Rumour has it...

... is the apt title of the equally named movie. You have to give him his due: Rob Reiner knows romantic comedy. But that's beside the point. Our point is the German title "Wo die Liebe hinfällt...". I guess, I will never figure out, why German movie titles are so often a complete miss when it comes to a striking title. Especially in this case. A literal translation would have been "Es wird gemunkelt, (dass)...) " or "Gerüchteweise". If they need the title to be short, easy to remember and capturing the story's basic idea, even the literal translation wouldn't have been all that bad here. With a little creative freedom, you might as well have found "Gerüchteküche" not too far from the original. Or e.g. "Was man sich erzählt" or "Gerüchten zufolge..." and so on.

To me, the final translation doesn't even remotely follow any conceivable criteria. Neither is the title short, nor does it sum up the plot. And as far as translation is concerned, it is a whole different idea than what the English title says.

Other examples of German title for English movies, just as faulty in my opinion:

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind - Vergiß mein nicht
Something's Gotta Give - Was das Herz begehrt
Must Love Dogs - Frau mit Hund sucht Mann mit Herz

What other examples do you know?

Technorati Tags: english, german, translation errors