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International film glossary
A glossary of common words and technical terminology used by projectionists and film exhibitors — in many languages.
This glossary is intended to help anyone searching for information about analog film projection and exhibition locate resources in non-English languages.
Disclaimer: This list may contain inaccuracies - Sprocket School editors are mainly native English speakers and are creating it based on internet research, words on film leader and film can labels, and conversations with other projectionists.
- Get in touch if you have a suggestion or correction: info@sprocketschool.org
External Resources
- Oliver Heidelbach’s Online Film Dictionary
- FIAF’s Glossary of Filmographic Terms
- The "Languages" sidebar to the left of every Wikipedia entry (on a desktop computer)
Glossary
Azerbaijani
- movie theater — kinoteatr
Bambara
- movie theater — sinima
Belarusian
- movie theater — Кінатэатр
Bulgarian
- celluloid — Целулоѝдът
- movie theater — Киносалон
Albanian
- movie theater / cinema — kino / kinema / bioskopi / filmteatri
Arabic
- 35mm — 35 ملم
- celluloid — سيلولويد
- a movie — فيلم
- movies — أفلام
- movie theater / cinema — سينما
- screen — شاشة عرض
- theater — مسرح
Cantonese
- a movie — 片 or 電影
- film — 菲林
- projection screen — 投影幕
- theater — 戲院
- projector — 投影機
- projection — 投射
Catalan
- movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema
- screen — pantalla de projecció
Chinese
- 35mm — 35毫米
- a movie — 电影
- celluloid — 賽璐珞
- movie theater — 电影院
Croatian
- movie theater — kino
Czech
- celluloid — celuloid
- movie theater — kino
Danish
- celluloid — celluloid
- film projector — filmfremviser
- movie theater — biograf
Dutch
- celluloid — celluloid
- movie theater — bioscoop
- screen — projectiescherm
Estonian
- movie theater — kino
Finnish
- celluloid — selluloidi
- a movie — elokuva
- motion picture film — kinofilmi
- movie theater — elokuvateatteri
- screen — valkokangas
French
- celluloid — celluloïd
- cue mark — repère de changement de bobine
- projectionist — projectionniste
- reel — bobine
- movie theater / cinema — salle de cinéma / cinéma
Gaelic
- movie theater — pictiúrlann
German
- celluloid — Zelluloid
- changeover — Überblendung
- core (for winding film) — Wickelkern / Bobby
- film projector — Filmprojektor / Laufbildprojektor / Projektor
- frame line — Bildstrich
- movie theater / cinema — Kino
- projectionist — Filmvorführer
- reel — Spule
- print (film) — kopie
- projection booth — Bildwerferraum
- screen — Bildwand
- screen — Leinwand
- screen — Projektionswand
- splicer — Klebepressen
Hausa
- the big screen — babban allon
- cinema — Sinima
- movie — fim
- movies — fina-finan / fina-finai
- movie theaters — gidajen fina-finai
- movie theaters — gidajen sinima
Hebrew
- 35mm – 35 מ"מ
- celluloid — צלולואיד
- film print – עותק פילם
- movie theater — בית קולנוע
Hindi
- 35mm — 35 मिमी
- analog — एनालॉग
- archive — पुरालेख
- a movie or film (the material) — फ़िल्म
- movie — चलचित्र
- movie projector — चलचित्र प्रक्षेपित्र or मूवी प्रोजेक्टर
- Bollywood — बॉलीवुड
- cinema — सिनेमा
- celluloid — सेलुलॉइड
- film format — फिल्म प्रारूप
- silent films / silent film — मूक फिल्म / मूक फिल्मों
- theater — थिएटर
Hungarian
- movie theater / cinema — filmszínház
- projection — vetités
- reel — tekercs (plural: tekercset)
Icelandic
- movie theater — kvikmyndahús
Indonesian
- celluloid — seluloid
- movie theater — bioskop
- outdoor film screening (specific Indonesian tradition) — layar tancep
- film print — cetakan
- projector — proyektor
- projectionist — operator projektor
- roll of film — gulungan film
- screen — layar
Italian
- celluloid — celluloide
- cue mark — bollini di sincronizzazione / segnali di coda
- movie theater / cinema — cinema / sala cinematografica
- projectionist — proiezionista
Japanese
- 35mm — 35ミリ
- acetate — アセテート
- analog — アナログ
- anamorphic — アナモフィック
- aperture plate — 開口プレート
- archive — アーカイブ
- aspect ratio — アスペクト比
- celluloid — セルロイド
- mini theater — ミニシアター
- movie — 映画 or 電影
- movie theater / cinema — 映画館
- projection — 映写
- projectionist — 映写技師
- projector (specifically movie projectors) — 映写機
- projector (more general term) — プロジェクタ
- reel — フィルム一巻 or リール
- screen — スクリーン
Javanese
- movie theater — biyoskup
Korean
- celluloid — 셀룰로이드
- a movie — 영화
- movie theater — 영화관
- screen — 스크린
Latvian
- movie theater — kinoteātris
Lithuanian
- cinema — kino
- film — filmas / filmai / filmo / filmus / filmais / filmų
- movie theater — kino teatras
- screenings — peržiūrų
- strip (like a strip of film) — juostoje
Luxembourgish
- movie theater — Kino
Norwegian
- movie theater — kino
Macedonian
- movie theater — Кино
Malay
- movie theater — pawagam / panggung wayang gambar
- screened — ditayangkan
Mongolian
- movie theater — Кинотеатр
Pashto
- movie theater — سينما
Persian
- a movie — فیلم
- movie theater — سینما
Polish
- celluloid — celuloid
- motion picture film stock — taśma filmowa
- movie theater / cinema — kino
- screen — ekran kinowy / ekran projekcyjny
Portuguese
- a movie — filme / fita / película
- celluloid — celuloide
- movie theater — sala de cinema / cinema
Romanian
- movie theater — cinematograf / sală de cinema
Russian
- 35mm — 35-мм
- a movie — Фильм
- celluloid — Целлулоид
- movie theater — Кинотеатр
Serbian
- movie theater — Биоскоп / кино
Spanish
- analog — analógico
- anamorphic — anamorfico
- celluloid — celuloide
- grain — grano
- lens — lente
- a movie — película / film / filme / peli
- movie theater / cinema — sala de proyección / sala de cine / cine
- projection — proyección
- projection booth — cabina de proyección / cabina / caseta
- projectionist — proyeccionista / operador de cine
- projector — proyector
- reel — rollo
- screen — pantalla de proyección
Slovak
Much of this information is from reading inspection forms that came from a Slovak film distributor
- aspect ratio — obrazovy formát / formát obrazového pole
- audio — zvuk
- celluloid — celuloid
- film format — nosič
- film print — filmového materiálu
- inspection — kontrole
- movie theater / cinema — kino
- screening — predstavení
- soundtrack — stopa
- splice — nalepené ukázky
- projection booth — promitací kabina
- projectionist — promítač
Slovenian
- movie theater — kino
Sudanese
- movie theater — bioskop
Swahili
- a movie — filamu
- movie theater — jumba la sinema
Swedish
- aperture plate — bildfönster
- aspect ratio — bildformat
- auditorium — biografsalong, salong
- base side (film) — blanksida
- celluloid — celluloid
- changeover — skifte
- continuous sprockets — matarhjul
- core (for winding film) — bobin
- cue mark — skiftmärke
- emulsion side — emulsionssida
- film projector — filmprojektor, projektor
- focus — skärpa
- frame line — bildskillnadsstreck
- geneva drive — malteserkors
- ghosting — bländarsläp
- inspection — syning
- interlocking — samkörning
- intermittent sprocket — framkastarhjul
- lamphouse — lamphus
- leader — startsladd
- lens — objektiv
- magnetic sound — magnetljud
- masking (at screen) — dukmask
- movie — film
- movie theater / cinema — biograf, bio
- platter system — non-rewind, vinda
- port window — projektionsglugg, projektionsfönster
- print — filmkopia, kopia
- projection booth — maskinrum
- projectionist — biografmaskinist, maskinist
- rectifier — likriktare
- reel — akt
- reel (spool) — filmhjul
- reflector — spegel
- rewind bench — spolbord
- screen — filmduk, duk
- shutter — bländare
- silent film — stumfilm
- sound format — ljudformat
- soundtrack — ljudspår
- splice — skarva
- splicer — skarvapparat
- splicing tape — skarvtejp
- split reel — stickhjul
- subtitles — undertext, text
- (to) thread — ladda
- xenon short-arc lamp — xenon-kolv, xenon-lampa
Tagalog
- auditorium — awditoryum
- a movie — pelikula
- cinema or movies — pelikulang
- film (the material) — pilm
- film projector — aparato ng sine
- movie theater — sinehan / sine
- screened — ipinalabas
- show (a movie) — ipinapakita
- project (a movie) — ipinapalabas
- projector — prodyektor
- silent film — pelikulang tahimik
Tamil
- a movie — திரைப்படம்
- celluloid — செலுலாயிடு
Thai
- 35mm — 35 มิลลิเมตร
- cinema or movie(s) — ภาพยนตร์
- film archive — หอภาพยนตร์
- movie theater — โรงภาพยนตร
Turkish
- celluloid — selüloit
- movie theater — sinema
Ukranian
- 35mm — 35 мм
- celluloid — Целулоїд
- movie theater — Кінотеа́тр
Vietnamese
- a movie — bộ phim
- motion picture film — phim nhựa
- movie theater — rạp chiếu phim
- screen — màn chiếu
Welsh
- movie theater — sinema
Wolof
- movie theater — sinemaa
Yoruba
- cinema — Sinima
- movie — filmu
Zulu
- a movie — ifilimu
- movie theater / cinema — ibhayisikobho