torchwood episode titles in italian and what they mean learn italian via torchwood with iot
season one Everything Changes is Tutto Cambia Day One is Primo Giorno (first day) Ghost Machine is La Macchina dei Fantasmi Cyberwoman is La Donna Cibernetica Small Worlds is Le Fate Cattive (the evil faries) Countrycide is Il Villaggio degli Orrori (the village of horrors) Greeks Bearing Gifts is Un Amore Venuto da Lontano (a love that came from far away) They Keep Killing Suzie is Continuano a Uccidere Suzie Random Shoes is L'Occhio Alieno (the alien eye) Out of Time is Fuori dal Tempo (meaning physically, it looses the "running out of time" connotation) Captain Jack Harkness is Il Capitano Jack Harkness End of Day is La Fine dei Giorni
season two Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is Il Ritorno (the return/comeback) Sleeper is L'agente Dormiente (sleeper agent) To the Last Man is Fino all'Ultimo Uomo Meat is Carne Adam is Adam Reset is Reset Dead Man Walking is La Mietitrice di Anime (the reaper of souls, death is female in italian) A day in the Death is Tra la Vita e la Morte (between life and death) Something Borrowed is Un Matrimonio Memorabile (An unforgettable wedding) Adrift is Alla Deriva Fragments is Frammenti Exit Wounds is La Fine e il Principio (The ending and the start)
miracle day The New World is Il Nuovo Mondo Rendition is Esecuzione (execution) Dead of Night is Nel Cuore della Notte Escape to L.A. is Fuga a Los Angeles The Categories of Life is Infiltrata (infiltrator, as in moles, as in someone who is a double agent and does the job from inside, specifically feminine in this case) The Middle Men is Intermediari Immortal Sins is Peccati Immortali End of the Road is Amore Eterno (eternale/immortal love) The Gathering is Il Raduno The Blood Line is La Fine del Miracolo (the end of the miralce)
commentary honestly im glad they kept most of them the same and changed basically all the ones that do not make sense in italian because they're idiomatic - like for example we dont have the Something Borrowed tradition so they couldnt play on that, which sucks because it does lose the word play with the tradition but also borrowing gwen as a host and the faces of the wedding hosts, this too happens in a lot of episodes like Countrycide or Greeks bearing Gifts, where they couldnt translate the world play or the idiomatic english phrase (they kept it in Dead of Night! the translation for that one is "the heart of the night" which means the same thing, even if the play on "dead" is lost) - i think they should have changed Out of Time too because completely loses the connotation of "running out of time" in italian. i do like how they changed Exit Wounds because it really reflects the episode even tho i do really love the original
I saw this yesterday and felt inspired to do the same in German, so let's go
torchwood episode titles in german and what they mean
season one Everything Changes is Wie alles begann (how everything started) Day One is Tag eins Ghost Machine is Die Geistermaschine Cyberwoman is Cyberwoman Small Worlds is Aus dunkler Vorzeit (from dark prehistoric times) Countrycide is Erntezeit (Harvesting time) Greeks Bearing Gifts is Timeo Danaos... They keep killing Suzie is Sie haben Suzie schon wieder getötet! Random Shoes is Das sechste Auge (the sixth eye) Out of Time is Die Gestrandeten (the stranded) Combat is Faustrecht (the law of the fist) Captain Jack Harkness is Captain Jack Harkness End of Days is Das Ende aller Tage
season two Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Sleeper is Invasion To the Last Man is Bis zum letzten Mann Meat is Fleisch Adam is Adam Reset is Nebenwirkungen (side effects) Dead Man Walking is Untot (undead) A Day in the Death is Aus dem Leben eines Toten (from a life of a dead man) Something Borrowed is Die Braut, der vor nichts graut (the bride who isn't scared of anything) From Out of the Rain is Sie kamen aus dem Regen Adrift is Verschollen (missing or lost, usually at sea) Fragments is Offenbarungen (revelations) Exit Wounds is Wundmale (wound blemish, scar?)
miracle day The New World is Eine neue Welt Rendition is Vergifted (poisened) Dead of Night is Der unbekannte Feind (the unknown enemy) Escape to L.A. is In der Höhle des Löwen (in the lion's den) The Categories of Life is Kategorien des Lebens The Middle Men is Befreiungsaktion (rescue operation) Immortal Sins is Sünden der Vergangenheit (sins of the past) End of the Road is Die drei Familien (the three families) The Gathering is Die Quelle (the source) The Blood Line is Unsterbliches Blut (immortal blood)
commentary: Timeo Danaos is apparantly comes from the latin saying "Timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentēs" which can be paraphrased as "I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts" but I would say that it's in general an unknown saying in German (even the version "Danaergeschenk" which according to wikipedia is the German phrase for this) I do really like the German translation of Countrycide because that word play doesn't work there but I do believe that harvesting is referenced multiple times in the episode so it has quite a sinister meaning in that regard. The something borrowed tradition also doesn't exist here but I don't really like the translation? It rhymes but I don't like the German word for bride that much. Otherwise I like the translation of Combat and Fragments. Oh, and I think calling Exit Wounds Wundmale is interesting because I wouldn't say that's a standard word? The direct translation would have been Austrittswunden, so that could have been chosen. And a Wundmal is a mark left by a wound i.e. a scar but the more natural translation of scar would have been Narbe. "-male" makes it feel heavy, though. Maybe because it is such an unusual word. And finally, I think it's funny that the German version of they keep killing Suzie got an additional exclamation mark. Genuinely no idea why that happened
