THE FILIPINO TRANSLATION OF “FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY”: SURPRISE! THE TRANSLATION IS ACTUALLY BETTER THAN THE BOOK!

RATING GUIDE:

                       

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

Last year, a Philippine publishing house, Precious Pages Corporation, published its first-ever translation of a popular novel, that of Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight.  This bold move caused quite a stir, and a number of book lovers (like yours truly) asked many questions, such as the following:  Will the translation be any good?  Will book readers accept the idea of translating popular novels?  What book(s) will be translated next?  Will it be (GASP!) Fifty Shades Of Gray?

Apparently, Precious Pages Corporation’s decision to make translations of popular novels available to the public has been a very good one.  Even though the Filipino translation of Twilight received mixed reviews, Precious Pages has soldiered on in its vision to give the reading public a wider variety of popular material in Filipino.  In the last few months, it has released the translations of other titles, such as Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (The translations are selling well, I guess). And just recently, it has released the long-awaited (or long-dreaded) Filipino translation of EL James’ Fifty Shades Of Gray. 

If you have read my book reviews of EL James’ Fifty Shades trilogy, it would be obvious that I’m not really a fan of this book series.  But since I am a new convert to reading Filipino translations, I got a copy of the Filipino translation of Fifty Shades and got ready to … what’s the right word … oh, yes.  Puke.   

Imagine my surprise when I finished reading the translation  without feeling any urge to run into the bathroom and vomit my guts out.  In fact, it took me a much shorter time to finish reading it (as opposed to its English original, which was almost an intolerable chore to read).  What do you know?  Believe it or not, the translation is actually better than the book.  Surprised?  Well, I am, considering how bad the source book is.

Thanks to the sensible and careful efforts of Precious Pages’ translation and editing team, the Filipino translation of Fifty Shades Of Gray is a much smoother and quicker read.  I was sooooo glad that the team minimized the number of times I had to read about the color of Christian Gray’s eyes, or the shape of Christian’s fingers, or Ana’s lip-biting, enticing ways.  I mean, hey, the book readers aren’t idiots (well, most of us aren’t).  You don’t need to tell us a hundred times that Christian’s eyes are gray before we realize that they ARE gray.   I mean, come on!

In the original book, Ana sounded like a British woman desperately trying to sound like a young American girl.  In the translation, Ana’s voice is very young and Pinay.  She also sounds more “normal” compared to the original Ana, whose capacity for vulgarity came in stages (it took her a huge dose of Christian Gray before her swearing progressed from “Holy crap” to “Holy fuck”).  In the translation, there are no such levels and distinctions, and we know exactly how Ana feels the moment she goes “Putang ina!”

Wow.  Ang lutong ng mura, parang chicharon!

This “direct approach” is also applied to the book’s abundant sex scenes.  Instead of using euphemisms for body parts or sexual terms (the kinds we read about in those seedy underground tabloid columns or magazines), the translating and editing team calls a spade a spade.  Walang preno.  Breasts are not mountains but suso, the clitoris is not a gem but tinggil, and so on and so forth.  I don’t know if that approach would raise the nausea factor for other book readers, but that approach worked well for me.  I probably would have rolled my eyes or snickered had I found any of the euphemisms being used in the translated version.

I also discovered something surprising about reading translations.  If you have read any of my previous posts, you would know that I am a recent convert to reading translations.  I just enjoy reading books in their original form and reading their translated versions.  So far, I have talked about the surprising things that happen when one reads a Filipino translation.  In my experience, a translation is easier to read.  It takes less time, the words are processed by the brain much quicker and much more smoothly, the details are more vivid.  I also experienced this while reading the translation of Fifty Shades, but what’s surprising is, I liked Christian Gray MORE when I read the translation.  He was a dangerous asshole in the original, but he morphed into an almost-normal guy with many issues when I read the Filipino version.  Ana, meanwhile, became younger, natural-sounding and more like your average Pinay … and believe it or not, the sex scenes became less gag-worthy and more acceptable.  Steamy, even.  I’m not kidding.

While I will never consider the English Fifty Shades trilogy as something I might want in my book collection, the Filipino Fifty Shades is a very sharp, accurate, readable and (dare I say this) enjoyable translation to read.  Much, much better than the original.

RATING:  4 1/2

               

           

MARICAR DIZON’S “THE INFAMOUS BIKER’S CLUB” SERIES: PROOF THAT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (WELL, ALMOST) …

RATING GUIDE:

 

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

“The Infamous Biker’s Club” series consists of five books, whose stories range from your everyday, garden variety romance, to that which deal with slightly more serious matter, such as death and moving on.  

The book “Love Coach” is the story of Angelique, a sheltered, manang-ish girl who meets bad boy kuno Aio after she is dumped by James, the user-friendly object of her affection.  Aio who can handle makeup brushes as well as a bike (no, he’s not a parlorista, and yes, he’s straight!) not only gives Angelique a makeover that turns her into a drool-worthy babe, but also volunteers to be her pretend boyfriend so she can exact her revenge upon James.  Angelique eventually falls in love with Aio, but can Aio truly fall in love with someone like her?

 

The second book, “The Rugged Knight,” is the story of Ria, a sheltered, lonely girl, who begins to stand up for herself after she meets Greg, another biker boy.  But Greg is nothing at all like what her upper crust family wants for her.  Worse, they want to marry her off to someone else!

 “The Troublemaker” is the story of Sissy, a working student, whose thoughts of love (and lust) are awakened for the first time when she meets Jet, a rich kid and rebellious biker boy.  Jet has a huge chip in his shoulder in the form of his brother, Jordan.  Jet can’t stand being compared to Jordan and so rebels at every opportunity.  He continues evading his responsibilities as a grown-up and as a member of his family until … surprise, surprise!  He learns that Jordan is actually engaged to be married to Sissy!

“The Lone Wolf” is the story of Carrie, a beautiful lady who can actually get any boy she wants.  But then, Carrie only has eyes for Martin, who has shut himself off from love after the death of his first girlfriend and only love, Camille.  Can Carrie make Martin fall in love again?

 

The last book, “The Untamed Cupid,” is the story of Janis, a rich, beautiful bitch of a travel blogger who also happens to be the black sheep in her family.  But there’s a hidden, more real side to Janis, and it’s a side that she displays to no one, until she meets Yuuji, the kind, gentle and sensitive biker boy (who’s as good with a pastry brush as well as his bike).  Janis wants him, but how can she win him over?  Yuuji refuses to have anything to do with her, not after the way she broke his heart years ago.

In “The Untamed Cupid,” Maricar writes, “As a writer, I know na baguhan pa lang talaga ako. As in, there are times when I don’t feel confident about my work. I know it’s so newbie. Pero ang pakonsuwelo ko sa sarili ko at ipapalusot ko na rin sa mga nakabasa na ng gawa ko: I believe I can do so much better next time. Kailangan lang ng practice at lakas ng loob na sumubok ng bago. Tunog palusot talaga, `no? Pero seryoso, susubukan ko talaga. ^^ “

This book series does reflect Maricar Dizon’s “newbie-ness”.  The first three books in the series are pretty ordinary and not really that well-written.  If these books were cake, they’d what I would call a little “hilaw,” for other than the “kilig” factor, there’s nothing much in the areas of story and character development. 

I am also slightly disturbed by a couple of the heroines’ willingness to sleep with their hunky heroes that quickly, despite the fact that they really don’t know much about them.  Call me conservative (which I am, in a way), but I just think authors need to be more conscious of their power to influence their readers.  While I do understand that the times are different now, and that pre-marital sex seems to be more of the norm rather than the exception, I still believe that pre-marital sex needs to be discussed in a more mature and responsible way.  Sure, the “first time” can be a romantic experience, but there are consequences to unprotected sex and having sex with someone you barely know and just idealize in your head.  Just look at the ballooning figure of teenage pregnancies out there, or the spread of HIV-AIDS.  Even though romances are escapist fare, I just think authors can be a little more aware of their power to influence their readers.  If they’re going to have their characters engage in pre-marital sex, then maybe, they could at least make it safe sex?  And show the consequences.  Because there ARE consequences to unprotected sex and sex with someone you barely know. 

But Maricar’s effort at improving her craft does show in the last two books, “The Lone Wolf” and especially “The Untamed Cupid”.  In these books, Maricar is at last able to create characters with some form of depth to them. 

“The Untamed Cupid” is actually quite an entertaining read.  The heroine, Janis, is actually quite complex, and it’s only due to Maricar’s efforts that she succeeds in becoming a sympathetic character, even though she’s a bitch in heels.  There’s also lots of “kilig” in this book, and the hero, Yuuji, is someone any girl can fall in love with.  Kudos to Maricar Dizon for not giving up on her craft!  I’d be interested in seeing how her writing improves in the future.

Overall, the series’ quality is pretty uneven (like I said, only the last two books are good), but it’s a good showcase of what happens if an author keeps on writing.  As they say, practice makes perfect.  Maybe Maricar is on her way to “perfect,” if she just continues to be humble, writes books the best way she can, and tries new things.  As I said about Luna King’s books in a separate blog entry, “safe” and “generic” are not the ways to go if you want to be remembered as an author.  I think that Maricar knows that, and it shows in her work.

RATING:  3 (series) / 5 (“The Untamed Cupid”)

THE FILIPINO TRANSLATION OF SIDNEY SHELDON’S IF TOMORROW COMES: WOW!

 

RATING GUIDE:

 

5 – A keeper!   

4 – Very good

3 –  Passable

2 –  I’d rather read a telephone book

1 – An absolute bomb.  Read at your own risk!

To date, I have read two Filipino translations coming from Precious Pages Corporation.  The first was the translation of “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, followed by “Fine Things” by Danielle Steele.  This is the third.

Whenever I start reading a translation, I always wonder whether the translation will be as faithful to the original, whether it will be as good, not as good, or better than the original.  After reading the Filipino translation of “If Tomorrow Comes,” I can say that this translation is just as good as the original.

Sidney Sheldon’s writing style is crisp, no-nonsense and very, very raw, and I appreciated that the book’s translator, Armine Rhea Mendoza (who also wrote the translation for the Filipino version of Twilight) was able to recreate his writing voice and style.  Quite frankly, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the translation of that part in the book where the heroine, Tracy Whitney, spends time in jail.  In my view, that was one of the book’s more compelling parts … but it’s just darker, grittier, wilder, more raw (ergo, more enjoyable) in Filipino.  There’s nothing quite as satisfying as reading “Puta ka!” as opposed to “You bitch!”  or reading “Tuturuan ka naming kumain ng puki!” as opposed to “We’re going to teach you how to eat pussy!”  (I hope I remembered the lines correctly!)  Reading that in my language was … wow.  So dirty, and yet, so cathartic, so damned enjoyable!  Although I felt slightly cheated when the translator stopped short of saying “utong” for “nipple” and used “dunggot” instead.  I’m thinking, if you’re going to be vulgar and dirty and crass, why not go ALL the way?

Like I said before (in my blog entry dated 10 December), Sidney Sheldon’s “If Tomorrow Comes” reminded me so much of Pinoy telenovelas that Sidney Sheldon might as well be Pinoy.  Well, this Filipino translation just indulges us with that fantasy.  It’s like a Pinoy telenovela come to life … action-packed, steamy, sexy, gritty.  Delicious escapist fare!  Why, I can almost imagine it being turned into an actual soap!  Any takers? 

RATING:  5