Filipino boy group SB19 got invited to this yearโs Lollapalooza, so I thought Iโd do a little somethingโ I edited the English subtitles on one of their most popular songs, GENTO, as they sang it on The First Take.
The translation is generally fine. Itโs just that one line was either skipped or forgotten, and some culturally-specific nuances were smoothed out to make them easier to understand for foreign viewers. So, hereโs an attempt at a translation thatโs closer to the source text. It may not sound as smooth as the original English translation, but it is more โaccurate.โ
Translation Notes
1. The title GENTO is word play. It sounds like both the Tagalog words โganitoโ (like this) and โgintoโ (gold).
2. At this line in the chorus...
Gento, gento
โDi โto basta-basta bingo
The original en TL translated it as โThis isnโt instant like bingo.โ In my tl, I changed the word โinstantโ to โrandom.โ The word in Tagalog is โbasta-basta,โ which can mean โsimply,โ โlightly,โ or โeasily.โ Basically, something that doesnโt seem to require effort. It can also be used to describe something that happened by luck or chance.
3. The second line here isnโt translated at all xD
Kahit na wala pang hinto ciento por ciento
Bawat bitaw ko, mismo
Understandable, though. These lines are a nightmare to translate xD
Kahit na wala pang hinto = Even without a stop
ciento por ciento = 100% (from Spanish)
Bawat bitaw ko = literally, โeach [thing] I let go.โ It can be words; it can be actions.
mismo = himself/herself/myself/itself/etc. But the placing of this word in the Tagalog lyrics is a bit awkward. Usually โmismoโ is placed right beside a subject pronoun, like โAko mismoโ (I myself) or โIkaw mismoโ (you yourself). But here, itโs placed right after an object pronoun (ko). Itโs separated by a comma, too, so we know itโs not meant to be a pronoun intensifier. So, I opted to translate it as just a general intensifier:
Even without rest, I still give a hundred percent
on everything I do. That's right!
4. Several allusions in these lines:
Di ko na kailangan lumunok ng bato
Hindi mala-Darna 'to, aandar ang makina ko
Tanging mekaniko ay ako, โla nang moni-moniko
my translation:
I donโt need to swallow a stone.
This isnโt like Darna.
My engine can run with me alone as mechanic.
Thereโs no need for Moniko.
The first two lines are a reference to a popular Filipino comic book character, Darna. The story is about Narda, who turns into her superhero form Darna, by swallowing a stone.
The latter two lines are based on a Filipino tongue twister:
Minekaniko ni Moniko ang makina ng manika ni Monika.
which literally translates to: Moniko mechanicized (fixed) the machine in the doll of Monika.
Therefore, the lyrics in the song are saying that the speaker doesnโt need outside help; he can fix himself. Interesting thing about the Tagalog lyrics is that Monikoโs name is conjugated like a verb and used as one: moni-moniko. So, a more literal translation would be like โNo more Moniko-ing.โ
5. In the last stanza, a stronger form of the verb โdigโ is used:
Halukayin mo na parang gento
my tl:
Dig it deep like GENTO! (like this)
The root word is โhukay,โ which is what simply means โdig.โ At first, the song uses the basic conjugated forms โhinukayโ (passive form) and โhukayinโ (command form). โHalukayinโ is also in command form like โhukayin,โ but it sounds much stronger. Like, I can imagine someone turning over the soil thoroughly with it.
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