about the invasion has very little to do with political leanings. Irritated at how the translators are obsessively conflating the Rus people with Communism, she makes a private suggestion to her superiors to dispense with the Army's in-house translators and switch to Imperial scholars.

* An episode of ''Series/IntoTheWest'' sees a dispute over a cattle between some Mormon caravaners and a local Lakota village. When US troops arrive to settle the dispute, they find that the only person who can speak Lakota and English is a drunk scout who intentionally mistranslates what the Lakota chief is saying to portray them as more belligerent than they are. The Lakota know something is amiss but can't get their point across to the officer in charge. [[DownerEnding The whole situation ends with the massacre of the Lakota village.]]

* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}''

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', the HK-50 droids masquerade as protocol droids (who among other things work as translators) to spread anarchy and war by ruining diplomatic confrontations. Judging by some of the cut content (where you see the place they're manufactured and trained), they are not at all subtle about it, often opening conversations with vile insults and overt threats they attribute to their "masters".
* in ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxSaveTheWorld'', Sam is tasked as the translator between Whizzer and the president, [[CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator despite the fact that both speak English]]. The president nonetheless insists that he can't understand anything Whizzer says, so Sam has to deliberately mistranslate in order to accomplish his goals.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Averted, but the aversion itself is an agenda. The normally-insular Batarian Hegemony makes a point of providing up-to-date glossaries and language rules to the rest of the galaxy, in order to facilitate the spread of their propaganda.

* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', we have Zimmy, who translates for the Polish-speaking Gamma. Zimmy has a tendency to "translate" a lot of what other people say into insults, to prevent Gamma from making friends with anyone else, and thus keep her around.

* An editor for Commie, an anime {{fansub}} group, {{exaggerated|Trope}} this with the ED for the last episode of ''Manga/InugamisanToNekoyamasan''. [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=dew8BrYc5WY He altered the lyrics]] to express his hatred of the show and regret of picking it up in [[https://imgur.com/a/ajFdc not very subtle terms:]]
--> Woof, woof, woof, IT'S FINALLY OVER\\

* Creator/JamieMarchi is known for engaging in this with Creator/{{Funimation}} simuldubs she helps write. Funimation's responses to her doing so are all over the place; sometimes they undo her political inserts, sometimes they keep and defend them. Examples:
** The simuldub of ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' changed a line from,
-->'''Tohru:''' What's with that outfit?\\
'''Lucoa:''' Everyone was always saying something to me, so I tried toning down the exposure. How is it?\\
'''Tohru:''' You should try changing your body next.
::to this,
-->'''Tohru:''' What are you wearing that for?\\
'''Lucoa:''' Oh those pesky patriarchal societal demands were getting on my nerves, so I changed clothes.\\
'''Tohru:''' Give it a week, they'll be begging you to change back.
** Their dub of ''Manga/MyFirstGirlfriendIsAGal'' completely rewrote the context of episode 7 to make it a TakeThat towards UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump and VisualNovel fans, with the latter in particular being dismissed as misogynists.
** Notoriously, a Gamergate reference in their ''Manga/PrisonSchool'' simuldub was ultimately removed for the home release.

* The official English version of the [[YaoiGenre BL]] {{Otokonoko|Genre}} manga ''Manga/IThinkITurnedMyChildhoodFriendIntoAGirl'' by Creator/SevenSeasEntertainment[[note]]who already has a history of [[DubInducedPlotlineChange removing and/or altering content]] in the media they've licensed[[/note]] [[https://ethylene.mangadex.com/review-i-think-i-turned-my-childhood-friend-into-a-girl-volume-1/ made numerous changes to the script]] in an attempt to pass off [[WholesomeCrossdresser male crossdresser Hiura]] as a transgender woman (even referring to him with feminine pronouns after a certain point), despite it being explicitly stated numerous times in the original story (and [[https://www.pixivision.net/en/a/6692 by the original author]]) that Hiura still identifies as male despite his crossdressing. The translation also completely excises a joke[[note]]Hiura getting confused when he gets hit on, and thinking he's being panhandled instead[[/note]] to have Hiura [[AuthorTract go on an unprompted rant about misogyny]]. The backlash from readers was so severe that Seven Seas eventually issued an apology and a redo of the first volume, but the damage was already done and the manga [[OvershadowedByControversy primarily became known in the wider internet for this incident]].
* Discotek Media's official release of the ''Manga/LovelyComplex'' anime accepted unpaid volunteer work from a [[Creator/BrendanBlaber freelance translator]], who introduced a ''lot'' of changes into the dub, [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757046901084729455 which the translator described at length in a public blog post.]] Apart from "making things less transphobic" (by heavily rewriting parts of the story relating to the male-to-female transgender character Seiko), the changes made in his draft included rewriting/interpreting the lead characters Risa and Otani as "a psychopath who doesn't understand empathy" and "being in a cycle of abuse without realizing it", respectively. Fans were not happy when these motivations for script changes were revealed, and Discotek [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757135274457354738 released a statement]] with an apology, distancing themselves from the translator's actions. Oddly, the most infamous request, that the manga author's CreatorCameo be removed, did not make it into the release.
* Boy, did Italian dubbers during The70s love their ships.
** ''Manga/CandyCandy'': While it was probably because of fan backlash, the Italian editors of ''Candy♡Candy'' [[GeckoEnding rewrote]] the ending [[spoiler: into Candy and Terry reuniting again, even though in canon she [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy decided]] that Susanna was the one for him and she's with Albert at the end. Creator/KeikoNagita leaving her love interest ambiguous in ''Candy Candy: The Final Story'' doesn't help things, though]].
** ''Anime/VoltesV'': [[spoiler: While the Japanese version establishes that [[EvilPrince Prince]] [[TheDragon Heinel]] and [[LadyAndKnight Katherine]] [[MoralityPet Rii]] are already in love (and both have a bad case of CannotSpitItOut), the Italian dub rewrites Heinel (or, shall we say, [[DubNameChange Sirius]]) to be more lovey-dovey, such as calling her his lover and her death being the reason for his suicide. In contrast, his Japanese counterpart was a {{tsundere}}.]]

* The first German translator Rolf Kauka of the ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' comics in the 1960s, under the name ''Siggi und Babarras'', made a few rather controversial changes. The little village in Brittany was moved to the Rhine and renamed "Bonhalla" (a pun on the German capital Bonn and Walhalla), the Roman occupiers from [[UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} Natolien]] spoke with an [[EagleLand American accent]], the Goths [[PaintingTheMedium spoke in red letters]] to imply that they were DirtyCommunists, and there were frequent references to German politics (both [[UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic West]] and [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East]]). The translation generally had a rather right-wing slant. Goscinny and Uderzo were not amused and terminated their contract with Kauka and commissioned a new, more faithful and much beloved translation. Kauka would go on to publish his own comic series ''Fritze Blitz and Dunnerkiel'', which was clearly inspired by ''Asterix''.

* The Italian dub of ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' has replaced the humour with near-incomprehensible political jokes.
* The Italian dub of ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' adds one line about workers' strikes for no reason in particular.
* There is an old German dub from the 1950s of ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', which bizarrely excises all references to Nazism and cuts those scenes that would have been obvious even without the dialogue. Thankfully a later dub was made that is more faithful to the original.

* While the book has never been translated fully, at least some of the controversy regarding ''Literature/TheSatanicVerses'' in the Arabic speaking world can be attributed to the fact that the title was sometimes deliberately translated using the word "ayat", which specifically means the verses of the Quran as opposed to its more general English title.
* Paweł Łęczycki - a 17th century Polish Bernadine monk - was the translator of Giovanni Botero's travelogue ''Relazioni universali''. Apart from fixing some of Botero's errors in the sections relating to Poland, Łęczycki also seemingly added some content reflecting his biases--e.g. in a listing of Greater Poland's major cities he added a bunch of cities which happened to house Bernardine convents, and in the section on Russia he put in [[TakeThat a bunch of mean jabs]] at the country.
* The Polish translation of Tony Judt's opus magnum ''Postwar'' was released in Poland with one section filled with the publisher's comments on particular excerpts. Although the text proper remained faithful to the original, quite a few notes and observations made in said comments may appear somewhat unnecessary if not downright political in nature. Aside from correcting genuine historical mistakes, most of them obviously relating to Polish history, the publisher does shove their two cents into, for instance, some of Judt's less than enthusiastic remarks on Pope John Paul II, calling those "controversial at best".
* Creator/CSLewis's ''Miracles'' was translated into Japanese by a [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Baptist]] translator who {{Bowdlerized}} a few passages to make it seem as though Lewis was TheTeetotaler and a non-smoker. Lewis suspected that the changes were made on doctrinal grounds that he didn't agree with-- in person, Lewis was an Anglican who was an avid beer drinker and pipe smoker.
* Maria Davanah Headley's translation of Literature/{{Beowulf}} is a consciously feminist take on a classical poem, and she took some liberties in her translation to give the text a feminist slant. Most obviously, Grendel's mother, usually assumed to be a hideous monster like Grendel himself (based on the ambiguous term "aglæca", a word used to describe Grendel, his mother, and other monsters), is spoken of simply as a ferocious warrior woman (based on the fact that Beowulf, definitely human, is also described as "aglæca" at two points in the poem).
* Like the Bible, the Quran is equally at the mercy of translators. [[http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/through_the_looking_glass_hilali_khan_quran_translation The American Muslim]] explicitly warns mosques against accepting "free" copies of Quran translations:
--> This translation may have been "free" monetarily, but there is certainly a high price to pay for such an extremist interpretation.

-->'''Original lines''': -When will I meet this gentlement? - He's already nearby... Please join forces wih him... and save Magical Land...
-->'''English lines''': -Champion? How will I recognize her? -This is the 80's, hon. It's a him. And he's white. Except when he's Asian. It's complicated.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The English localization for the "Special Delivery" quest portrays Finley and Sasan's relationship as reciprocally romantic, something lacking in the Japanese version; and inserts entire sentences of dialogue in an attempt to justify the romance as being OK on the grounds of Finley (a Zora child) being older than Sasan (an adult Hylian).
* A script editor for the Dynamic-Designs FanTranslation group known as Wildbill is fairly notorious for this kind of thing, having a nasty habit of inserting obnoxious far-right political screeds into the scripts he did the editing work for. One-text-box lines of dialogue are often expanded into several boxes worth of ranting about how looters are good-for-nothing leeches on society, or how government-provided healthcare is a terrible idea, or whatever chip Wildbill had on his shoulder that week. Proof we're not making this up: the obscure SNES EasternRPG ''Shell Monster Story'' (''Daikaijū Monogatari'') was altered to insert [[https://twitter.com/suprise_news/status/833844342368378880 rants]] against single payer healthcare, turning the villains into "socialists" and the ACLU, and having the villain defeated by the [[HijackedByJesus power of the villagers' faith in Jesus Christ]]. Perhaps surprisingly, none of this originally featured in a Japanese-made game about hermit crabs from 1994.
* The English translation of ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes 2'' adds an extra sentence to the end of Neo Geegus's victory line, turning it into a political joke:
->''The strong rule. The winners are just. That is my belief. But then again, I think the Democrats can save America.''

* Discotek Media's official release of the ''Manga/LovelyComplex'' anime accepted unpaid volunteer work from a [[Creator/BrendanBlaber freelance translator]], who introduced a ''lot'' of changes into the dub, [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757046901084729455 which the translator described at length in a public blog post.]] Apart from "making things less transphobic" (by heavily rewriting parts of the story relating to the male-to-female transgender character Seiko), the changes made in his draft included rewriting/interpreting the lead characters Risa and Otani as "a psychopath who doesn't understand empathy" and "being in a cycle of abuse without realizing it", respectively. Fans were not happy when these motivations for script changes were revealed, and Discotek [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757135274457354738 released a statement]] with an apology, distancing themselves from the translator's actions. Oddly, as fans found out later, none of these proposed changes made it in the final dub.

* Discotek Media's official release of the ''Manga/LovelyComplex'' anime accepted unpaid volunteer work from a [[Creator/BrendanBlaber freelance translator]], who introduced a ''lot'' of changes into the dub, [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757046901084729455 which the translator described at length in a public blog post.]] Apart from "making things less transphobic" (by heavily rewriting parts of the story relating to the male-to-female transgender character Seiko), the changes made in his draft included rewriting/interpreting the lead characters Risa and Otani as "a psychopath who doesn't understand empathy" and "being in a cycle of abuse without realizing it", respectively. Fans were not happy when these motivations for script changes were revealed, and Discotek [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757135274457354738 released a statement]] with an apology, distancing themselves from the translator's actions.

* In Numbers 24, the KJV also explicitly translated an animal's Hebrew name to "unicorn" in the context of a lion and a "unicorn" symbolizing a people cherished by God and destined for greatness. Unicorns were not known in ancient Israel, so artistic license applied here. Guess [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom whose national insignia is a lion and a unicorn]]... and the KJV was an English translation.

* ''Literature/JulianComstock''. TheNarrator finds a letter belonging to a death Dutch soldier and asks one of his officers what written on it. The officer replies that the writer is saying how he hates Americans. The letter is actually the kind you'd expect form a soldier fighting overseas--telling his wife he misses her and griping about the lousy war and the weather.

* Discotek Media's official release of the ''Manga/LovelyComplex'' anime accepted unpaid volunteer work from a [[Creator/BrendanBlaber freelance translator]], who introduced a ''lot'' of changes into the dub, [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757046901084729455 which the translator described at length in a public blog post.]] Apart from "making things less transphobic" (by heavily rewriting parts of the story relating to the male-to-female transgender character Seiko), the changes included rewriting/interpreting the lead characters Risa and Otani as "a psychopath who doesn't understand empathy" and "being in a cycle of abuse without realizing it", respectively. Fans were not happy when the motivations for these changes were revealed, and Discotek [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757135274457354738 released a statement]] with an apology, distancing themselves from the translator's actions.

* In Discotek Media's official release of the ''Manga/LovelyComplex'' anime, the freelance translator introduced a ''lot'' of changes into the dub, [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757046901084729455 which he described at length in a public blog post.]] Apart from "making things less transphobic" (by heavily rewriting parts of the story relating to the male-to-female transgender person Seiko), the changes included rewriting the main characters Risa and Otani as "a psychopath who doesn't understand empathy" and "being in a cycle of abuse without realizing it", respectively. Fans were not happy, and Discotek [[https://twitter.com/Scratch_Point_Z/status/1757135274457354738 released a statement]] with an apology, distancing themselves from the translator's actions.

* During the reign of UsefulNotes/HenryVIII in England, this was a tool that powerful people used frequently to get their point across in a way that was seen as graceful. When Henry was trying to divorce his first wife Catherine, and replace her with Anne Boleyn (who allied herself with the Protestants as part of her effort to become queen), both of them commissioned scholars to translate certain books from Latin, and Italian poetry that was in vogue at the time, such as Petrarch, and they chose books that presented ideas that made their cases look favorable. These weren't books unheard of in English -- or example, one such book that Catherine sought to commission was one that she already owned copies of in English, Latin, and her native language of Spanish. But having her name on a new (and somewhat skewed) translation as patron would boost her cause.

* In the English localization of ''VideoGame/GhostwireTokyo'', one line of dialogue said by KK in the original, where he vaguely replies with some form of "who knows, really" when Akito asks if he stole his bow, was replaced with a political "all property is theft, kid." Notably, Bethesda responded to the backlash in the ''Spider's Thread'' update a year later by having the line rewritten and re-recorded so that it's closer to the original.