#en only

[EN] Okay, so I was lying in bed doing nothing but existing, and I suddenly remembered how well-chosen names were in Polish dub of Powerpuff Girls.

First of all, the title: Atomówki. This word (atomówka), already in diminutive form, no less, is a colloquial term for... an atom bomb. So, perfect right from the start. Then the girls: Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are Bójka, Bajka and Brawurka.

And I love these names, they just roll off your tongue, especially first two. Bójka is "a fight", bajka (just one letter off) means "a fairy tale", perfectly encapsulating their personalities Brawurka is not a word, but it is just a made-up diminutive of brawura - "recklessness" or "bravado", also perfect fit.

prof Utonium is Atomus, btw. And Mojo Jojo is... Mojo Jojo, no need to reinvent the wheel.

One other villain's name is just too good not to mention: Fuzzy Lumpkins, who became Feler Lumpeks.

Feler means "flaw", "defect" or "bad luck", it is an old-fashioned word. Lumpeks is a semi-derogatory name for second-hand used, usually quite ugly, clothes store. And again, very good choice.

[EN] Another bit of trivia because we're riding on never-ending Pnf s5 hype rollercoaster: Candace in Polish dub is Fretka, meaning ferret.

...

No, really. Once again, like with Amity-to-Anita switcheroo in TOH, this is probably due to Polish female names having to end with "a". I was today years old when I found out that Candace HAS a Polish variant: Kandaka, she appears in the Bible, as the Queen of Mars Ethiopia.

Then we have Stacy, translated as Stefa, which is a shortened version of Stefania (Stephanie), which is very often used as a nickname and gives off major bff vibes, great translation imho.

And then there is Perry, translated as... Pepe.

Unfortunately, the name Pepe has been forever cursed by the meme used by you-know-whom, but our poor platypus protagonist has nothing to do with it, even though the Boys Club comic predates the show. (if you want to know more, I recommend Feels Good, Man documentary).

I am neutral on this change; the name Perry does not appear in Polish, Pepe is used a diminutive for a few P-starting ones, like Piotr (Peter) so it fits imho. If PnF wikia is to be trusted, his name was also changed in a few other dubs.

Oh, an of course there is O.W.C.A, Organisation Without Cool Acronym...

...except that acronym is cool. If read in Polish. Owca means sheep. So not only, it has a meaning, it fits!

The translated version is O.B.F.S - Organizacja Bez Fajnego Skrótu, which is not a cool acronym indeed.

But-but-ohmygod, you guys, imagine a hypothetical third language in which OBFS has a meaning!

[EN] Some people are confused by the new Avatar movie being called "The Legend of Aang", mimicking Korra's series. Surely, the entire ATLA series is the legend of Aang, right...?

And I say...

...if you watched it in Poland.

Yup, in our country, there was no "airbender" in the title, as it might confuse the audience, and it would require a new word or translation. So, they went with Legenda Aanga.

The whole "-bending" bit was also problematic. In Book 1 and 2, it simply became "magic". So Katara is a "water mage" (mag wody), Aang is Air mage (mag powietrza), and Sokka is... also there.

And by the way, that worked out great. I've watched Avatar in Polish originally, and it sounded well.

However, in delayed Book 3, the translation was changed. And Magia was replaced by...tkanie. Which means "weaving".

And it is awkward as flip. Katara is magicking, not weaving!

The Netflix series is titled Awatar: Ostatni władca wiatru - Avatar: The last Master of Wind.

To start with, Avatar is spelled Awatar, because we don't actually have letter 'v' in Polish alphabet. 'W' takes its role and is pronounced thusly.

The Netflix series goes back-and-forth between the two, calling benders "mages", but bending "weaving". Furthermore it uses a term magiczka, to describe female mages (like Katara), a word which I have never seen before. Yeah, making new variants of nouns of different gender can be weird in Polish...

Oh, and the "master of wind" was also in the title of the 2010 movie WHICH WAS NEVER MADE HAS NEVER EXISTED AND CONTINUES TO BASK IN ITS NONEXISTENCE. THERE IS NO AVATAR MOVIE EXCEPT THE ANIMATED ONE WHICH IS NOT OUT YET AND IT IS NOT 3.4 GIGABYTES IN SIZE. ALL GLORY TO THE CACTUS JUICE.

[EN] If you have watched Dragon Ball Z, then you surely know this fella:

This is Cell, an incredibly powerful villain, genetic abomination of dr Giro. And when fighting, he... er... he...

Well, yes, he absorbs other people and their abilities. Basically he takes this idea:

to a truly lovecraftian level.

But I want to talk about his name change in the (in)famous Polish RTL7 dub. His name there is Komórczak. Cell is Komórka in Polish and if you are an avid reader of this blog, you can see right away why direct translation wouldn't have worked. Komórka ends with a, meaning it's a feminine noun. Not exactly fitting.

But what is Komórczak, then? Well, according to wikipedia, it is multinucleate cell, i.e. a cell with MULTIPLE nuclei... which is so idiosyncratic with Cell's style of fighting.

MORE importantly, the name just SOUNDS evil. It can be seen as an augumentative of komórka, and the suffix -czak implies it's a creepy creature (compare: pajęczak, mięczak, kurczak - arachnid, mollusk/molliusca, chicken wait chicken are not creepy they are delicious).

And that is an excellent example of creative translation imho, not only retaining the original, but including part of his evil nature to enhance the name.

In the manga, sticking very close to original, he is just Cell, though.

And, well, yes, one day I am doomed to talk about the beloved and/or simultaneously hated Polish and French dub of DB. Why? Well...

[EN] I'm sure most of you are aware of the movie Secret of NIMH, a tale of brave rodent exploring the strange world of rats exposed to psychological experiments, based on real-world events. And the movie draws you right from the title with the mysterious NIMH acronym. What is that?

Well, it is National Institute of Mental Health, which just happens to be abbreviated right into what could pass as a name from a tolkien-esque fantasy.

I wanted to know how that was translated into Polish. And right from the start, I ran into a problem: there are two different versions of it.

The old, voiceover-only, sold on VHSs one, completely bypasses NIMH and is titled Dzielna Panie Brisby - Brave Mrs Brisby. In that version, NIMH is PIP - Państwowy Instytut Psychiatrii- National Psychiatric Institute.

The second, imho, superior dubbed version, is called Tajemnica IZBY - The secret of IZBA. And here is the neat translated bit: The word izba actually means something. It's an old-fashion word for "room". And it is an acronym, for Instytut Zdrowia i Badań - Institute for Health and Research. In that version, they translated Brisby as Potulna - Docile.

So, what are you gonna do now with this pointless trivia?

[PL] Krótka notka o tym, jak przetłumaczono NIMH w dwóch polskich wersjach.

[EN] Okay, so I fell into a bit of rabbit hole. I think most of you are familiar with children's game "X loves me/X loves me not", where one person plucks the petals of a flower, trying to determine if their crush reciprocates said feelings.

Except, the English version is... boring.

There are only two options. Love exists on a broader spectrum, come on, guys, it's [current year]!

Well, it turns out other languages have better variants.

French: Elle m’aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout

which means: he likes me a little, a lot, he loves me passionately, madly, not at all - that gives 5 options! (source)

Then comes...

Russian: Любит - не любит, плюнет - поцелует, к сердцу прижмет - к черту унесет.

Which means: Loves or doesn't love, will spit (upon me) or will kiss (me), will clasp (me) to breast or will ~make (me) to go to hell - so that is 6 options! (source)

But the winner with most regional DLCs is...

Polish: Kocha, lubi, szanuje; nie chce, nie dba, żartuje; w myśli, w mowie, w sercu, na ślubnym kobiercu.

Which means: Loves, likes, respects; doesn't want, doesn't care, mocks; in mind, in speech, in the heart, and on the wedding carpet (aisle runner). - that is 10! Ten options!

Now, I say "winner", because of course, again, I am limited by what I can altavista, and Polish wikipedia has a whole list of these variants... with very few citations. So if you can find a better one - feel free to comment! And the boring, binary vanilla version is present in aforementioned languages.

[EN] That is because... there is also no Amity. And no, for once, this not an example of homophobia and gay erasure, since there is Anita. It is not uncommon for dubs to alter/change names for similar, better-sounding ones, especially if there is a local variant of that name (for example English Anne vs. Polish Anna). This is especially often in case of female names, as those, plus feminine nouns in Polish pretty much ALWAYS end with "a". Yes, we have gendered nouns, yes, all bottles wear pink aprons in Polish too.

In this case, though, as far as wikis and other sources I've found can be trusted, these two names are not related - Amity comes from Latin word for friendship, while Anita is a diminutive form of Anne.

As far my brief searches go, Lunita as ship name is used, but is nowhere near as popular as official Lumity. Still, certified, hecking cute.