THE FILIPINO TRANSLATION OF SUZANNE COLLINS’ “THE HUNGER GAMES”: MORE, MORE, MORE!

I have just finished reading the Filipino Translation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. If I were to describe it in one word, it would be this:  WOW. 

I’m not exactly what you would call a literary expert when it comes to reading/writing in Filipino, but I really loved the Filipino translation of The Hunger Games.  I didn’t care whether it was material I wasn’t used to reading.  I didn’t care that I had to look up some words in the dictionary (like the word “lambak,” which I probably haven’t encountered in ages). 

I have to commend Precious Pages Corporation for coming up with a very good translation of one of my favorite books this year.  I can only imagine how difficult it was for the translator, Janis delos Reyes, to translate such material.  Yet, she managed to come up with a translation that is not only a fairly accurate translation of the material, but also a translation that captures the writing “voice” of Suzanne Collins. 

While this book isn’t exactly light reading fare (at least, for me) --- it IS a challenging book to read --- I loved the way it was translated.  This translation only confirms what I have always believed in my heart, that there’s magic in the written Filipino word. 

The translated prose of Suzanne Collins has a very beautiful, lyrical quality to it.  It’s exactly what I expected, given the excellent quality of the original material. And just like what I experienced when I read the Filipino translation of Twilight, the story became more visually alive and real to me when I read it in Filipino.

Have a Tagalog or Tagalog-English dictionary by your side, if you’re intimidated by heavy Filipino words.  But don’t be afraid to read this book.  And by all means, read more books in Filipino!  I definitely can’t wait to read more books in Filipino.

RATING:  5