Bootleg DVD covers provide some decidedly creative translations of film descriptions.

After writing this blog for over four years, I was starting to think I had covered about every example of mistranslation possible. Mangled menus, incomprehensible signs, counterproductive product instructions -- been there, done that.

Then a Language Translation Inc. staff member tipped me off to a Huffington Post slideshow of poorly conceived bootleg DVD covers.

As you can see in the above photo, where Scarlett Johansson is curiously lost in the movie “Finding Neverland,” illicit DVD covers provide some pretty funny examples of cultural confusion.

Many of the amusing problems on these DVD covers stem from poor translation or language use. Was it machine translation, bad human translation, or just no translation that produced this hilariously incoherent write-up in which Batman somehow becomes Spiderman?

Another linguistic error that seems to be common on “unofficial” DVDs is citing reviews without giving much thought to the remarks chosen. On one cover, the Hilary Duff flick “The Perfect Man” is noted for its “idiotic plot”, and the packaging proclaims that the film is “to be endured rather than enjoyed.”

Then again, they may not be that far off there.

Betty Carlson

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