History Main / CulturalTranslation

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' sometimes does this when they're sticking especially close to the ''SuperSentai'' scripts. For example, ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'''s SixthRanger was an aspiring sushi chef, with the motif extending to his Ranger gear (a fish-shaped sword and scabbard, lobster and squid mecha, etc.). ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' adapted the character's seafood theme by making his counterpart a fisherman instead.

In the best of cases, CulturalTranslation will change obscure cultural references that many viewers would not "get" into related, but more familiar, footnotes without interrupting the flow. In the worst of cases, it can come off as a pandering attempt to edit anything vaguely foreign or [[ValuesDissonance potentially offensive]] out, even when the images make it blatantly clear that the characters aren't, and were never, in [insert home country here]. WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief gets a hard day from overzealous CulturalTranslation in a ForeignRemake.

** The Italian dub of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' normally replace obscure American references with the ones known in all the world. In a Simpson Season 11 episode they replaced the Dixie Chicks with Spice Girls, and they were onscreen. Everybody would state they didn't look similar.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}''. In the original, the two apes learn that Tom Wolfe is coming to New York and plan to throw poo on him. In the German translation, he was replaced by - HillaryClinton, for whatever reason.

** It helps that the same company would be paying for the ProductPlacement either way.

** In Italy, old traslation of Marvel comics renamed Nightcrawler as "Lombrico" (Worm). Note that it's just the most offensive, but hardly the only one. Namor the Sub-Mariner lost his nickname for years, because no traslation was fitting.

* ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' by Creator/CharlesDickens was adapted into a [[Film/GreatExpectations film]] in the early 2000s, changing the location from 19th century England to 20th-century Southern California.

* The Spanish language versions of Lee Iacocca's books ''Iacocca: An Autobiography'' and ''Talking Straight'' also does this, but to [[BlindIdiotTranslation ridiculous levels:]] All the references about American-style football are replaced as ''American Rugby'' (since the translators [[ViewersAreMorons though that Spanish-speaking audiences will not be able to know what American-style football is.]])
** Not to mention the translation of those books are the Spanish-language version of YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe, despise the books ''not being fiction literature and not taking taking place in the Middle Ages or Ancient Times.''
* As it is mentioned on {{Woolseyism}}'s entry, Polish translation of ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' cycle replaced [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Haven's]] StateSec with the name of the local StateSec from the time when Poland was a RealLife PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny.

** The Danish translation sometimes replaces typical British food with alternatives that are more known to Danish readers. For example is the steak and kidney pie in chapter 9 of the first book replaced with minced meat patty, and the sherbet lemon that Dumbledore mentions in the very first chapter is reverse-translated into "citronsorbet" (lemon sherbet) which is icecream (sweets similar to sherbet lemon is eaten in Denmark, but icecream is much more popular).

* [[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas Medieval Icelandic translators]] of works dealing with ClassicalMythology often substituted the names of the Greek gods with [[NorseMythology Norse ones]]. For example, Jupiter becomes Thor, Mercury Odin, Juno Frigg, and Venus Freyja. Snarls were inevitable -- for instance, ''both'' Diana and Minerva become Gefjon.

* In the Spanish dub for ''ILoveLucy'', Ricky's long winded Spanish rants obviously provided a problem. In at least one scene shown on TV Land, a rant was translated into English.

* The Aforementioned [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeTipul BeTipul]] aside from the US version (In Treatment), also got various European versions -- Netherlands' In therapie, Romania's In Deriva, Serbia's Na terapiji, and more are rumoured.

** The Kansai dialect of Japanese was often dubbed in English as a Brooklyn accent, due to similar stereotypes about the people who speak with them.

* After years of getting the European French dub of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a Québec French dub was recently made, probably with The Simpsons' success in mind. Except in that case, it turned out inferior to the European French, and seemed like it had ridiculous amounts of gratuitous swearing even compared to the original.
** But Quebec French is SchmuckBait for [[ClusterFBomb ridiculous amounts of swearing]].

* The original ''AnimalCrossing'' was heavily influenced by Japanese culture. Much had to be replaced to something the Western market can relate to, like a Japanese fireplace being replaced by a barbecue grill, during localization. However, the Japanese team liked the changes so much they released the game as ''Dōbutsu no Mori e-Plus'' in Japan as well.

* At the beginning of GrimFandango there is a clown who can make balloons shaped like Creator/RobertFrost. As Robert Frost is not well known in France, the balloon is said to be shaped like Captain Haddock (from TinTin) in the French version. When Manny Calavera examines the balloon he says: "That doesn't look like Captain Haddock at all."

** The German version of ''Secret of Mana'' has many German pop-culture references including an NPC called Heino, a musician often parodied for his look, looking for his sunglasses.

* In the original version of OneTwoThree, [=MacNamara=] makes sure nobody will play “Marchning Through Georgia” for his Georgian boss. In the German version he makes sure no songs about beer and wine are played for the Coca-Cola boss.

* A ''MadTV'' sketch spoofed this, with PhilLaMarr as a wrestling agent who helps ''[[MaskedLuchador luchadores]]'' get into American wrestling organizations. He spends most of the sketch trying to convince his client that, regardless of how much it speaks of his strength and honor in Spanish, "El Asso Wiper" is ''not'' going to be a successful name in the US. [[HereWeGoAgain The sketch ends with him asking his secretary to send in "Senor Bag-O-Crap"]].

* In the German dub of the WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} episode ''Parasite Lost'', the parasites in Frys indestines greet the miniaturized heroes with ''"Welcome to Darmstadt"'', which is an actual German city whose name has changed over centuries to now sound exactly like "indestine city".

* The 1963 movie ''TheGreatEscape'' tells the story of a group of Allied prisoners who in 1944 escaped a prison camp in Nazi-controlled Poland. While American prisoners were held in the real camp, none of them were among the escapers -- but for the movie version two major characters are Americans (Steve [=McQueen=]'s Hilts and James Garner's Hendley). Balanced to an extent by James Coburn's Aussie and Charles Bronson's Pole, and the fact that the there appear to be only three Americans in the whole camp.

* The American AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/StreetFighter'', being a pseudo continuation of the live-action movie, also had Guile as the main character, although later episodes would focus more on the franchise's iconic duo of RyuAndKen.

* The BBC partly re-dubbed the Icelandic children's program ''LazyTown'', with British voice actors speaking for puppet characters originally voiced by Americans. However, the human characters' American and Icelandic accents were untouched. Additionally, they seem to have left them all alone for [=LazyTown=] Entertainment/BBC co-production ''[=LazyTown=] Extra''.

* Before he became a big-name film director, Lars von Trier made a fantasy/horror TV series in Denmark about a haunted hospital called ''{{Riget}}'' that was one of the best shows of the genre. A US TV adaptation was made by von Trier in collaboration with Stephen King, ''KingdomHospital''.