Business, Diversity, International, Language, Tourism

Lost In Translation: From ‘Aloha’ To ‘Saks Fifth Avenue’

September 6, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

The old, left, and the new International Market Place (Photo credit: civilbeat.com)

HONOLULU, Hawaii (The Adobo Chronicles, Honolulu Bureau) – Hawaii residents and visitors have very poignant memories of the old International Market Place in the heart of Waikiki.

For a few bucks, one can purchase locally-made puka shells, inexpensive ukeleles, aloha shirts, beach mats and many more.

But gone are the days of the old market. Enter the new International Market Place.

The banyan tree and some unearthed Hawaiian burial sites have been preserved, but everything else is new, including a modern English translation of the word, “Aloha.”

White the old market greeted visitors with a warm “Aloha” sign and message, the new market chose to replace it with an English translation: Saks Fifth Avenue.

Enough said.

Government, International, Language, Media, Politics, Social Media

Philippine Media Outlets Apologize To President Duterte For Misquoting Him

September 6, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – The damage has been done. It has culminated in U.S. President Barack Obama canceling his meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the ASEAN Summit in Laos. All because local media outlets misquoted Duterte. And the foreign media picked it up.

At issue was the response by Duterte to a reporter question during which the Philippine president supposedly called Obama “son of a bitch” or “son of a whore.”

But thanks to the magic of video recording and Internet sharing, the world now knows that Duterte was indeed misquoted.

Independent reviews of the tape confirmed that the curse was not directly intended at Obama. Some expert language analysis of the tape point to Duterte hurling the expletive at reporters and columnists.

Today, the Coalition of News Media Outlets of the Philippines (CNMOP) issued a formal joint apology to Duterte for their malicious misquoting of the president. “Our members in the news media simply wanted to improve their ratings and declining popularity,” a CNMOP spokesperson said. “We promise to do a better job next time.”

Meanwhile, several U.S. other foreign news organizations announced they were hiring Tagalog-speaking newsroom staff so that they could be more accurate in their reporting of news about Duterte.

All’s well that ends well.

Government, Politics, Travel

While Duterte Is Away, Robredo Won’t Play

September 5, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is leaving the country this week to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos. So, that means Vice President Leni Robredo will be acting president, right? Wrong.

Duterte has said that Executive Secretary Bingbong Medialdea will act as caretaker officer during his foreign trip.

Robredo can’t complain. She herself had previously said during a speech in the United States that the only job of the vice president is to wait until something happens to the president.