Lost in Translation

Spoiler Alert: By 2013, Bookware Publishing will start releasing Tagalized novels from different international publishers. In connection to this, I’d like to give a few pointers for those who are planning to give translating for MSV a try. :-)

• One of the main objectives of translation is for the reader to understand these novels better; to make them easier to read. So don’t use Tagalog terms that are too deep. Instead, use terms that Filipinos, in this day and age, are using. 
• Do not change the names of people, setting, events, currencies, units of measurement, and other things that reflect the life and culture of the characters in the novel.
• Do not add anything.
• Unless the publisher gave you a permission, do not crop or delete anything from the original novel. 
• Retain the tone of the novel. If the tone is serious, do not add words or phrases that will ‘sound’ otherwise.
• Translate it as it is, unless a sentence will be too mouthful to read or difficult to comprehend.
• Use simple sentences. Split sentences if needed. 
• Don’t translate idiomatic expressions literally. If there is a Tagalog counterpart for it, use that idiom instead. If there’s none, just give the meaning of the idiom in Tagalog. 
• If a certain word or phrase doesn’t have a direct equal in Filipino (or the equivalent term is outdated), retain its English form instead.
• English writers usually write longer and more detailed narratives. If you think it would be better (meaning, easier to read) to condense it, do so but with the permission of your editor.
• If you think your characters will sound odd saying the dialogue in its Tagalog form, then leave it alone.
• Don’t convert endearments if it would make the speaker (character) sound ‘baduy’, weak or lame.
• Do not split paragraphs; international publishers have their own rules regarding this.
• 'Tame' love scenes if you find it too graphic. Use the 'tamer' Tagalog equivalent words for body parts.  

Reminders: 

* Again, the goal is to make the manuscript EASIER to read. 

* Read your work to see if your Tagalog sentences make sense.
* DO NOT Google Translate. Please.
* The manuscript you’re working on belongs to someone else, and that someone has his/her own writing style. Respect it. Save your ideas for your own manuscript, and translate objectively.