Something I’ve Been Thinking About Lately: Translatability in Scripts
I’ve been working on a pilot and daydreaming a little about where it could go. And one thing I keep circling back to is how well certain lines or scenes might translate—literally and emotionally—if the show were ever to be seen outside the U.S.
I don’t have a polished answer, but I’m realizing it’s more than just language—it’s about tone, references, even the way a joke is built. Some of the things that feel natural to me might land totally flat in another country (or get lost in translation completely).
I’ve started loosely jotting down what I’d call a “translatability companion”—just a small set of notes for myself explaining phrases, wordplay, or cultural context. Not because I think my work is global (yet), but because I’m trying to write more clearly and intentionally.
Anyway, I’m curious if anyone else thinks about this or has tips for making stories that still feel like you, but might resonate across different cultures and languages. If not, maybe it’s something to play with in the back of your mind while writing.
2 people like this
Hi, Aiden Barr. "Some of the things that feel natural to me might land totally flat in another country (or get lost in translation completely)." Some of those things will probably get lost in translation completely, but there's so many countries, it'd be really hard to know what will get lost in translation completely. I don't worry about that unless I'm writing for a specific producer or director in another country.
"I’ve started loosely jotting down what I’d call a “translatability companion”—just a small set of notes for myself explaining phrases, wordplay, or cultural context. Not because I think my work is global (yet), but because I’m trying to write more clearly and intentionally." Something that helps me make sure my writing is clear and intentional is doing a Visualize Rewrite. It's where I go through the script, visualizing things and making sure everything makes sense.
4 people like this
in the UK I needed to describe something wobbling like a forgotten jelly at a kids party. Jelly doesn’t work for US, Jello doesn’t work for UK, I got stuck on this for soooo long.
2 people like this
Great Idea Aiden Barr
2 people like this
I first wrote my latest screenplay in Swedish. Nobody was willing to buy it, so I translated into English. So I changed some details. The death of prime minister Olof Palme was replaced with the death of Marilyn Monroe. Plus some other details.
4 people like this
I know what you mean, being multilingual it's a given that what might work in one language might not work in another. For example, in English, sarcasm is quite popular. But it doesn't tend to translate well outside of English; for example, it pretty much doesn't exist in Farsi, it'll just sound like you're being rude.
That's why when I write I usually don't concern myself with thinking globally; I just write what I want and whoever likes it, likes it, and whoever doesn't, doesn't. Language-based anything is always going to be exclusionary because that's how language works, and it's the same deal with culture. It's a lot deeper than what you see and hear.
I remember a video I watched a few years ago by The Literature Devil on YouTube about the Netflix adaptation of Death Note and why one point in particular brilliantly demonstrated cultural differences: Light's intelligence. In Japan, being highly intelligent makes you popular with your peers because education and therefore intelligence is deeply valued as an attractive quality. In America, however, being athletic and friendly makes you popular, while being highly intelligent gets you shunned and seen as unfriendly and even creepy. So Light had to become a creepy nerd in this adaptation because being intelligent and popular was VERY hard to swallow or else the story as a whole couldn't work for American audiences. Though I hear it still didn't lol
5 people like this
One Japanese college student in Australia wrote an article about these differences. She said that no sometimes means yes, if you ask enough times, to be polite, and yes can mean no, if saying no directly would be rude. And that she was astonished that the Australian students were not ashamed to give a wrong answer to a teacher, and even spoke Japanese words incorrectly, to Japanese students, with proud smiles. How could they do these things, she asked. There was much more.
4 people like this
Jon Shallit I know exactly what she's talking about lol since Iranian culture has a lot of similarities to Japanese. Hierarchies are a thing as is putting your best foot forward and a general emphasis on selflessness and modesty and whatnot, so a lot of western quirks look very weird in comparison.
On the reverse end, I remember in university I had a Japanese teacher who was actually Japanese and she was a real shock to my classmates' systems since she seemed to take your mistakes personally, so unsurprisingly she wasn't at all popular with them (I was the weird one who loved her for it, even though she seemed to pick on me the most lol [I choose to believe it's because she was going the extra mile and covertly helping me get over my anxiety in addition to improving my Japanese skills]). Not to go hammer on about the experience but you could tell that there was a whole world of difference in mindset between her and my high school Japanese teachers who were lax about mistakes since they were often guilty of them themselves (like their universal inability to correctly pronounce short "e" sounds at the end of words, they always sounded like "ey"). She wanted you to not only be confident, but to actually know the material well, and it was your own fault if you didn't by the time she was done with you. I really do miss her sometimes lol
4 people like this
It is a rabbit hole, but a fun one.
I won't give examples of cultural differences, which there are ton, but I have reached a YouTube vid comparing theme songs of Japanese anime with Arabic transliteration, it was wild difference.
The thing is, the topic is so fun, enriching, and eye-opening.
The big 5 studios use services of dedicated companies, that hire a global team for translation. Not only that, there used to be a company called StoryFit, whose job is to predict how likeable is your movie in different countries like Russia, China, Brazil ....etc. The have been publishing their findings on their website, and some of their predictions came dead accurate
Also, fascinating discussion going on here, please keep it up Banafsheh Esmailzadeh Jon Shallit , thank you
4 people like this
Sometimes its good that a show has a different voice to others out there. That was one of the things that made the Scandi-noir boom such a breath of fresh air.
3 people like this
I love films and TV Shows that have mulitple Languages and this is a great marketing tool for those countries as well Aiden Barr
5 people like this
After living in Europe for 6 years and traveling in Australia and Korea, my number one suggestion would be not to use slang. It's like speaking a foreign language in a foreign language. It never works. Since fear and humor (usually the embarrasing kind) are great visuals, most simple comebacks usually work because the audience is alredy primed to feel either one.
4 people like this
Lori Jones After living in Europe for 22 years you are absolutely right! Humor and slang are not the same as in Canada or the USA. You are a great storyteller and totally relatable to my life! Rare
1 person likes this
Thank you, Pat. Just like Aiden Barr, I took copious notes during my travels that included 'people watching' and overheard conversations. For example, when I was on a tram in Italy, I watched a Franciscan priest eat candies hidden in the sleeve of his brown robe. A clanestine moment that didn't need dialog to be relatable.