GMail in Tagalog

Have you seen the Filipino / Tagalog version of GMail? It sounded funny!

For what's new: Tingnan ang aming mga bagong katangian!

This is what appears on the login screen of Tagalog GMail:

Isang pagharap ng Google sa email.

Ang Gmail ay isang eksperimento sa isang bagong uri ng webmail, binuo sa ideya na hindi mo kailangang magtanggal ng sulat at dapat mong laging mahanap ang mensaheng gusto mo. Ang mga pangunahing katangian ay:

• Maghanap, huwag magbukod-bukod.
  
  Gamitin ang paghahanap ng Google upang mahanap ang eksaktong mensahe na gusto mo, kahit kailan ito ipinadala o natanggap.
• Huwag magtatapon ng kahit ano.
  
  Higit sa 2000 megabytes (at nadaragdagan pa) ng libreng imbakan upang hindi mo na kailangang magtanggal ng mensahe.
• Panatilihin ang lahat ng ito sa konteksto.
  
  Ang bawat mensahe ay nakagrupo kasama ang lahat ng mga sagot at ipinapakita bilang pag-uusap.
• Walang mga biglang-lumilitaw na anunsiyo. Walang mga hindi nakaasintang bandera.
  
  Ang makikita mo lamang ay ang mga may-kaugnayang tekstong anunsiyo at mga link na may kaugnayan sa mga pahina ng web.
  

I wonder whom Google outsourced the translation to. Although it translates correctly (word for word), it sounds hilarious when Filipinos read it.

For example, "throw" in Tagalog is "tapon." Don't throw away anything is "Huwag magtatapon ng kahit na ano."

But for Filipinos, "magtatapon" is linked to garbage and not to e-mail. Perhaps the Tagalog for delete (bura) would be better?

Targeted banners (nakaasintang bandera). In Tagalog, when you aim a gun or a slingshot at something, the word is asinta. Perhaps the translator was thinking of target practice so he/she chose "asinta" for targeted banners.

The proper context for targeted advertising would be "meaningful" ads, and the Tagalog word for "meaningful" is "makabuluhan."

(Check out Mike Abundo's Filipino is a Terrible Language for Tech Evangelism.)

But that's okay. My comments about the GMail Tagalog login screen are just tiny quibbles compared to the large amount of translation well done. Congratulations to whoever made that translation. (Does anyone know who did it?)

[ First posted on 12/06/2006 by Manuel Viloria ]