Micro.blog user Dominik Höcht posted that he liked the animated film Spider-Man: A New Universe. At first, I thought there was a new Spider-Man film I hadn’t seen.
But instead, I learned some fun translation facts. In English-speaking countries, the title is Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. But in many places, the title is Spider-Man: A New Universe, translated into the local language.
And then there are a few interesting exceptions:
Slovenia: Spider-Man: Novi svet (New World)
Russian: Человек-паук: Через Вселенные (Through The Universes)
(Note that the Russian name for our hero is “Man-Spider.”)Ukraine: Людина-павук: Навколо всесвіту (Around The Universe)
(“Man-Spider” again.)Czech Republic: Spider-Man: Paralelní světy (Parallel worlds)
The French and the German versions have titles in English, but not the original “Spider-Verse” title:
French: Spider-Man: New Generation
German: Spider-Man: A New Universe
Portuguese is pretty interesting.
Brazil: Homem-Aranha: No Aranhaverso
Portugal: Homem-Aranha: No Universo Aranha
“Aranha” means spider. In Brazil, they actually created a word for Spider-Verse.
I wish I had time to delve into the reasons behind all these variations. If I were to apply to graduate school today, I would go for Comparative Lit and I already have a dissertation idea. 😂
(The source for these titles is the IMDb listing for the film.)