Fast & Furious

Challenges in translation

"Ejecto seato, Cuz!"

RRoman Pearce,
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
The Fast & Furious Franchise

- Began with The Fast and the

Furious in 2001; Hobbs &
Shaw is the most recent
(2019)
- Consists of 8 main films and
1 spin-off
- All films box office gross
total: over $5.1 billion
Why is translation important?

Worldwide franchise

Latin Americans make up the majority of box

office sales in North America (followed by
Caucasions, African-Americans)

Fast & Furious 7 is the EIGHTH highest grossing

film worldwide, OF ALL TIME (80% of the box
office revenue was international)
Problem with Translation

SLANG

Strong use of idioms and

colloquialisms

Minor swear words

Language “from the hood”

Some US pop culture references

These don’t translate well...

“Hit the iron” “Ejercer”

“American muscle can’t drift” “Los autos de EE.UU. no se deslizan”

“Got your panties in a bunch” “Estás muy alterado”

“Of all people” “Incrediblemente”

“Knock it down a couple notches” “Llama menos la atención”

“I got dibs” “Yo ya la pedí”

“Showtime” “Ya comience la función”

Swear words...forget about it

“Save your ass” “Salvarte el cuello”

“Shit” “cosa,” “cosas locas,” “demonios,”

“diablos”

“You scared the shit out of me” “Casi me matas de un susto”

“Kick your ass” “Golpearle”, “patearle el tresero”

“Hell” Basically non-existent...

 Why does it
matter?
Action is fun, communicating
culture is HARD
 Terms
Sources “Punch it!” Compacten! “Well, well, well” Vaya, vaya, vaya

Information/Stats “You’re whipped Tienen cara de “You’re insane” Estás demente

already” mandilones

- Billboard.com - Latin American “My, my, my” Vaya “Lock it up” Terminemos
viewership of Fast & Furious
- Box Office Mojo - Fast & Furious “Blow it!” Fuego “Hook ‘em up” Engánchelos
- Hilarious Bloomberg article with
stats “Strike!” Chuza “Could make Podría causar
some waves” problemas
Terminology Resources “You’re freaking Estás aterrado, “You know what Me entiendes?
out ain’t ya?” verdad? I’m saying?”
- Challenges in Translation
- Issues in Film Title Translation “Crew” Equipo “Stick around” No te vayas
- ProZ - idiom translations
- WordReference - forum section “I won’t let you No te defraudaré “Buddy” Campeón
down”
- SpeakingLatino - resource for
slang, idioms “Homie” Hermano “We made it” Llegamos

“Bullocks” Estupidez “Showtime” Ya comience la

función