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Thursday, January 7th, 2021

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Country/Language and attribute for literal titles

When submitting a literal translation into English of the original title of a movie, should the ”Country/Language” be set to the country of origin (the country whose title is being translated into English) or should it be set to “International: English title”?

Either way, it will be clear that the title is a translation into English if the attribute has “literal English” in it, so I’ve never been sure what I’m supposed to do for the Country/Language in these cases.

Though the above question is my main concern, I would also like to know what the difference is between “literal English title”, “informal literal English title”, “literal title” and “informal literal title” and when each of them should be used?

The present definitions of them are very inadequate for telling them apart; as far as I can tell from the definitions there, they all mean the same thing: a translation into English of the title in the country of origin which has not been used as an official English title anywhere. Why are there four attributes which can all mean the same?

The “literal title” and “informal literal title” could perhaps be used for translations into languages other than English – but if they will do for other languages, then why do we need to have others that are only for English?

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5 years ago

I can only comment on your 1st paragraph: "When submitting a literal translation into English of the original title of a movie, should the ”Country/Language” be set to the country of origin (the country whose title is being translated into English) or should it be set to “International: English title”?"

You should identify the language of the title being submitted. Think: how will IMDb software match this with people who need it? Translations are used when people request display other than the original title.

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@bderoes So, I think you mean that the Country/Language should be set to “International: English title“ when the title is a translation into English, regardless of which country’s title it’s translated from?

That still leaves the question of which attribute to use.

If the Country/Region already indicates that the translation is into English, why is there an attribute that repeats that it’s in English?

And why is there need to specify that the literal translation is “informal”? If the translation was in use as an official, formal title, then it would have the attribute of “imdb display title” or one specifying which medium it was used in.

(edited)