It’s SOP in Thailand for Hollywood movies to be marketed under two titles — one English, one Thai. This is often the source of some amusement for better-educated Thais. In 1997-1998, there was a rumour (false, I believe) that in the Northeast region of Thailand, Titanic was being marketed as ชู้รักเรือจม (Chū́ Rák Rʉa Com) — ‘Adulterer Loves, Boat Sinks’. A friend of mine considers that joke offensive and ‘a dirty lie’ because it plays into prejudices about the weak intellects of Northeasteners. Every country’s got its Alabama.

Well, all jokes aside, Lost in Translation has been released on DVD with the Thai title หลง เหงา รัก (Lǒŋ Ŋǎu Rák) — ‘Lost, Lonely, Love’. Sweet Jesus, that tickles my irony bone.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 August 2005 at 15:55 and is filed under Translation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.