Global InformationList of artworks known in English by a foreign title information
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2018) |
The following is an alphabetical list of works of art that are often called by a non-English name in an English context. (Of course, many such titles are simply the names of people: Don Quixote, Irma la Douce, Madame Bovary, Tosca, Pelléas et Mélisande. These have been omitted, as have examples where the English may easily be inferred: Symphonie fantastique, Les liaisons dangereuses.)
| Title | Transcription | Language | Translation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99 Luftballons | German | 99 Balloons | song by Nena | |
| À la recherche du temps perdu | French | In Search of Lost Time | novel by Marcel Proust | |
| Aberystwyth Mon Amour | French | Aberystwyth My Love | novel by Malcolm Pryce | |
| Aina | آئینہ | Urdu | Mirror | film directed by Nazr-ul-Islam |
| Alhambra | الْحَمْرَاء | Arabic | The Red One | Muslim monument, located near Granada, Spain |
| Angkor Wat | អង្គរវត្ត | Khmer | temple complex of the city | Hindu and (later) Buddhist temple site, located in Angkor, Cambodia |
| Arthashastra | अर्थशास्त्रम् | Sanskrit | "science of politics" or "science of material gain" | treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy |
| Autobahn | German | Motorway | album and song by Kraftwerk | |
| Bal | Turkish | Honey | film by Semih Kaplanoğlu | |
| Barcarolle: une nuit à Lisbonne | French | Barcarolle: A Night in Lisbon | symphonic poem by Camille Saint-Saëns | |
| Bhagavad Gita | भगवद्गीता | Sanskrit | Song of God | philosophical, Hindu book of poems (author contentious) |
| Carmina Burana | Latin | Songs from Beuern | medieval book of poems and a cantata by Carl Orff | |
| Cavalleria rusticana | Italian | Rustic Chivalry | opera by Pietro Mascagni | |
| Chichen Itza | Yucatec Maya | At the Mouth of the Well of the Itza | Mayan monument, located on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico | |
| Commentarii de Bello Gallico | Latin | Commentaries on the Gallic War | Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars | |
| Codex Gigas | Latin | Giant Book | largest medieval manuscript in the world, the authorship is attributed to Hermann Inanclus (Herman, the Recluse), a monk | |
| Così fan tutte | Italian | That's What They [feminine] All Do | opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| Dai Miao | 岱庙 | Chinese | Dai Temple | Daoist temple complex, located on Mount Tai, People's Republic of China |
| Dàin do Eimhir | Scottish Gaelic | Poems to Eimhir | Sequence of poems by Sorley MacLean | |
| Dao De Jing | 道德经/道德經 | Chinese | Way/Path, Virtue, Guideline | philosophical, Daoist book of poems probably by Laozi |
| Das Boot | German | The Boat | film directed by Wolfgang Petersen | |
| Das Hildebrandslied | German | Lay/Song of Hildebrand | heroic lay, written in Old High German | |
| Das Kapital | German | Capital | treatise by Karl Marx | |
| Das klagende Lied | German | The Lamentation | cantata by Gustav Mahler | |
| Das Lied von der Erde | German | The Song of the Earth | symphony by Gustav Mahler | |
| De Leeuw van Vlaanderen | Dutch | The Lion of Flanders | book by Hendrik Conscience | |
| Déjeuner sur l'herbe | French | Lunch on the Grass | painting by Édouard Manet | |
| De re publica | Latin | On the State | philosophical hexalogy by Cicero | |
| De rerum natura | Latin | On the Nature of Things | philosophical didactic poem by Lucretius | |
| De vita Caesarum | Latin | About the Life of the Caesars | collection of biographies by Suetonius | |
| Der Freischütz | German | The Freeshooter or The Marksman | opera by Carl Maria von Weber | |
| Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen | German | Hell's vengeance boils in my heart | aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| Der Ring des Nibelungen | German | The Ring of the Nibelung | cycle of four operas by Richard Wagner | |
| Der Schauspieldirektor | German | The Impresario | Singspiel by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| Der Wehrwolf | German | a portmanteau and word play, combining the words for "defence" and "wolf" to Wehrwolf, similar to werewolf | book by Hermann Löns | |
| Desafinado | Portuguese | Out of Tune | song by Antônio Carlos Jobim | |
| Deus Ex | Latin | God out of | video game-series by Eidos Interactive | |
| Die Entführung aus dem Serail | German | The Abduction from the Seraglio | opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| Die Fledermaus | German | The Bat | operetta by Johann Strauss II | |
| Die glückliche Hand | German | The Lucky Hand | musical drama by Arnold Schoenberg | |
| Die Mensch-Maschine | German | The Man-Machine | album by Kraftwerk | |
| Die schöne Müllerin | German | The Fair Maid of the Mill | song cycle by Franz Schubert | |
| Die Verbannten Kinder Evas | German | The Banished Children of Eve | album from the Austrian band of the same name | |
| Dies irae | Latin | Day of Wrath | hymn by Thomas of Celano and part of the Requiem | |
| Don Quichotte à Dulcinée | French | Don Quixote to Dulcinea | song cycle by Maurice Ravel | |
| Dorvyzhy | Дорвыжы | Udmurt | "homeland roots" or "homeland generation" | Udmurt literary national epic |
| Edda | Óðr | Old Norse | Poetry | Eddur (plural of Edda) are the Poetic Edda (author unknown) and Prose Edda (by Snorri Sturluson), are two Icelandic ancient books |
| Eine kleine Nachtmusik | German | A Little Night-Music | serenade by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| El amor brujo | Spanish | Love, the Magician | ballet by Manuel de Falla | |
| El Cielo | Spanish | The sky/heaven | album by dredg | |
| El cóndor pasa | Spanish | The Condor Passes | song by Daniel Alomía Robles and Julio Baudouin | |
| El Shaddai | אל שדי | Hebrew | "God Almighty" (loosely translated) | video game by Ignition Entertainment |
| Elfen Lied | German | Elf Song | manga and anime-series by Lynn Okamoto | |
| Eroica | Italian | Heroic | symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven | |
| Erlkönig | German | "The Alder King" or "The King of the Elves" | poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |
| Erwartung | German | Expectation | opera by Arnold Schoenberg | |
| Fātata te Miti | Tahitian | By the Sea | painting by Paul Gauguin | |
| Fetih 1453 | Turkish | Conquest 1453 | film by Faruk Aksoy | |
| Feuer frei! | German | "free to fire!" (German military language for "fire at will") | song by Rammstein | |
| Gesta Danorum | Latin | Deeds of the Danes | series of books by Saxo Grammaticus | |
| Gitanjali | গীতাঞ্জলি | Bengali | "An offering of songs" or "prayer offering of songs" | collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore |
| Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona | גבעת חלפון אינה עונה | Hebrew | Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer | film by Assi Dayan |
| Götterdämmerung | German | Twilight of the Gods | opera by Richard Wagner | |
| Gurrelieder | German | Songs of Gurre | oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg | |
| Hagia Sophia | Ἅγια Σοφία | Greek | Divine Wisdom | Byzantine dome-church (now a mosque), located in Istanbul, Turkey |
| Harakiri | 腹切り | Japanese | Harakiri/cutting the belly | film by Masaki Kobayashi |
| Häxan | Swedish | Witches | film by Benjamin Christensen | |
| Heimskringla | Old Norse | The World-Circle | Kings' saga by Snorri Sturluson | |
| Hiroshima mon amour | French | Hiroshima My Love | film directed by Alain Resnais | |
| Huis clos | French | In Camera | play by Jean-Paul Sartre | |
| Ich will | German | I want | song by Rammstein | |
| Ikiru | 生きる | Japanese | To Live | film directed by Akira Kurosawa |
| Il trovatore | Italian | The Troubadour | opera by Giuseppe Verdi | |
| Ilias | Ἰλιάς | Ancient Greek | "Trojan" or "Troas" | epic poem, attributed to Homer |
| Jeux d'enfants | French | Children's Games | symphonic suite by Georges Bizet | |
| Jewang Ungi | 제왕운기 | Korean | Rhymed Chronicles of Sovereigns | poem by Yi Seung-hyu |
| Kaaba | الكعبة | Arabic | The Cube | most sacred site in Islam, located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Kagemusha | 影武者 | Japanese | Shadow Warrior | film directed by Akira Kurosawa |
| Kalevala | Finnish | Lands of Kaleva | epic poem by Elias Lönnrot | |
| Kalevipoeg | Estonian | Kalev's Son | epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald | |
| Kama Sutra | कामसूत्र | Sanskrit | Verses of Desire | ancient book about human sexual behavior by Vātsyāyana |
| Katamari Damacy | 塊魂 | Japanese | Clump Soul | video game by Namco |
| Kebra Nagast | ክብረ ነገሥት | Ge'ez | Glory of Kings | Ethiopian's national epic |
| Keine Lust | German | No Desire (German idiom for "I don't feel like it.") | song by Rammstein | |
| Kindertotenlieder | German | Songs of Dead Children | song cycle by Gustav Mahler | |
| Kraftwerk | German | Power Station | debut album by Kraftwerk | |
| Kremlin | Кремль | Russian | Fortress | historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, Russia |
| Kundun | སྐུ་མདུན་ | Tibetan | The Presence | film directed by Martin Scorsese |
| La Bohème | French | The Bohemian | opera by Giacomo Puccini | |
| La création du monde | French | The Creation of the World | ballet by Darius Milhaud | |
| La cucaracha | Spanish | The Cockroach | traditional song | |
| La dame aux camélias | French | The Lady of the Camellias | novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils | |
| La Damoiselle élue | French | The Blessed Damozel | cantata by Claude Debussy after poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti | |
| La Dolce Vita | Italian | The Sweet Life | film directed by Federico Fellini | |
| La finta giardiniera | Italian | The Pretend Garden-Girl | opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| La mer | French | The Sea | three symphonic sketches for orchestra by Claude Debussy | |
| La notte | Italian | The Night | film by Michelangelo Antonioni | |
| La strada | Italian | The Road | film by Federico Fellini | |
| La traviata | Italian | The Fallen Woman | opera by Giuseppe Verdi | |
| La Vie en rose | French | Rose-Tinted Life | song by Louis Guglielmi and Édith Piaf | |
| Lāčplēsis | Latvian | Bear-slayer | epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs | |
| Lacrimosa | Latin | "weeping" or "tearful" | part of Dies Irae | |
| Lahuta e Malcís | Gheg Albanian | The Highland Lute | Albanian national epic poem | |
| Le bœuf sur le toit | French | The Ox on the Roof | ballet by Darius Milhaud | |
| Le chasseur maudit | French | The Cursed Huntsman | symphonic poem by César Franck | |
| L'eclisse | Italian | The Eclipse | film by Michelangelo Antonioni | |
| L'enfant et les sortilèges | French | The Child and the Spells | opera by Maurice Ravel | |
| Le Grand Meaulnes | French | The Great Meaulnes | novel by Alain-Fournier | |
| Les noces | French | The Wedding | dance cantata by Igor Stravinsky | |
| Le tombeau de Couperin | French | Couperin's Tomb | suite by Maurice Ravel | |
| L'étranger | French | The Outsider | novel by Albert Camus | |
| L'heure espagnole | French | The Spanish Hour/The Time in Spain | opera by Maurice Ravel | |
| Liebestod | German | Love's Death | final scene from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner | |
| Longmen Shiku | 龙门石窟/龍門石窟 | Chinese | Dragon's Gate Grottoes/Caves | artificial, Buddhist grottoes, located south of Luoyang |
| L'Isle joyeuse | French | The Joyful Isle | piano piece by Claude Debussy | |
| Má vlast | Czech | My Fatherland | cycle of symphonic poems by Bedřich Smetana | |
| Machu Picchu | Quechua | Old Peaks | Inca site, located above Urubamba Valley, Peru | |
| Madadayo | まあだだよ | Japanese | Not Yet | film by Akira Kurosawa |
| Mahabharata | महाभारत | Sanskrit | The Great History/Story of the Bharatas | epic of ancient India |
| Mahabodhi Temple | महाबोधि मंदिर | Sanskrit | Great Awakening Temple | Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, India |
| Masjid Al-Haram | المسجد الحرام | Arabic | The Sacred Mosque | largest mosque in the world, located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Mein Kampf | German | My Struggle | autobiography and political treatise by Adolf Hitler | |
| Memento | Latin | Recall | film by Christopher Nolan | |
| Mo Ghile Mear | Irish | My Gallant Darling | song by Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill | |
| Moai | Rapa Nui | Figurine | monolithic human figures on the Polynesian island of Easter Island | |
| Namárië | Quenya | Be Well | poem by J. R. R. Tolkien | |
| Narn i Chîn Húrin | Sindarin | The Tale of the Children of Húrin | unfinished story by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| Nayakan | நாயகன் | Tamil | The Hero | film by Mani Ratnam |
| Nessun dorma | Italian | No-one Shall Sleep | aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot | |
| Ni no Kuni | 二ノ国 | Japanese | Second Country | video game by Level-5 and Studio Ghibli |
| Nibelungenlied | German | Lay/Song of the Nibelungs | German national epic | |
| Nobilissima Visione | Italian | The Noblest Vision | ballet by Paul Hindemith | |
| Notre Dame | French | Our Lady | cathedral in Paris, France | |
| Obaltan | 오발탄 | Korean | Maybe a Miss | film by Yu Hyun-mok |
| Ōkami | 大神, 狼 or 大紙 | Japanese | "Great God" if written as 大神, "Wolf" if written as 狼 or "Great Paper" if written as 大紙 | video game published by Capcom |
| Ōkamiden | 大神伝, 狼伝 or 大紙伝 | Japanese | "Chronicles of a/the Great God" if written as 大神伝, "Chronicles of a/the Wolf" if written as 狼伝 or "Chronicles of a/the Great Paper" if written as 大紙伝 | sequel to Ōkami |
| Ombra mai fu | Italian | Never was a shade | aria by Georg Friedrich Händel | |
| Orgelbüchlein | German | Little Organ Book | collection of chorale preludes and pedagogical treatise on composition by Johann Sebastian Bach | |
| Pappa Ante Portas | German (the first word) and Latin | Daddy in front of the Gates | film by Loriot | |
| Pavane pour une infante défunte | French | Pavane for a Dead Infanta | piano/orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel | |
| Petite Fleur | French | Little Flower | instrumental by Sidney Bechet | |
| Petra | πέτρα | Greek | Stone | city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an, famous for its rock cut architecture |
| Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica | Latin | Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy | three books by Sir Isaac Newton | |
| Pierrot lunaire | French | Moonlit [or Moonstruck] Pierrot | song cycle by Arnold Schoenberg | |
| Popol Vuh | Classical K'iche' | Book of the People | corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the K'iche' kingdom in Guatemala | |
| Porco Rosso | Italian | Red Pig | film by Hayao Miyazaki | |
| Potiche | French | Trophy Wife | film by François Ozon | |
| Praan | প্রাণ | Bengali | Stream of Life | poem by Rabindranath Tagore |
| Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune | French | Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun | symphonic poem by Claude Debussy | |
| Princess Mononoke | もののけ姫 (Mononoke-hime) | Japanese | Princess of the demons/monsters (only the hime was translated to English) | film by Hayao Miyazaki |
| Qur'an (or Koran) | القرآن | Arabic | The Recitation | religious text of Islam by Muhammad |
| Raag Darbari | रागदरबारी | Hindi | A raga of bureaucracy | Novel by Shrilal Shukla |
| Ramakien | รามเกียรติ์ | Thai | Glory of Rama | Thailand's national epic |
| Ramayana | रामायण | Sanskrit | Rama's Path | ancient Indian epic |
| Ran | 乱 | Japanese | "Chaos" or "Revolt" | film by Akira Kurosawa |
| Rashōmon | 羅城門 | Japanese | Gate of the Fortress | former Japanese monuments, were located in Heijō-kyō and Heian-kyō, Japan |
| Rashomon | 羅生門 | Japanese | Gate of the Fortress | film by Akira Kurosawa |
| Ratatouille | French | a French dish | film by Pixar | |
| Selva morale e spirituale | Italian | Moral and Spiritual Forest | collection of sacred music by Claudio Monteverdi | |
| Serse | Italian | Xerxes | opera by Georg Friedrich Händel | |
| Shahnameh | شاهنامه | Persian | The Book of Kings | enormous poetic opus written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi |
| Shiri/Swiri | 쉬리 | Korean | Korean Splendid Dace | film by Kang Je-gyu |
| Shoah | השואה | Hebrew | Calamity | film by Claude Lanzmann |
| Silmarillion | Quenya | From the Radiance of Pure Light | collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works | |
| Skáldskaparmál | Old Norse | Language of Poetry | poem by Snorri Sturluson, consisting of around 50,000 words | |
| Skeireins | 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 | Gothic | Explanation | commentary on the Gospel of John by an unknown Gothic author |
| Stalag 17 | German | a German abbreviation for "Stammlager" (base/main camp) | film by Billy Wilder | |
| Suzakumon | 朱雀門 | Japanese | Gate of the Vermilion Bird | former Japanese monuments, were located in Fujiwara-kyō, Heijō-kyō and Heian-kyō, Japan |
| Taegukgi | 태극기 | Korean | South Korean Flag | film by Kang Je-gyu |
| Taj Mahal | تاج محل or ताज महल | Persian | Crown of Buildings | Indian monument, located in Agra, India |
| Te Deum | Latin | You, God | Christian hymn of praise | |
| Tekken | 鉄拳 | Japanese | Iron Fist | video game series by Namco |
| Tiananmen | 天安门/天安門 | Chinese | Gate of Heavenly Peace | Chinese Monument, located in Beijing, People's Republic of China |
| Titash Ekti Nadir Naam | তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম | Bengali | A River Named Titash | film by Ritwik Ghatak |
| Todesfuge | German | Death Fugue | poem by Paul Celan | |
| Torah | תּוֹרָה | Hebrew | Instruction | Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts, probably by Moses |
| Tristan und Isolde | German | Tristan and Iseult | opera by Richard Wagner | |
| (Tsubaki) Sanjūrō | 椿三十郎 or 三十郎 | Japanese | Thirty-year-old Camellia Tree or Thirty-year-old | film by Akira Kurosawa |
| Turandot | توراندختر | Persian | Turan's Daughter | opera by Giacomo Puccini |
| Vers la flamme | French | Towards the Flame | piano piece by Alexander Scriabin | |
| Verklärte Nacht | German | Transfigured Night | string sextet by Arnold Schoenberg | |
| Vespro della Beata Vergine | Italian | Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, 1610 | musical composition by Claudio Monteverdi | |
| Volver | Spanish | To Return | film by Pedro Almodóvar | |
| Vom Kriege | German | On War | book by Carl von Clausewitz | |
| Weiß Kreuz | German | White Cross (accurately "weißes Kreuz" in German) | anime by Ken'ichi Kanemaki | |
| Winterreise | German | Winter Journey | song cycle by Franz Schubert | |
| Yeelen | Bambara | Brightness | film by Souleymane Cissé | |
| Yojimbo | 用心棒 | Japanese | Bodyguard | film by Akira Kurosawa |
| Yungang Shiku | 云冈石窟/雲岡石窟 | Chinese | Cloud Ridge Grottoes/Caves | artificial, buddhist grottoes, located by Datong |
| Zaveshchanie russkogo fashista | Завещание русского фашиста | Russian | The Last Will of a Russian fascist | book by Konstantin Rodzaevsky |
| Zemlya | Земля | Ukrainian | Soil/Earth | film by Alexander Dovzhenko |