MovieChat Forums > Kirschblüten - Hanami (2008) Discussion > Small but significant translation mistak...

Small but significant translation mistake [SPOILER]

posted 14 years ago by Plumpien
4 replies | jump to latest

The mistake is in the scene with Rudi and his son Karl (about 1:25 hrs. into the movie) while they are eating the cabbage rolls Rudi cooked.

Karl starts to cry and then says (in German): "Dabei bin ich so weit weggegangen, wie ich nur konnte, damit sie nicht mehr so an mir hängt."

The English DVD subtitles read: "After running as far away as I could so I wouldn't be so dependent on her."

The reference is wrong. It should be "so she wouldn't be so dependent on me."

The significance is, of course, that Karl didn't try to run away from his mother. He knew she was dependent on him, her whole world revolved around him (cf. the jealousy of his siblings). In this scene he finally realizes that by going to Japan he became even more essential to his mother, because he was living in her favorite country, surrounded by her favorite culture, just 2 hrs away from the mountain she loved. (And, ironically, so busy with work that he couldn't even take his father to visit "him" (= Mr. Mount Fuji).)

[–] phoenix1570 14 years ago

wow, you are right, that does change it!

Thank you so much for sharing this

[–] HwajangshilAgashi 12 years ago

I have to disagree with you.
Just watched the movie, and while he is sobbing and not speaking clearly, he does say "damit ich nicht mehr so an ihr haeng", i.e. "so I wouldn't be so dependent on her".

[–] Lemmbowski 12 years ago

Well, I'd have to disagree again. Just watched it and I understood it exactly as OP did.
Makes sense if you think about it - when the children are talking about their parents early on in the film, they say how their parents were all about the kid that moved to Japan and didn't care much for everyone else.

[–] HwajangshilAgashi 12 years ago

And I'd have to disagree yet again...

Karl says that he misses his mom a lot, but that he moved far away so he wouldn't be so dependent on her. And where did he move? Exactly where she always wanted to go.

Makes perfect sense.

I'll send you a link to that scene... as I said in my previous post, he is sobbing and difficult to understand, but pay attention just to "ich" "ihr" "haeng", as opposed to "sie" "mir" "haengt".