Adaptation is not just translation. When it comes to idioms, slang, jokes or cultural references, it may even be wise to stray from the original meaning, in order to convey the spirit more effectively.
Joke names and puns, from English to French: Meet the Parents and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
In Meet the Parents and its sequels, many jokes revolve around the name of Ben Stiller's character: Gay Focker. However, even if a French audience understands the vulgar connotation behind the name, they may not react to it the same way they would in their own language. In the French version of the film, the character's name was changed to Greg Furniker. The obvious equivalent of "Focker" would have been "Nikeur", but the way actors pronounce the name on screen makes it clear that the first letter is an F.
Another example of joke adaptation: in Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Johnny Depp asks Danny Trejo: "Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?", a pun that cannot possibly be translated into French. The adaptation boldly turns it into "Es-tu un Mexicain ou un Maxicon ?" which means "a Mexican or a huge jerk", while still preserving the play on sounds.
Expressions and phrases: movies adapted by BZZ Video
The two following examples are taken from movies that we had to adapt from English to French. In both cases, we felt that all the suggestions made by AI were inappropriate, and decided to change the sentence in order to preserve the underlying idea and tone.
In a courtroom drama, a character asks if he's going to get a fair trial. The answer he receives is: "Fair is a place where they judge pigs."
The double meaning only works in English, since both fair and pigs can be understood in different ways. The best subtitle AI came up with was "Les foires jugent les cochons. Les tribunaux aussi.". After giving it some thought, we went with "Les avocats sont vite pourris", which changes the whole sentence but keeps the idea of corruption in the courtroom through a play on words ("avocat" means both "lawyer" and "avocado").
In a sci-fi action movie, the following sentence is shouted before a fight with androids: "What do you say we go Hercules on these I, Robot wannabes, huh?"
The reference to Hercules was important, but translating the sentence literally would have sounded contrived and made it much longer than the original. The AI suggested a few variations, the best being: "Ça te dit qu’on passe en mode Hercule sur ces copies de I, Robot ?"
It didn't sound quite right, and didn't convey the fun tone of the original. So we opted for the more playful "Et si on bottait l'Hercule de ces Terminators de pacotille ?". Here, the name Hercule becomes part of a pun inspired by the French expression “botter le cul”, while the reference to Terminator sounds more natural than I, Robot in French.
Adapting humor is less about carrying meaning across languages than about recreating its effect in a new cultural space. When jokes rely on sound, wordplay or shared references, direct translation often collapses, forcing the translator to be creative rather than replicate. Choices may also differ between subtitles and dubbing.