D

33 Messages

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510 Points

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025 2:04 PM

No Action Needed

Request for Accuracy and Clarification on Kazakhstan Titles in IMDb

Hello!

I started adding information to IMDb in 2009, back when we had to deal with the KOI-8 encoding — those were the times when technology was just beginning to develop, and every step felt like a big achievement :) At that time, I was adding data about movie premieres in Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as about the titles of these movies in the Russian market. I wanted to add information about Kazakh titles, but all films in the theatrical release in Kazakhstan are exclusively dubbed in Russian, and the Kazakhstan field only implies the title in Kazakh. Kazakh dubs are very rare. However, between 2011 and 2023, 41 films were released in Kazakhstan with Kazakh dubbing, and I really wanted to add these films in the Kazakhstan:Kazakh title field. When a temporary technical opportunity arose to add this title, I managed to include all these films, and I am proud that I did! I carefully checked the accuracy of the Kazakh titles when adding them. You can view the full list of films that were officially dubbed into Kazakh here: List of films with Kazakh dubbing.

Only Walt Disney Pictures and Columbia Pictures granted the rights to localize their films into Kazakh. In 2024, the following films were dubbed: Moana 2, Inside Out 2, Venom: The Last Dance, and Mufasa: The Lion King. I would appreciate it if for the last three films, which have the "dubbed" attribute, the information could be clarified as Kazakhstan:Kazakh title, except for Moana 2 (which has the same title in both Russian and Kazakh).

I am also glad that now it is possible to specify Kazakhstan:Russian title for films released in Kazakhstan, as this is an important step forward for accuracy. It has improved the information about premieres in Kazakhstan and has led to more accurate title representation for viewers.

However, I have encountered several issues and would like to share my observations. IMDb always strives to be the most complete and reliable source of information about films, and I appreciate this goal. But unfortunately, sometimes the title verification process is not thorough enough.

Here are a few examples:

  1. From Dusk Till Dawn (Dimension Films, 1996). This film was never released in Kazakhstan with Kazakh dubbing and was always known by its Russian title. However, editors approved the title "Күн батқаннан таңға дейін", which is just one of the possible variations, and there is no correct Kazakh translation since the film was never officially translated.

  2. Interstellar (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros.). In Kazakhstan, this film has always been called Interstellar, and this title was used in trailers and promotional materials. However, instead of this, IMDb states the Kazakh title as "Жұлдызаралық". While this is a correct translation, it was never used officially.

  3. Drive. The title "Барыс" for this film is a blatant falsification and malicious act. This title was never used anywhere.

  4. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.). When attempting to remove the incorrect title for this film, your editors rejected my contribution twice. I had to clarify that the Kazakh title is highly controversial. It could be written as "Құмбел: Екінші бөлім" or "Дюна: Екінші бөлім". But there is no definitive answer. Warner Bros. has never approved dubbing or translation of this film into official Kazakh. The only language used is Russian, not Kazakh.

In conclusion, I kindly ask you to be more careful when adding information. Do not add free translations that are not used in Kazakh-speaking environments, and do not specify Kazakh titles for films that were localized only into Russian (for example, from Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros.). It is especially important to avoid actions such as creating "translations" without the permission of the copyright holders, which can be considered as a malicious falsification. These "translations" distort information and are not accurate.

Thank you for your attention!

Employee

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17.8K Messages

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317K Points

3 months ago

Hi @DOS -

Thanks for your feedback and raising this issue with alternate titles.  As I understand, you are seeing incorrect title texts listed on the site for Kazakhstan, additionally, when you have submitted deletion requests the submissions were incorrectly declined.

For these submissions, you are welcome to post the 18-digit submission reference numbers here and our staff can take a look.  In the meantime, anytime you observe an error, I encourage you to continue submitting the applicable corrections/deletions, and let us know if you continue experiencing issues with those submissions so our staff can investigate further.

3 Messages

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90 Points

3 months ago

Hello DOS, I wanted to let you know I was the one that added Kazakh titles to the entry base. My reason is many movie titles are listed in foreign languages, even when they were never officially dubbed in those languages, such as Polish, Ukrainian and Uzbek. Despite the absence of an official release, Polish, Ukrainian, and Uzbek translations are still included in the IMDb database. So, why is Kazakh being excluded from this same consideration? Apologies if I had caused inconvenience for you but can you explain your reasoning more to me? 

(edited)

33 Messages

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510 Points

​Hi @geedit078 Movies released in cinemas do not use Kazakh titles. They are not known by that name. The title cannot be just a translation, considering the presence of purism in the Kazakh language. Could you please tell me where you got the idea that Дюна is translated as Дөң? Where did you get this from? This is misleading and not accurate information. 

I would appreciate it if new movies from Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. were listed exclusively in Russian, as this is the correct approach. As for films that already have an established Kazakh title, like The Shawshank Redemption (https://www.flip.kz/catalog?prod=2429982), which has the Kazakh title Шоушенктен қашу, it should be included.

(edited)

3 Messages

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90 Points

I don't but all I did was look up Dune somehow in Kazakh and some various sources from Kaznet (ex. Tengrinews, Massaget.kz, Kinostan.kz) and social media used Дөң as the unofficial popular spelling for the movie. Again, I'm not sure exactly what the rules for IMDB are but as far as I know lots of countries where movies are shown in English such as Poland you see unofficial Polish translations used for data entry, so I thought that's how it's supposed to be on here. Now of course its curious how does this apply let's say for books based on movies that have been translated to Kazakh (ex. Harry Potter) though haven't been dubbed. Also, there's also been couple of movies dubbed by Qazaqstan TV such as Transformers and Toy Story, do they count as official Kazakh titles or what? Also, what's the difference when adding in Kazakhstan (display title) and Kazakhstan (dubbed version) as you've done to the Venom movie?

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