Is it correct?

[Kerim]

Our translators translate the words of "Mission Impossible" called "Our Mission is Danger".(Turkish: Görevimiz Tehlike) Is it correct?


Note: I'm talking about Mission Impossible Movie.

[Casiopea]

Well, it's a mission that's impossible to complete, so in a way, yes, it's dangerous, but it's not a Mission in Danger. That's not exactly what the title Mission Impossible means. What about, The Impossible Mission? Would that translate well?

[rewboss]

Translating film and book titles is an art form, and very often it is difficult to get right.

Very often, a direct word-for-word translation simply doesn't sound right, or is totally meaningless. The phrase "Mission: Impossible" (note the colon) is a pun: it can mean a mission with the codename "Impossible", or it can be shorthand for "this mission is impossible".

I can't say whether Görevimiz Tehlike is a good translation because I don't speak a word of Turkish. But it could be that translating it word for word would sound silly in Turkish, or make it mean something different.

Equally, of course, it could be an unnecessary alteration to the title. Perhaps somebody reasoned that "impossible" is not a good word to use because, of course, the mission is completed (in some form -- although I haven't seen any of the movies) so they can't be impossible -- just very very dangerous.

Also, the movies are based on an old TV series going back a few decades which may have been shown in Turkey. If somebody made an error of judgement in translating the title of the TV series, the distributors of the recent movies are stuck with that title.

[Kerim]

I understand.

[Kerim]

What about, The Impossible Mission? Would that translate well?

I don't know. Actually, I didn't understand you exactly.

[Coffa]

Actually, 'Mission Impossible' references military usage, where a codeword is used to indicate the essential feature of a mission (or operation). For example, I suppose, "Mission KickAss" would indicate a military assignment whose motive was to inflict serious punishment on some person or group. In that sense, it is an ironic usage - the essential feature of "Mission Impossible" is that the mission seems so difficult and dangerous as to be hopeless.

A good translation must convey this sense, which is difficult unless the target audience has a similar idiom in their own language. I don't know Turkish, but "Our Mission Is Danger" does not convey the point at all to me, so I would say it is a bad translation.