Lost in Translation, Italian Style Quiz

Answer: The Persuaders!

The 24 episodes of the British series "Attenti a quei due" ("The Persuaders!") aired on RaiUno, one of the three channels of Italy's national broadcasting company, between January 1974 and September 1981. The series, starring Roger Moore as English aristocrat Lord Brett Sinclair, and Tony Curtis as American self-made millionaire Danny Wilde, was far more successful in Italy and other European countries than it was in the UK and US.

The Italian title of the series means "Beware of Those Two". Some of the titles of single episodes were also translated rather imaginatively: the first episode, simply titled "Overture" in the original, was named "È stato un piacere conoscerti e picchiarti" (It Was a Pleasure to Meet You and Beat You Up), which nicely sums up its content. The series' theme music, composed by John Barry, was heavy on synthesizers, whose use had become widespread in the early Seventies.

Answer: Upstairs, Downstairs

The British TV drama series "Upstairs, Downstairs" debuted in Italy in 1976, a year after the series's conclusion in the UK. The award-winning series, with five seasons and 68 episodes, had a cast of distinguished British actors. Based on the parallel stories of the Bellamys, a noble London family, and their servants, "Upstairs, Downstairs" was set in Edwardian England, and inspired the popular series "Downton Abbey" (2010-2015), which is set in the same historical period. Unfortunately, though rather successful in Italy at the time of its first run, this great series seems to have been all but forgotten, and very little information is available on the Internet.

The Italian translation of the title, which means simply "up and down the stairs", does not truly convey the social implications of "upstairs" (the part of the house where the Bellamy family resides) and "downstairs" (the servants' quarters).

Answer: Hart to Hart

"Cuore e batticuore" made its first appearance on RaiDue at the end of June 1981, two years after its US premiere. Written by novelist Sidney Sheldon, the series featured the crime-solving abilities of a wealthy married couple by the name of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart (probably inspired by Nick and Nora of "The Thin Man").

As the original title is a pun on the surname of the two main characters, it was not easy to translate in a foreign language. The Italian translation was based on "Hart" being a homophone of "heart": however, instead of going for a more literal "cuore a cuore" ("heart to heart"), the translators ended up with a very catchy "Cuore e batticuore". "Batticuore" means "racing pulse", a fitting term for a series that blends aspects of romance and thriller.

Answer: The Flintstones

The animated sitcom "Gli antenati" made its debut on Italian TV on 30 August 1963, three years after its US debut. A number of other Hanna and Barbera animated series also arrived in Italy in the same period: all of them are still very popular, especially on TV stations that cater to younger viewers. "Gli antenati", however, was probably the most successful of them all. Contrarily to custom, most of the characters' names were not translated into Italian (as were instead many of Hanna and Barbera's animal characters). Fred Flintstone's catchphrase "Wilma, dammi la clava!" ("Wilma, give me my club!") was also used as an advertising slogan for a bug spray, whose brand name replaced the club.

The reason for the translation "Gli antenati" is quite self-explanatory, as the series is set in the Stone Age, and the characters can be seen as our "ancestors". The title of the animated series "The Jetsons", set in the future, was accordingly translated as "I pronipoti" ("The Great-Grandchildren"). Interestingly, the 1994 live-action adaptation of the series was distributed in Italy as "I Flintstones" - in keeping with the current trend of leaving most English-language titles untranslated or nearly so.

Answer: Murder, She Wrote

Starring Angela Lansbury as writer and amateur detective Jessica B. Fletcher, "La signora in giallo" debuted on RaiUno on 1 June 1988, and ran until April 1997; various TV stations offer regular reruns of this show, which proved a big hit. The Italian title, meaning "the lady in yellow", is a pun on the title of the 1984 movie directed by Gene Wilder, "The Woman in Red" ("La signora in rosso"). Unlike Kelly Brock in the movie, however, Jessica Fletcher does not wear yellow clothes, but rather writes mystery stories ("gialli" in Italian) and solves murder cases.

The use of the word "giallo" for detective/thriller fiction comes from a series of cheap paperback thriller novels, known as "Gialli Mondadori", whose publication in Italy began in 1929: the characteristic yellow covers of these books soon came to be identified with the whole genre. The word "giallo" is also used to refer to Italian thriller-horror films, such as the ones directed by Dario Argento or Mario Bava.

Answer: Three's Company

As the title of this popular series is the first part of a proverb, it was not easy to translate literally - hence the choice of a title who highlighted the trio of main characters (Jack and his housemates, Janet and Chrissy) and their circumstances. The Italian title means "Three Renting Hearts", emphasizing the trio's romantic life and their relationship with their landlord and landlady, the Ropers.

"Tre cuori in affitto" ran between 1984 and 1989 on the private TV channels Rete 4 and Italia 1, both owned by future Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It was very successful at the time, and it is still regularly shown by various DTTV stations.

Answer: The Facts of Life

Of all the rather bizarre Italian translations of popular English-language show titles, "L'albero delle mele" ("The Apple Tree") is definitely one of the oddest. The series, a spinoff of "Diff'rent Strokes" ("Il mio amico Arnold"), first aired in Italy on 23 February 1983 on Canale 5 (the third of the Berlusconi-owned TV stations), where it ran until 1986. The Italian edition of this show was characterized by changes in the title sequence, and the addition of dialogues to replace the audience's laughter.

The title "L'albero delle mele" was inspired by a cult 1980 French movie, "La Boum", known in Italy as "Il tempo delle mele" ("The Time of Apples") - apples being a symbol for a young woman's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The original English title, however, was kept when the series aired on some local TV networks.

Answer: Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman

"La signora del West", starring Jane Seymour as Dr Michaela Quinn, premiered on RaiUno in 1995, and ran until 1999; regular reruns of the series have aired on RaiDue and RaiTre in recent years. This award-winning series has proved consistently popular with the Italian audience, with main male character (and love interest) Byron Sully (Joe Lando) becoming a special favourite of female viewers.

The translated title means simply "The Lady of the West", omitting the essential detail of Michaela Quinn's profession and her status as a "medicine woman" in the eyes of the Native American characters. Unfortunately, this expression is very hard to translate in languages other than English, for obvious cultural reasons, and the Italian translators cannot be blamed too much for choosing a relatively easy way out.

Answer: The Golden Girls

"Cuori senza età" debuted on 18 September 1987 on RaiUno, and ran until 1994. Though not as popular in Italy as in the US, it did have a loyal following, and both its spinoffs ("Empty Nest" and "The Golden Palace") were picked up by RaiUno in the early 1990s.

Once again, the Italian title emphasizes the four protagonists' sentimental life, rather than choosing what would be the rather ineffective literal translation "Le ragazze d'oro". In fact, the use of the term "golden" as a euphemism for "older" is not as common in Italian as it is in English: in most cases the phrase "d'oro" ("golden") would be interpreted as "best", "of the highest quality".

Answer: I Dream of Jeannie

The Italian title of the classic series starring Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden is another example of misrepresentation of the show's content. The original title hinges on the phonetic similarity of "Jeannie" and "genie", which would make any literal translation extremely difficult. However, Jeannie cannot be described as a witch - nor, as the Italian title (which means "A Witch Because of Love") implies, does she become one out of her love for Tony. The likely reason for this odd title is the success of "Vita da strega" ("A Witch's Life", the Italian title of "Bewitched"), another American series dealing with fantasy themes.

"Strega per amore" debuted on RaiUno in 1977, and ran until 1980. Very popular with the Italian viewing public, the series has had many reruns since its first airing.