Alternative (and bizarre) titles

Probably you've already watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, haven't you? (It's one of my favorite 1980's comedies). But do you know what is the title of the movie here in Brazil? Curtindo a vida adoidado - something like Enjoying life insanely. What the hell? And how about the unforgettable 1970's series Charlie's Angels? As Panteras, i.e. The (Female) Panthers...

The "creativity" has no limits, as you can see. I think the mainly reason behind that weird, inaccurate renaming in Portuguese is an alleged commercial appeal. Local entertainment distributors have made up those titles because they take for granted that the ones fabricated by them would be able to attract bigger audiences than a bare translation would do. Recently, I've got puzzled by two of those... er... "inventive" names.

Truth - a James Vanderbilt's film, starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford, released in 2015 - has become Conspiração e Poder (or Conspiracy and Power) here in Brazil. Wouldn't it be easier and simpler just using the word Verdade (truth, in Portuguese)? Maybe I'm wrong but the acts of a team of journalists (and their consequences), as well as the media responsability, are the central theme of this movie. Verdade would be a proper title in Portuguese, since the storyline discusses, in a sense, the concept of truth in journalism.

The most bizarre renaming, however, is found in the series Black-ish.

The awesome ABC show has come to be Família Desajustada (i.e. Troubled Family or Dysfunctional Family). You gotta be kidding me...

Hands talk a lot in Brazilian Portuguese

Terminator (model T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is about to leave a gas station convenience store (taking goods out) when the clerk, worried and a little bit angry, tell him: "Hey, are you gonna pay for that?". And the robotic tough guy replies: "Talk to the hand!".

I don't know about you, but the first time I've heard that expression (check out its meaning here) was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Nobody talks to hands, of course, but we can talk with our hands (and I'm not referring to sign language).

Some gestures are rapidly understood in many countries because they have the same meaning, regardless the nationality or slight cultural differences (well, at least in the West). A few nods are immediately comprehensible as soon as someone make them. Thumb up is a positive thing in any place, I guess, and all of us know that a index finger in front of someone's puckered mouth is asking for silence.

However, some gestures of certain countries are so peculiar that it's necessary explain them. Take a look at this enjoyable Babbel's video about 7 common brazilian gesticulations (I make them - except the last one - all the time, it's true!).