Romance in the Filipino Language

Filipino is such a rich and romantic language, it's a pity that it is rarely used by contemporary poets and musical composers nowadays, being taken over by our 2nd language of U.S. English.

Filipino holds so many lyrical words which when translated to English, loses its magic, its intensity.

Let me illustrate it with one of my favorite Original Pilipino Music (OPM) songs which also happens to be the title soundtrack of one of my favorite Filipino movie: Sinasamba Kita.

Below is the partial lyrics of the song, originally written by Mr. Rey Valera and sung by Sharon Cuneta.

Kung kasalanan man sa Diyos ang sambahin kita

Marahil ay mauunawaan Niya ang tulad ko

na labis na nagmahal sa 'yo

Masisisi Niya ba ako sinta?

Sinasamba kita...

 And here's the English translation:

If it's a sin to God to worship you

Maybe He'll understand someone like me

Who has loved you so dearly

Could He blame me?

I worship you 

Dunno about you but I find the Filipino version much more passionate. Just juxtapose "sinasamba" with "worship". The first exquisitely expresses the context by which it was used in the movie: the all-consuming obsession between four people where they end up either destroyed or liberated. The second...well, it sounds too religious for me which is a world away from romance.

As a huge fan of Filipino classic movies (both from the 50's and the 80s), I really hope that the new generation would get to know and love the beauty of our mother tongue and preserve our rich Filipino heritage.