The Princess Of Mount Ledang

an interestin topic came upon my friend and i the other day, as we were discussin the malaysian epic film, Puteri Gunung Ledang, the most expensive local production our humble nation has ever boasted.

now bein the movie buff that i am, i was always of the opinion that a foreign film (that is, to me) must retain the flavour of dialogue upon translation to other languages. american dvds are notorious for mcdonaldlisin (this word is used in a different context here to what it usually means) subtitles and reducin conversational texture to belacan. for instance you could see an elderly french woman ask her long lost son how he was doin and the caption could read "what's up?". this is unbearable.

similarly, i feel that PGL with it's multi-million budget deserved a better job at subtitlin. how do we market it to the west if we cannot truly convey the beauty of the dialogue? malay is indeed a very charmin language for those who can see it. for example, in PGL, my favourite line was;

"walau patah sayap rajawali, bertongkat jua kanda kembali."
(bound to charm the tudung off any muslim woman)

which literally means;

"even if the kingfisher's wings were to break, i will come back to you in crutches" (haha)

and the translation read somethin along the lines of;

"wherever i may go, i will return to you."

but i was thinkin it wouldda been bangin it we had it as;

"for even if every bone were broken in me, to thee i will return still."

and if i were havin a laugh, i'd go for;

"dammit woman, you are too high maintenance!"

on a more serious note, could anyone suggest a good translation for this line?

ciao.

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Word Of The Wolf today is tattoo \ta-TOO\,

noun:
1. A rapid, rhythmic drumming or rapping.
2. A beat of a drum, or sound of a trumpet or bugle, giving notice to soldiers to go to their quarters at night.
3. A display of military exercises given as evening entertainment.

"With a steady tattoo of bad news resoundin through the straits, the onus was on the sultan to declare war against the invaders as soon as possible."

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Tattoo is an alteration of earlier taptoo, from Dutch taptoe, "a tap(house)-shut," from tap, "faucet"+ toe, "shut" --meaning, essentially, that the tavern is about to shut.
Trivia: The more familiar tattoo, "an indelible mark or figure made by puncturing the skin and introducing some pigment into the punctures," derives from entirely different roots. That tattoo comes from Tahitian tatau.