Tagalog

[potet]

Dear Mr. Furey,

I am not a native speaker of Tagalog, so I am afraid I am not competent for
the editing you need. All I can do is impart you with a few ideas.

1) Today's Tagalogs are unable to express themselves fully in their own
language. They freely mix up Tagalog and English (the result is called
"Taglish"); so much so that scholars, experts and the general public just do
not know the few coinages that exist in the scientific and technical fields.
I even have the strong impression they couldn't care less.

2) Therefore, in your Tagalog text, I should advise you to just use the
English terms attached to your message. The native Tagalog  speaker in
charge of recording the comment on your film will adjust them to Filipino
pronunciation, e.g. maintenance ['meyn-ta-'nens or something like that]

3) In so far as long compounds may pose a problem, the trick consists in
giving first the abbreviation made up of the initial then tell the full
expression preceded by _ó_ "or", then your translator may offer a
periphrastic explanation in Tagalog introduced by the phrase _na íbig
sabíhing_ "which means", e.g.  A.F.I. ó "Accident Free Incentive", na íbig
sabíhing "pangganyák sa pagkawaláng-sakunâ" [incentive + PREP + state
prefix-without-linker-accident].

4) Another trick, and this holds true for all the terms, consists in using
the corresponding Spanish term, e.g. _carro elevador_ [I hope this is the
correct Spanish term] "forklift", and give it a Tagalog spelling, e.g. káro
elebadór.

5) If there is no such term - a very unusul occurrence - just give the
English term a Spanish disguise if it lends itself to it, e.g.  checklist >
chéko-listó. If it doesn't, just leave it in English.

6) Conversely, if the English term already sounds Spanish, just adapt it to
Tagalog pronunciation, e.g. compactor > _kumpaktór_,  motor > _motór_ and
velcro > _belkró_.

7) Are you sure your Tagalog translator is competent? I am surprised that
they shouldn't have been able to find the equivalent of "break room". I'd
suggest _silíd-pahingá_ [room + relaxation].  Isn't "Do not disturb" _Huwág
ninyóng gágambálà_? etc.

Good luck

Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P. 46. 92114 CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.

P.S. I have used accents, but you should know Filipinos stopped using them
when Spanish keyboards were replaced by English QWERTY keyboards.