Currently subtitling... Ang Tanging Ina

For my second subtitling attempt, I've decided to work on a Filipino comedy movie... "Ang Tanging Ina". A friend from cyberspace, weimel, suggested me to watch and do subtitles for this movie. I haven't watched this yet, so I borrowed this from Video City (a local video rental store) and started working on it.

I was really laughing out loud while watching this movie. But what's good with this is, while it's outright funny, it does portray the life of a mother of one dozen kids. It sure is hard to raise 12 children alone... thus the title "Ang Tanging Ina" (I might translate it literally to "The Only Mother" or "The Special Mother" due to different possible translation of "Tanging", but I've seen on the Internet translating it as "The True Mother").

For the English-speaking fanatics out there, though, be very careful in pronouncing "Tanging". It should be spoken slowly, as in "taaah-nging". If you speak it fast, as in "ta-nging", the meaning becomes different--and you'll insult your mother for sure. Hahaha!

But then, sometimes, a mother's love could be considered crazy by many of the young lads out there... but there nothing will be better than that. I consider myself blessed for having both my parents with me. Many people out there have single parents, though I believe many of them are still happy... but imagine how a single parent would take care of his/her children.

Right now, I'm 50% complete with the English translations... I'm still working out on the other 50% and having weimel do the spot translations and QC. I'll post it at Chinky's Movie Spoiler when it's done... meanwhile, try the other movie that I translated--Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di. Check it out on Chinky's blog here.

Lost a cellphone... YET again!

Geez... I lost a cellphone again... for the 7th time! Waaaah.... I don't know how I became cursed with cellphones... ever since I graduated from College I'd always lose a phone by any means, whether it slipped my pockets, forgotten it in a restroom, got it pickpocketed by someone, or even got into a "modus operandi"... I seem to be very prone at losing my phones. Why, a phone won't even last 1 year with me!


This time, I lost my precious Nokia 7650 that my mother gave to me. It was pickpocketed from me while I was riding a train. It looked like there were lots of them, because I felt being cornered by a lot of me inside the train so I couldn't move, and I felt my phone moving from my pockets.

The stupid thing about me is that I didn't even realize that my phone was being stolen during that time. When the train stopped and the people started leaving (and suddenly there wasn't so much people anymore), I just tried to reach for the phone in my pocket, and voila... it's gone.

The funny thing here is, I actually have two phones in my pocket--I have a Nokia 3315 beside the 7650. The culprit sure knows which phone to get... if the 3315 was the one stolen I wouldn't feel so bad (I'm already used at losing my phone that it didn't hurt so much anymore), but the 7650... it's quite expensive, although my mom and dad had it for more than 2 years already. Plus all my latest contacts are in there... I got some new clients on that phone.

And me? I got that phone from my mom barely two months ago. So this is one of the fastest phones I lost. The longest was 11 months.

Oh well. I'm done lamenting on that phone. I don't know why I'm cursed with losing phones every now and then... but then I'm not really a mobile phone fanatic. I'd rather buy the cheapest low-end phone. I'm even afraid to hold a high-end one (for fear of losing it one day). Maybe I have some sort of Midas' touch, except it doesn't turn things to gold... it turns a cellphone into a stolen one. Hahaha!

I just hope not to lose my remaining phone right away... the phone I'm currently holding is already about 3 months with me. I'd be happy if it would stay with me for more than a year! ^_^

Fansubbing

At last... my second post, and on a day when I should be working... hahaha!

Anyway, fansubbing means to make subtitles for your favorite movies or dramas. Lately, I've been so fond of watching Asian dramas and movies (Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese) with English subtitles.

While I'm enjoying watching these K-, J- or TW-dramas and movies, I've been wondering... are there any Filipino dramas and movies being subtitled like these popular Asian dramas? Well after a long search I found out there are people doing it too, although I think it's more of individual work unlike the popular asian dramas that are being subbed by organized fansubbing groups.


Then I've been thinking... what if there -is- a Pinoy fansubber group just like those people out there doing subtitle projects for popular Asian dramas and movies? I've been curious at how they do things... I've been reading terms like timers, spot translators, and so on... makes me kinda excited because subtitling actually is a project done with different people with different roles.

Plus, they do it on their free time, and they do it for free. And I thought there's no free lunch in this world... ;-)

I've tried subbing a Filipino movie, with much success. But I learned that it's quite tedious to do these stuff. I am quite fluent in English but translating Filipino words to English require quite some work. Why, there are some Filipino phrases that just couldn't be translated to English--if you try translating them literally, they lose the original meaning. This is true especially for sayings and idioms. Plus, some unique Filipino culture cannot be easily be shown in English words... maybe if you're a Filipino watching or you know about the Philippines, then that would be easy.

Anyway, the first Filipino movie I translated is "Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di". If you want to check it out, visit http://chinkymovies.blogspot.com/2007/08/filipino-movie-mano-po-5-gua-ai-di-i.html and se for yourself. I got the help of another Filipino living in a foreign country for editing them, so I believe the subtitles should be pretty good enough.

Hey, if you're Filipino (or knows Filipino) and you have the same thought as I have... why not drop me a line? Maybe we could come up with our own fansubbing group together?