Weave Pinoy-Culture in your Tagalog TextsTolerance in Pinoy-CultureFilipinos are a tolerant people. Pinoy-culture has plenty of words that asks for tolerance. When invited to an event or gathering and is either undecided or embarrassed to say no, a Tagalog will say, "Titingnan ko," literally, "I will see" which can mean "yes" or "no" depending on the intimacy or lack of it in the relationship of the parties involved. "Pasensya na" or literally, "Be patient with me," can mean, "I'm sorry, please forgive me," but the word is far from asking real forgiveness. "Forgive me," translates to "patawarin mo ako," in Tagalog. Given the intensity of this expression, you know that it will only be used in instances where a real offense requires someone to humble himself. You can imagine even an image of a sad face and teary eyes that go with it. But not with "pasensya." This one asks for tolerance rather than real forgiveness. Isud-isod, Ipud-ipod, Usud-usod means "move a little," and the variations in spellings depend on what Tagalog province you come from. This expression is generic because Filipinos or Pinoys are always sharing small spaces where everybody needs to tolerate the noise and smell around them, and of course, including all sweat and all breath. Given the Pinoy's tolerant nature, it's no wonder that the people are often smiling and laughing, sometimes, for instance, even if it's only a day after a great natural disaster! This is often referred to as resiliency, and fairly so, but not quite.And well, it's never easy to see through that smiling face. However dire his circumstances be the Tagalog will simply say with a hopeful grin, "bahala na," (an expression which is quite challenging to translate: "Let the future be?" "Fate will take care of it all?" "Let it be?") From the word "bahala" or roughly, "care" in English, pinoy-culture smarts in tolerance. "Bahala ka" or "you take care of it" can mean exactly that but with a resigned connotation. Saying this means that one is ending a conversation or an argument or trusting another person to solve some problem. The expression "Ako'ng bahala sa 'yo", "I will take care of you," is not always said with compassion for the other person. Rather, it is sometimes cliche for those who expect some mutual benefit that will eventually propel them to a better paying, more powerful, more self-advancing status or position. The English text lacks this special trait of "tolerance" because it is straightforward, confrontational, and specific. For the translator sometimes, here is where the difficulty in translation lies --
Pinoy-culture does not always allow its language to be too transparent. Only in the Philippines! (Share your Pinoy encounters)Mabuhay! Pinoy, Pilipinas. Balikbayan. OFW. Fil-AM. Foreigner or a carefree travel bug -- have you been to the Philippine Islands lately? (including all 7101 of them low tide) We'd like to hear about your anecdotes: you can call it "My Pinoy Experience." Funny, irreverent, bland, cute, different, interesting, religious, smorgasboard - we welcome your stories here. Or if you have an interesting photograph, you may want to share the story behind it.
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