History Main / CulturalTranslation

** And there were some things that had no direct cultural translation without massively altering the story, so the early 2020s saw a small trend on social media of now-adult Americans sharing things about the series they thought were magical, but were actually just British.

* In ''Film/TheCountryBears'', when Dex tells Barry how he was adopted, he mentions that their parents showed him "a bunch of "[[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]]'' videos". Since ''Barney'' is not as popular in Spain as in Latin America, the European Spanish dub has Dex mention ''Series/SesameStreet'' instead (more specifically its Main/InternationalCoproduction, ''Barrio Sésamo'').

* In ''Literature/TheSignOfTheBeaver'', Matt is trying to teach his Native American friend Attean how to read. Unfortunately, the primer he has makes barely any sense to him, and would be even less comprehensible to Attean ("In Adam's fall, we sinned all" has no significance to a non-Christian). He makes a list of simple words that start with each letter of the alphabet, but realizes he can't use "apple" for A, since there are no apple trees in the area, and Attean has probably never seen one. He ends up using "arm".

** The first book book had Americanization in addition to its [[MarketBasedTitle title change]], and despite selling well (to say the least) the publishers bore the criticism they received about it in mind when releasing the later books. Once the series became reliably popular in America, Harry always wore "trainers" instead of "sneakers", Ginny Weasley wore a "jumper" instead of a "sweater", Hogwarts served "chips" at its start-of-term feast instead of "fries", and Dean Thomas liked "football" instead of "soccer". That said, the books still continued to have textual changes to reflect the differences between British and American English to prevent legitimately confusing Americans unfamiliar with terminology beyond differences well-known in the mainstream.

For subtropes, see AmericanKirbyIsHardcore, DubNameChange, DubPersonalityChange, KeepItForeign. For when this trope is attempted to the point of trying (and often failing) to hide its true country of origin, see ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange.

* The first ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book had Americanization in addition to its [[MarketBasedTitle title change]], and despite selling well (to say the least) the publishers bore the criticism they received about it in mind when releasing the later books. Once the series became reliably popular in America, Harry always wore "trainers" instead of "sneakers", Ginny Weasley wore a "jumper" instead of a "sweater", Hogwarts served "chips" at its start-of-term feast instead of "fries", and Dean Thomas liked "football" instead of "soccer". That said, the books still continued to have textual changes to reflect the differences between British and American English to prevent legitimately confusing Americans unfamiliar with terminology beyond differences well-known in the mainstream.
** Ron still calls his mother 'Mum' however. Creator/JKRowling put her foot down for that one, saying in an interview "Mrs Weasley is NOT a 'mom'".
** The Danish translation sometimes replaces typical British food with alternatives that are more known to Danish readers. For example, the steak and kidney pie in Chapter 9 of the first book is 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 ice cream (a sweet similar to sherbet lemon is eaten in Denmark, but ice cream is much more popular).

** 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 UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton, for whatever reason.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'', the gag about Wilbur's dad looking like Tom Selleck was changed in some foreign dubs, replacing Tom Selleck with whoever is voicing Cornelius in the local dub. Others, such as the Hebrew dub, keep it intact, because the gag is about how Wilbur's dad really looks like the exact opposite of Tom Selleck.

** The original Hebrew dub of ''Shrek 2'' changes the line "give him the Bob Barker treatment" (i.e. neuter him) to "give him the David D'Or treatment" (David D'Or is an Israeli countertenor). After the singer threatened to sue, the line was changed.
** In the Czech dub, the "let's neuter him" line continued "we're not Srstka and Kubisova", which referenced two very well known celebrities (a stuntman/actor/moderator/sportsman and a singer) who are known as animal lovers and devoted to a long running pet adoption TV programme.

** The Portuguese dub gives him an Oporto accent.

** In "Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", mentions of Main Street and Saville Row became London and Paris.
* In ''Film/AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', Austin dismisses the 70s and 80s as having only "an oil crisis and Music/AFlockOfSeagulls". The Brazilian dub changes the musical reference to "a group called [[Music/ThevillagePeople Village People]]", which are much better known. The third movie had comedy group Casseta & Planeta helping with the subtitles to ensure all the double entendres landed.
* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Tony Stark at one point refers to the fact that Steve Rogers alias Captain America has been frozen for 70 years by calling him a "Capcicle", a pun on the superhero's name and either icicle or Popsicle (an American brand of ice pop that has become a generalized trademark). It seems that the creators of the German dub have chosen the latter interpretation, even though this brand is unknown in Germany. So, Tony calls Steve "Captain/Käpt’n Iglo" in the dub instead, the local name of Captain Birdseye, the mascot of a brand of frozen food. This even serves as yet another one of those [[PopculturalOsmosisFailure pop-culture references which are going straight over Steve's head]], due to to Captain Birdseye/Käpt'n Iglo having been introduced as late as 1967/1985, as opposed to Popsicles, which have been existing by that name since TheRoaringTwenties.

** In the French dub, Marty's comment that he knows CPR is replaced by him saying he works for [=SAMU=] (the name of the French Emergency Medical Service), since the CPR acronym is not well-known in French (people would most likely use expressions that translate as "first aid" or "cardiac massage", which are less likely to be opaque to a 1955 person). Since [=SAMU=] was founded in 1956 it remains an acronym that will puzzle someone from 1955, and as a bonus offers the additional joke of someone asking who is this Samuel Marty says he's working for.

* ''Film/TheBirdcage'', a 1996 remake of the French film ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles'' (the American a direct translation of the original French). Unlike most American remakes of foreign films, it is not set in New York, but rather in Miami, Florida. The contrast between the [[{{Gayborhood}} LGBT-friendly South Beach]] and highly conservative (and religious) politics more closely reproduces the contrast between the Saint-Tropez nightclub scene and ultraconservative politics of the original.

* In foreign editions of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', four points of Steve's list of things he missed while being frozen[[note]]More precisely, the ones that in the North American English version are covered as ''Series/ILoveLucy'', Creator/SteveJobs, Disco music and either the moon landing or the Berlin Wall, depending on the version[[/note]] are replaced with popular stuff from the country the dub comes from, chosen via polls on the various international Facebook pages. In the British version, for example, the points are Music/TheBeatles, Creator/SeanConnery, ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''[[note]]which raises the question of who plays Sherlock and John in the MCU, since [[CelebrityParadox Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman both appear in the MCU]][[/note]] and the 1966 [[Usefulnotes/TheWorldCup Football World Cup]] finals. In the foreign versions of this list, ''Franchise/StarWars'' is not penned out like in the North American version. Other countries' versions can be seen [[http://luciawestwick.tumblr.com/post/82010300995/do-you-remember-the-scene-where-steve-shows-page here]].

* A rare example in which only cultural references were changed: in the UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}an versions of ''Film/DemolitionMan'', all references to Taco Bell were re-dubbed as Pizza Hut, due to Taco Bell's relatively small foreign penetration. Both companies are owned by the same conglomerate, and the translation was very simple to pull off because the whole joke in the scene is that the fancy restaurant shown bears zero resemblance to Taco Bell or Pizza Hut (both of which have fairly declasse reputations).

* When ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters!]]'' was brought to the United States, [[ImportationExpansion scenes with an American reporter played by Raymond Burr were added]] into the film, with dialogue changes and edits used to make it seem like he was interacting with the Japanese cast. Interestingly, this version was later dubbed back into Japanese and shown under the name ''Monster King Gojira,'' and it was a hit, with future kaiju films including reporter characters inspired by Burr. The makers of ''Godzilla'' were suspicious of the poor dubbing of the time and thought American audiences wouldn't watch a subtitled version. Plus, they probably felt that more Americans would get the message about atomic weapons if it was in English.

* When ''Film/TheLongestYard'' was remade in Britain as ''Mean Machine'', the sport it revolved around was changed from American football to association football. Fittingly, the protagonist was played by Vinnie Jones, who himself was a footy/soccer player before venturing into acting. The title change also reflects this, since gaining yards is an intrinsic concept to American football, so it was changed to the inmates' team's name.

* ''Film/MenInBlackInternational'' features a scene where M stares at an alien-monitoring screen that features celebrities who are secretly extraterrestrials, to which High T claims "It's never who you think it is". In the original, it's Music/ArianaGrande, Elon Musk, Creator/JJAbrams, and Creator/DonaldGlover. But internationally it changes according to the country, including Piers Morgan in the UK, Jerome Boateng in Germany and Sérgio Mallandro in Brazil.

* In the Danish film ''Film/{{Pusher}} II'', Tonny's crimelord father is called "Smeden," meaning "the Smith," because he chops stolen cars. In the English subtitles, however, he's called "the Duke" for some reason.

* ''Film/RushHour2'': One scene has Carter talking to a Chinese woman who attempts to sell him a live chicken. At one point, he says "I like 'em dead and deep fried. You ever heard of Popeyes?" Given that Popeyes is a restaurant chain that is non-existent in Quebec, the Canadian French dub has Carter mention St-Hubert instead, which is a popular rotisserie chicken restaurant chain in that province.
* For the European French dub of ''Film/ScaryMovie'', in the opening where the girl originally said ''Film/{{Kazaam}}'' is a scary movie due to Shaq's bad acting, she instead says ''Film/SpaceJam'' and UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan.

* In the Brazilian dub of ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', Katy saying "I'm the Asian Jeff Gordon!" became "I'm the Asian Ayrton Senna!" (which even makes the explanation once [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure Shang-Chi doesn't recognizes the name]] from erroneous -- "he's the winningest NASCAR racer", Gordon ranks third -- to simply complimentary -- "There's never been a better Usefulnotes/FormulaOne racer!")

* ''Film/{{Matilda}}'' has its setting transferred to the United States, and all the characters are Americans -- except the evil headmistress, making her an EvilBrit by default.

* A rare example in which only cultural references were changed: in the European versions of ''Film/DemolitionMan'', all references to Taco Bell were re-dubbed as Pizza Hut, due to Taco Bell's relatively small foreign penetration. Both companies are owned by the same conglomerate, and the translation was very simple to pull off because the whole joke in the scene is that the fancy restaurant shown bears zero resemblance to Taco Bell or Pizza Hut (both of which have fairly declasse reputations).

* In ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' film, the character of [[Characters/CarsFirstFilm Guido]] speaks only Italian, except for a heavily accented "Peet stop!" For the Italian dub, Disney wanted to keep the "language barrier" gag and did so in a unique way. While the rest of the characters were dubbed into standard Italian, Guido wasn't. Instead, he was dubbed into the very distinctive local dialect of Modena (home to Ferrari, which Guido and especially his partner Luigi ardently support in-universe).

** UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast is changed into Platform/PlayStation in the Polish translation simply because no one there knew what a Dreamcast was.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' episode ''Divide and Conquer episode'', Taranee mentions that Sondra mocked her for not reading Tolstoy's ''War and Peace'' in the original language, only for Taranee later catching her on not knowing a basic Russian word for "hospital". In the Russian dub, where it would be hard to impress anyone with knowledge of Tolstoy's language, Sonbra tries to impress Taranee with Goethe instead.

** UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast is changed into UsefulNotes/PlayStation in the Polish translation simply because no one there knew what a Dreamcast was.

** In ''Asterix in Spain'', Unhygienix mentions having inherited property in Carnac and wanting to develop it with menhirs, implying that he arranged the Carnac stones. The English translation changes the location to Salisbury Plain, a reference to Stonehenge.

** The Asterix books also convey the humour Parisian French speakers gain from the weird way French is spoken in places like Belgium and Switzerland, and especially from dialect French spoken outside Paris. In ''Asterix and Cleopatra", people from the South kingdom of Egypt are depicted as speaking in exaggerated Southern French accents -- the languedocois dialect of the south-west is heavily parodied. This posed as problem for the British translation, which kept the theme of bucolic country folk from a long way away coming to the sophisticated metropolis; they were given parody UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry accents, from a south-western region thought of by the rest of Britain as yokel farming country.

* In the French dub of ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', the reference to ''Series/GilligansIsland'' was replaced by one to the SoapOpera Santa Barbara, since the former is unknown in France (the series ''did'' get a French dub, but very obscure and long forgotten).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "Sold!", Squidward pretends to be a family of Germans living in [=SpongeBob=]'s house. The German dub changes it so that he pretends to be Bavarian instead.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the Indonesian, 2nd Latin Spanish, and 3rd Brazilian Portuguese dubs. One of the latter two makes more sense, as it was only ever released in the United States (though the TV version did get DVD releases in Mexico).
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the 1st Latin Spanish dub. While ''Where's God When I'm S-Scared?'' and ''Dave and the Giant Pickle'' leave them as is, ''Are You My Neighbor?'' and ''Rack, Shack & Benny'' change them.

*** And the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom rides were closed in 2023 to be completely reimagined for ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' after the original Southern theme becoming more and more unacceptable as Main/TimeMarchesOn.

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'':

** ''Asterix'' does this quite a lot, partly due to the series being a HurricaneOfPuns. However, the translators generally manage it rather skillfully -- one of the strangest examples was in ''Recap/AsterixInBritain,'' when two background characters are arguing over the price of a "melon." In French, "melon" can mean "bowler hat," but it doesn't have that double-meaning in Britain. Therefore, for the English edition, the exchange was translated to, "Oh, so this melon's bad, is it?!" "Rather, old fruit."

* The Brazilian dub of ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' turns almost all the references to the History of Mexico into references to the History of Brazil. They fit so smoothly within the episode that it does not even looks like that the original dialogue was changed.

* There was a French digest compiling several issues of various, mostly ComicBook/XMen-related [[MarvelUniverse Marvel]] comics (which bore the name ''Titans'' somewhat [[ComicBook/TeenTitans ironically]]) printed from the late 70s to the early 90s, in which the names of American superheroes were a wide selection of direct translations, non-translations, and cultural translations. Phoenix was directly translated as "Phénix" whereas Colossus was still "Colossus", probably because the French "Colosse" was already being used for the Blob. And in most translations, "Nightcrawler" is "Diablo" probably because of his demonic appearance (quite unfortunate, since part of his character is being religious and having a tragic backstory involving his looks).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' was co-produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/IlluminationEntertainment, and released in the United States before it did in Japan due to the latter company's involvement. The "Super Japanese version" of the movie replaces the English script with one written by Nintendo for Japanese audiences. Changes include reducing the sarcasm and "Amerikan Jooku" (jokes), more use of Japanese [[JustForPun wordplay]], more subtle use of honorifics, and [[DubPersonalityChange minor changes to characters' personalities.]]

For subtropes, see AmericanKirbyIsHardcore, DubNameChange, DubPersonalityChange, KeepItForeign. For when this trope is attempted to the point of trying (and often failing) to hide its true country of origin, see ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange. Compare and contrast WidgetSeries.

** While the basic ride experience on Splash Mountain is the same, there are some elements that differ between the three versions of the ride.
*** Disneyland's version of Splash Mountain is situated in Critter Country. The soundtrack is a jazzy "big band" meets orchestral style, owing to the ride's location near New Orleans Square.
*** The Walt Disney World version of Splash Mountain is located in Frontierland. As a result, the soundtrack has a more country feel to it, with banjos and harmonicas as the primary instruments, which is also appropriate because of Florida's close proximity to Georgia, where ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'' is set. "Burrow's Lament" is the only exception, using an orchestral track with timpani drums originally recorded for the Disneyland version.
*** Tokyo Disneyland's Splash Mountain is located in Critter Country, just like the California version, but its soundtrack uses the country music of the Florida version owing to the ride's location near Westernland (the equivalent of Frontierland, itself renamed because the word "frontier" doesn't translate well to Japanese).