strange doctor, abnormal love
Since Babelfish can apparently translate from English to Japanese now, I can finally check on one of my favourite linguistic anecdotes: The title of Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” is “”ŽŽm‚܈Ù?ÂȈ¤?î” in Japanese, which, in turn, translates into English as “the strange love of a doctor”. I am relieved to note that Babelfish confirms my understanding of the Japanese title, as it translates it as “the abnormal love of a doctor”. Either my Japanese grammar isn’t that bad after all, or Babelfish’s Japanese grammar is as bad as mine. And I trust that Japanese cinemagoers are as used to senseless film title translations as Austrian ones.
For the aficionados: Babelfish translates “doctor strangelove” as “ˆãŽÒ‚Üstrangelove”, and “doctor strange love” as “ˆãŽÒ‚ÜŠï–‚Ȉ¤”.