Comments on: French Titles (Translated) of American TV Shows

By: Live Wire » Blog Archive » Deal?

Live Wire » Blog Archive » Deal? — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:56:43 +0000

[...] I also talked about the theme song for “Mein cooler Oncle Charlie,” aka “Two and a Half Men.” (The first title means “My cool Uncle Charlie” in German.) You can watch the show intro hereÂ – or look how someÂ other American TV show titles are translated into other languages here. [...]

By: Julien

Julien — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:51:04 +0000

Boby, im from belgium they use the same title than france for most of the shows so it's not from here (i guess it's from canada) sometimes we dont event add or translate anything here

You forgot Lost : Les disparus (wich i think translate in Lost : The missing)

If you want a laugh you can check the titlesong from Prison Break or Heroes that TF1 and M6 change for the french broadcast, it's so bad it's insane

By: galadrieve

galadrieve — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:14:09 +0000

Oh yeah, that could be as dumb as that... Why do they always think people are stupid?...

By: Boby

Boby — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:00:37 +0000

I'm french and I leave in France and I found this article very interestig. But I have to say that some of the french titles are not used in France but only in Canada or Belgium. For exemple, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Scubs, Numb3rs had the same title in France than in the US.

After, why CSI:NY became Les Experts : Manhattan and not Les Experts : New York ? This is because CSI franchise and Law & Order franchise are broadcasted on the same netwotk in France (TF1) and like it said in the article, the L&O franchise has benn translated by New York District, Section Criminelle, UnitÃ© SpÃ©ciale. So, with Les Les Experts : New York, there will be many titles with New York and people could be lost. That's why the chose Manhattan instead of New York.

By: galadrieve

galadrieve — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:44:26 +0000

Hi! I have a little question there... Actually, I'm french too, and I noticed this : If CSI and CSI : Miami kept their original location in the french title (les experts, les experts Miami), CSI : NY became Les Experts : Manhattan...
Any idea why?
Because when I asked french people, some of them couldn't replace Manhattan in NY... So I suppose we can't talk about cultural point there... :/

By: Theo

Theo — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:49:18 +0000

I'm French too... "French" titles for Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Scrubs and Numb3rs are used by french-speaking canadian who are more attached not to use english words...

By: Davidous

Davidous — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:27:02 +0000

too many frenchies here ^^

Nowadays, french networks try not to change the original title 'cause it's so numb... or because after that all the french fans go mad!

For example, How I Met Your Mother nearly changed but the french fans wrote to the network and ask them not to put it into a french translation...

By: Nico

Nico — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:11:26 +0000

Hi, I'm french and in fact we have an equivalent to CSI Unit : la police scientifique

By: Julien

Julien — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:37:12 +0000

Hello, I'm Frenc too
"Scrubs", indeed, has been called "Toubib or not toubib", but this title has been quickly renounced.

Good article

By: ichistmeinname

ichistmeinname — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:36:27 +0000

The German title for "Two and a half men" was "Mein cooler Onkel Charlie" (which means my cool uncle Charlie) for the first two seasons, but they changed it to the original one - luckily.

By: FranÃ§ois

FranÃ§ois — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:40:28 +0000

@ Nick : Yep, that's it !

ABC : "Men in trees" --> "Une fille en Alaska" wich means "a girl in Alaska"

Oh, there is a french CSI, RIS : Police Scientifique :
http://www.serieslive.com/fiche_serie-667-ris-police-scientifique.html

(On this website, you find all the shows with the french titles)

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:06:02 +0000

In France, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Numb3rs don't have a different title from the original. Maybe you're refering to the French Canadian title for these three shows.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:03:07 +0000

Thanks for the input, Manuuu. I agree with you that these titles can be cooky. Also i grabbed some french canadian and belgian french titles in addition to just regular french titles. You would be surprised what our friends from French Canada come up with.

By: Manuuu

Manuuu — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:55:58 +0000

I'm french. Desperate Housewives keeps its original title. Grey's Anatomy, Numb3rs and Scrubs too. Ok for the others You can notice Six Feet Under was translated by "Six pieds sous terre", which means... Six Feet Under. Sometimes, our channels aren't too donk they seems to. If you need other translation, you've got my email