I felt compelled to translate the song to English for an impending “event”… no, I do not intend to re record it in English. What it’s actually for, you guys will soon know in a couple of weeks.

Suffice to say that this is for those people who don’t know the language (tagalog), but took the effort to listen to the song nonetheless. I truly appreciate the time you took to listen to it – so I’m putting the same effort on translating it to english to make the song make sense to you, as well as show you how much more effective the lyrics were when written in our language.

Before I begin I’d like to make clear that I did not translate the song literally, but rather filtered it down to the actual ideas I wanted conveyed by each line. So doing a literal translation (for those who actually speak the language) will surely result to different sentence structures altogether.

Here’s the audio of the song to jog your memory:

Hiling

(Yearning/Wish/Want)

I Pagdilat ng mata, at nakatitig sa kagandahan ng umaga. Puso Niya’y sa ‘yo at ang pag-ibig na ito’y hinding-hindi na magmamaliw.

Your eyes open – staring at the beauty of dawn. Their heart is yours, and this love will never fade.

II Bakit ba? Bakit pa naghahanap ng iba? At inaasahang di Niya makita. Dahil ayaw mo Siyang mawala.

Why do you still search for something more? You try to hide it - for fear that you might lose them.

CHORUS Kaya pilit mong tinatago ang tunay mong anyo, nagdarasal na tanggapin ito. Ngunit bawat udyok ng puso mo; unti-unti na siyang nawawala at tuloy ang ‘yong pagiging sakim… tungkol sa ‘yo pa rin ang lahat ng ito.

You put on a mask, and pray they accept what they see. But for every time you stray, you slowly forget them… you remain selfish; everything’s about you.

III Andiyan muli ang buwan, kay linaw-linaw ng pagkislap ng mga tala. Kay gandang buhay, kay daling magpasalamat sa Tagapagbigay

There’s the moon again; and the stars shine ever so clearly. What a wonderful life, how easy it is to give thanks to the Provider.

IV Bakit pa… bakit pa naghahanap ng iba? ano pa ba ang ‘di makuha sa Kanya – kung kahit buhay Niya’y nailalay na?

Why do you still search for something more? What more do you want – when even their life has been offered to/for you?

CHORUS Pilit mong binabago ang tunay mong anyo dinarasal na tanggapin ito. Ngunit bawat udyok ng puso mo unti-unti na Siyang nawawala at hiling mo sa Kanya ika’y patawarin… at palipasin ang lahat ng ito.

You try to be someone you’re not, and pray they accept who they see. But for every time you stray, you slowly forget them. You yearn for forgiveness, and hope that this too, shall pass.

BRIDGE Pag-ibig Niya walang kapantay. At ang pangako Niya’y panghabangbuhay.

Their love is unlike any other… and their promise lasts forever

OUTRO Pilit mong binabago ang tunay mong anyo dinarasal na tanggapin ito. Ngunit bawat udyok ng puso mo unti-unti na Siyang nawawala at hiling mo sa Kanya ika’y patawarin… at palipasin. Di na uulitin ang lahat ng ito.

You try to be someone you’re not, and pray they accept who they see. But for every time you stray, you slowly forget them. You yearn for forgiveness, and hope that this too, shall pass. And promise never to do it again.

The Language

One amazing thing about the Filipino language is that words can mean so many things, but become extremely articulate when applied in a certain context – and it adds the profundity of an idea. It’s similar to the Japanese language now that I think about it.

An example is how I referred to the third person using a word like “niya, siya, etc.” In the context of the song it really meant the other person, but Niya is specifically effective because it’s not gender specific¹ For the purposes of translation, I chose they, them, etc. for the purpose of the ambiguity needed.

I wanted to start the song sounding like a love song where “they” would initially mean the partner (who will be a girl or guy) but then at some point in the song, especially the part where it says they offered they’re life for you… it now suggests the idea that the “other” is actually God. You would notice that all my religious songs, while can be clearly construed as religious, never mentions God explicitly as the “other” in the story – these are conscious decisions on my part to make sure the song could still appeal to those who oppose religion in general – a song is a song is a song :) But if for some reason, people find it offensive that it had religious undertones – then they could try interpreting them as general love songs.

Lastly is what I mentioned earlier by not translating literally – rather drilling straight down to the idea I wanted conveyed. Another ironic advantage of the language in this context is the ability for its user to “butter” up a simple concept in flowery words. Take the last chorus for example. The literal translation would be:

Pilit mong binabago ang tunay mong anyo dinarasal na tanggapin ito. You force yourself to change your true nature, and pray that it's accepted. Ngunit bawat udyok ng puso mo unti-unti na Siyang nawawala But for for every impulse of your heart, he/she is slowly lost. at hiling mo sa Kanya ika’y patawarin… at palipasin. and you yearn for for him/her to forgive you... and let it pass. Di na uulitin ang lahat ng ito. Never again will all of this be repeated.

Very caveman-like eh? But of course taking into context cultural and grammatical nuances of the language, you can see how ultimately, what I really meant to say was the ideas stated earlier.

One particular line that I found impossible to translate to english with a few words was:

Ngunit bawat udyok ng puso mo unti-unti na Siyang nawawala

The general idea “But for every time you stray, you slowly lose sight of them…” is the closest I can get, but the actual meaning of the sentence in tagalog means so much more. But before that, lets have some definitions:

• ngunit – “but”
• bawat – “every”
• udyok – is an articulated word which represents an impulse, specifically an passionate impulse. The feeling which compels to do/feel something – that’s what udyok is. The word however is commonly used to represent desire.
• ng – “of”
• puso – “heart”
• mo – “yours” (possessive)
• unti-unti – “little by little”
• siya – “he/she” (as explained earlier, ng is just a conjugation)
• nawawala – literally means [in the process of] getting lost.

So you’ll have an uber-literal translation of:

But for every passionate impulse of your heart, little by little, he/she gets lost.

Simplified, in context of the song/sentence, it may very well simply mean that Whenever you are tempted, you lose sight of the other, or that whenever your heart strays, you slowly forget about them. Which is what we usually do when having an affair, or when simply having a good life (forgetting our significant others, or God)

So as you can see, translating it to English can come up with a plethora of alternate translations which roughly mean the same thing… but if you’re Filipino and you see that line, you’ll know exactly what it means. Not just because you understand it as a Filipino, but because the words themselves and the imagery they produce will paint a very articulate picture of the “situation” being depicted.

That wraps up a rather lengthy post. Again, I appreciate the effort and time the non-tagalog speaking listeners took to listen to the song, I hope you find my effort in translating it for you guys satisfactory