Translating the Dickens: Not a piece of cake (Updated)
First there’s the matter of how to render the title “Great Expectations” in Tagalog.
Is it Malaking Inaasahan? Matayog Na Inaasam? Mga Dakilang Hangarin? What is the literal translation of “expectations”? How do we escape the double-entendre (Malaking Hinaharap)?
We can decide on the title after we’ve re-read the book and figured out exactly what Dickens meant. So we turn to page 1.
We’d assumed that since Dickens is such a compulsive read—it just keeps moving forward—the translation would be fairly easy. Na-ah. The narrator has a distinctive voice, which we need to approximate in Tagalog. How would you do that first paragraph?
But we’re in this, and the minute we get 20 volunteers for the Dickens Translation Group we can divide the chapters among ourselves.
Volunteers so far: noelz, girlfriday0104, greeneggsnham, yas, Grafton Uranus, chigaune and jaime. To join the group, drop us a line in Comments.
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New volunteers: kotsengkuba, turmukoy, oberstein, marcku, Akyat-Bahay Gangster, goneflyingakite, PinoySpag. Who else?
Don’t worry if you haven’t read Great Expectations. We haven’t read the whole book either, just an abridged version when we were kids.
This may help: David Lean’s excellent 1946 film of the Dickens novel starring John Mills and a young Alec Guinness. It’s available for free viewing online here.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 7th, 2012 at 12:34
Sali po ako please.
January 7th, 2012 at 12:49
I’d like to join though I’ve never read the book but have seen the movie when I was in early college and all I can remember now is Gwyneth Paltrow licking the male star’s lips in the drinking fountain.
January 7th, 2012 at 13:39
Not to worry, we’ve never read the entire book either, just an abridged version when we were kids.
All we remember of that movie is crazy Anne Bancroft dancing to Besame Mucho. The David Lean version from the 1946 (with a small role by the very young Alec Guinness) is the finest we’ve seen. You can watch it free online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MSMMJCCYQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
January 7th, 2012 at 16:30
Kung maaari pa, sasali rin ako.
January 7th, 2012 at 18:28
May I join?
January 8th, 2012 at 00:54
Mahirap sya ha.
January 8th, 2012 at 02:39
I know this sounds corny. “Mga Tinitingalang Mithiin.”
January 8th, 2012 at 11:37
JZ — (It’s not as if I have plenty of free time and no reading or writing backlog, so I can’t promise to submit drafts on time, but) may I sign up for this as well?
January 8th, 2012 at 16:20
Mga Magiting na Inaasahan
January 8th, 2012 at 18:43
I have the book and abridged version, but I can’t seem to bring myself to finish reading it. Join ako para may rason na akong basahin.
January 8th, 2012 at 23:10
Sige sama na rin ako. Good luck na lang sa deadline.
January 15th, 2012 at 14:02
Mata(ta)yog na Hangarin …i guess
January 15th, 2012 at 14:03
or Mata(ta)yog na Mithiin