Gerry asked us to translate tampo in English. We can hardly answer. Then, my fun begins as I search for the English equivalent of tampo as more and more Filipino words are returned by Google that has no equivalent in vernacular. This goes to English words being translated to Filipino or Tagalog.

I read a high school pamphlet on Filipino subject from my sister. I can’t help myself but raise my eyebrows on some translated and Filipino-spelled English words. Informative and narrative are being spelled in Filipino as informatib and naratib. Wah! Sounds very pilit! Bruteforced! When should be the letter f replaced by p? Ang efekto nga naman ng makabagong alfabeto. Heavy ekwipment like elebeytor? Tsk. Tsk. Calculator is kalkyuleytor? Typewriter? Makinilya na lang!

I also read a Varsitarian article Wikang Filipino: Kumusta na?. I discovered that cough was once translated to kaf. Eh pwede namang ubo na lang diva?

Well, there’s always exceptions to the rule as stated in last bullet of the how-to-spell lists.

Meanwhile, there are Filipino words (not jargon or slang) that are have no translated English terms. Or is it just that I haven’t found them yet?

  • po
  • tampo
  • utang na loob
  • suki
  • kalabit
  • gigil
  • kami / tayo
  • mabuhay
  • akbay

With this new fun that I discovered, I learned that sirit is derived from share it. Smokey Mountain is boondocks of bazoora.

This post is serious. If you want the funny side of this, visit English Tagalog Translation post.

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