On Filipino Translations

It's common to hear people complain when certain TV stations dub an English movie or an English TV show in Filipino. I was among those who were a bit squeamish when the Filipino translations of 50 Shades of Grey and Hunger Games came out, and it wasn't because of the novels themselves (although, of all popular young adult fiction, I cannot fathom why 50 Shades would be worth translating). I think it's the process itself, the translation of an English material into Filipino.

People say, "ay ang panget na, tinranslate nila sa Tagalog (Filipino)." Sometimes, I think this myself, as if the translation aimed at improving the quality of the material. But that's not the point at all. We translate to make a material more accessible to a wider audience, that is, to include a particular population in the appreciation of the material. Whether the translation is better than the original is incidental. (Scholars also claim that another purpose of translation is to enrich the language to which the material is translated, but I'm not really sure yet how that works.)

But perhaps what seems so atrocious in the translation of English to Filipino is that that purpose does not seem to be served, especially for those who complain. We take it for granted that Filipinos understand English already, and a lot of those who have access to television (or the internet) may even understand English better than Filipino. But more than this practical consideration, there is also the bias for English over the mother tongue.

We don't complain much about other languages translated into Filipino, like Mexican telenovelas dubbed in Filipino, or about the dub in Korean dramas. We probably even like the Tagalog Doraemon, and the rest of the dubbed animé. Personally, I barely even noticed that these shows weren't originally in Filipino. I think the dubbing were excellently done. In fact, my favorite scene in the Kdrama Boys Over Flowers is funnier in the dubbed version.

I've been checking out the Spanish version of Disney songs and they seem fine. If they were in Filipino, on the other hand, I suspect I would feel differently. There's just really something about English to Filipino translations. Perhaps the deep workings of colonial mentality. But I would no longer delve into a lengthy discussion of it, as I have nothing new to contribute; so much has been said on the subject, to no avail.