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In Russian translations of stories about Spider-Man, the name of that superhero is translated as Человек-Паук (Chelovek-Pauk), which is a composition of the Russian words for man and spider, but you can't find an analogous Russian name for Batman in Russian translations. His name is simply rendered phonetically, Бэтмен.

I understand that questions about marketing decisions are off-topic here, so I want to make my question focused on the linguistic aspect of the matter. What I want to learn is how the issue is seen from the standpoint of the Russian language. To be more precise, is there any good possible translation into the Russian, or does just anything sound bad, not catchy, too long, unrelated to the original English name, or simply off the target? In other words, wouldn't Pushkin be able to come up with a smart Russian name for Batman if he were to translate a story about him into Russian?

I myself tried to come up with a good Russian name for that superhero and ended up having a bunch of names to choose from - Летучий Человек, Крылан, Рукокрыл, Рукокрылый, and Летучий. I'm curious how such names would be rated by native Russian speakers.

Mitsuko
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    It's not a question about Russian language - it's a question about marketing decisions made during translation of two brands. Человек-паук is just shorter than saying "Человек-летучая-мышь" each time. – shabunc Apr 30 '20 at 18:54
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    В романе "Волкодав" Марии Семёновой есть персонаж Летучий Мыш. Отсутствие мягкого знака должно демонстрировать, что Мыш мужского рода. Такая вот неожиданная (и сомнительная) игра с русским языком. – Elena Apr 30 '20 at 19:43
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    The word «Бэтмен» entered Russian in the Soviet times when censorship didn't allow any official translations of the US superhero stuff (comics, films), that's why it was left "as it is", since foreign, namely English, words were more fashionable in the subcultures that had access to things Batman. Besides, no one cared to translate it, since those people knew English. For the 1st time I heard it as "Батман" after the 1989 film appeared on VHS in an underground Russian translation. Spider Man became known to the Russian public much later when official quality translations were already the norm. – Yellow Sky Apr 30 '20 at 21:07
  • Asking for the "why" behind decisions like this is opinion based indeed, I don't think anyone can answer this question with any kind of confidence. However, asking "why would Человек — летучая мышь be a bad name for a superhero character?" would make a good question in my book. – Quassnoi Apr 30 '20 at 21:22
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    All the Western pop culture was stigmatized by the Soviet propaganda as primitive, immoral, aggressive, mind-numbing, propagating violence, sexual perversions, illegal drug abuse, etc. Since it was forbidden, it seemed especially attractive back then, and translating such a majestic name as "Batman" into the mundane Russian would have torn down all the chic about it. To tell the truth, I'm very glad the owners of the franchise decided to keep the name as "Бэтмен" and not to translate in into Russian in their official releases. – Yellow Sky Apr 30 '20 at 21:31
  • Also note, that in Wikipedia the article "Batman" exists in 94 languages, and in all of those languages except for Chinese the name is rendered phonetically, without translation, only Chinese has it translated, as 蝙蝠俠 Biānfúxiá "Bat-Hero". – Yellow Sky Apr 30 '20 at 21:39
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    There's a fun community called "Дореволюціонный Совѣтчикъ" that create songs and texts about the modern realia using pre-1917 Russian language stye, lexicon, spelling, and overall entourage. For example, in their discourse rap/rapping is called "мавританскій верлибръ" ("moorish vers libre"). They call Batman "Человѣкъ-нетопырь", Spider Man "Сударь-мизгирь", and King Kong "Конголезкій Царь" — Pushkin style, by the way.))) – Yellow Sky Apr 30 '20 at 22:07
  • @shabunc : I've just edited the question – Mitsuko May 01 '20 at 06:53
  • @Quassnoi : >> asking "why would Человек — летучая мышь be a bad name for a superhero character?" would make a good question in my book. << I just edited my question accordingly, but made it slightly more general than you suggest. Человек - летучая мышь is obviously a too long name, so I'm asking whether there are any good alternatives. – Mitsuko May 01 '20 at 06:57
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    I believe that @Mitsuko questions should be protected from closing She usually goes very deep and tries to understand the underlying meaning of the words and expressions that aren't clear to the native speakers. – DK. May 01 '20 at 09:57
  • @Quassnoi can you please take a look - if you believe that this should be reopened in it's current form - I trust your expertise more than mine in many cases! – shabunc May 01 '20 at 10:33
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    @Mitsuko about your attempts to come up with translations of "Batman" - imho your variants are losing the essence of the character. He's not exactly flying, but rather dark- and night-themed. – Alexander May 01 '20 at 16:46
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    @DK.: her questions are awesome, and I always enjoy them. They just don't always have right format for this site. I always try my best to make them fit for our Q/A format. – Quassnoi May 01 '20 at 19:11
  • I don't think "Человек-Паук" is a good translation either. Too long, having two accents, you can't shout it when playing with other kids. They probably should have leaved it only "Паук". Or "Сеть". Even "Человек-сеть" is better than "Человек-паук". – fraxinus May 08 '20 at 18:01

3 Answers3

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I'm going to omit marketing requirements in my answer (like the ability to put the localized name of the character into the company approved slot on a piece of merchandise, which is a big thing) and focus on the language.

Spider-Man is a man who is also a spider.

He literally "does whatever a spider can": climbs walls, shoots webs and eats flies.

Whatever name is chosen in Russian for him, it would better reflect this side of his personality.

Batman is a human who is somewhat into bats. He wears a mask with latex ears, drives a bat-themed vehicle and they use this bat-shaped silhouette on the searchlight to summon him.

This gives the translator some liberty: it does not need to say "bat" right in the name.

The name should work.

Человек-паук is a barely okay name: it's not too long, relatively easy to write and pronounce, and is a literal translation of the original. No one gets fired for being too literal.

There's a good chance that someone's nickname as a teen was "Spider-man" in the English speaking world, even before the advent of the comic character.

The chance of someone being called "человек-паук" on a regular basis, as a moniker, in Russian is slim.

So it's not that good a translation, but it would do.

Человек — летучая мышь is just plain unacceptable.

First of all, летучая мышь is a feminine name in Russian which means it would only work for a female character in storytelling.

Second, it's not something you can pronounce more than once. It's gonna be contracted one way or another.

Бэтмен is just shorter and it is the original. And no one gets fired for using the original.

The name should be catchy.

Some writers have an ear for things like this, others do not.

Человек-паук is not the best name out there, but it's catchy enough. Just by saying it out loud, everyone immediately gets who are you talking about.

Нетопырь and all other chiropteran names give the wrong idea about the character. This is a good name for a small minion to The Viy, not for a grim and troubled vigilante billionaire. Those just don't ring the right bells in Russian.

It's something that one can get used to, like everyone did with Человек-паук, but it's not the best option or even a good option.

All this requirements have something in common. If you can't come up with a really good name which would click, there's always a safe default way: just use the original.

There were many failed attempts to come up with a good translation for a foreign name or nickname into Russian which had since defaulted to the original: Румпельштильцхен (Хламушка, Гном-Тихогром); Рапунцель (Колокольчик), Оле-Лукойе (Оле — Закрой Глазки) etc.

I can't say with confidence that it's impossible to translate this name into Russian, but apparently it's not that easy.

There are good translations for Cinderella, Thumbelina, Snow White and Spider-Man but there are none for Rumpelstilzchen, Ole Lukøje, Rapunzel and Batman. Those from the last group have defaulted to the originals, and not because people didn't try.

So the answer to your question would be:

Not all names are made equal, even if they use the same pattern in the original language.

Spider-man works in Russian translation, Batman doesn't and he's in a good company.

Of course it may happen so that the minute after I post this answer someone would come up with a brilliant translation for Batman which would then get traction, become approved by DC Comics and make its author a fortune.

This would make me feel embarrassed but happy.

However, it didn't happen to lots of names and, from the looks of it, not gonna happen to Batman either.

Quassnoi
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Sometimes it's just a tradition. For one story, translator translates the name, and it sticks. For another story, the name is transliterated, and it sticks too.

Mostly it depends on "catchiness" of the name. "Человек-Паук" is short and strong. "Человек-Летучая мышь" is long and a bit weak (in Russian culture, bats did not gather any sinister lore).

A good translator would try to invent a "catchy" character name. One classic example is the translation of "Alice in Wonderland": Name translation variants Every translator had tried their best to made the most reflective and "catchy" translation of a name from English to Russian.

Alexander
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  • Great answer, but really it is sometimes very stochastic what sticks and what doesn't. "Человек-муравей" sounds (subjectively to me, but also anecdotally to many people) awkward and silly, but it's the official translation. "Энтман" would have been better, has a zing to it, especially as more and more people in Russia are getting comfortable with English. – Unknown artist May 02 '20 at 15:37
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    Also, and I'm just rambling here at this point, Человек-нетопырь would have worked... – Unknown artist May 02 '20 at 15:39
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Летучий Человек

  • (or Летающий человек) - longish but possible.

Крылан

  • sounds bad, uncomfortable to pronounce.

Рукокрыл, Рукокрылый

  • a little strange but maybe.

Летучий

  • for me, the best option that you suggested.

Batman (Бэтмен) (we pronounce like [betmen] or [betman])

  • sounds good, short, catchy word.
Vik Williams
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    The problem I see with the first four is that Batman neither has wings nor can he fly. Nor does he bite, use echolocation, sleep upside-down in caves or suck blood, for that matter. He's just "bat-themed". Unlike spider-man, who does whatever a spider can. – Curiosity May 08 '20 at 10:28
  • image, appearance made with reference to the bats – Vik Williams May 08 '20 at 10:36