Improving Google in Filipino

My pet peeve with Google is the awkward and sometimes silly Filipino version of its website. "Preferences," for example, is literally translated to "Mga Kagustuhan" which sounds more like "Your wish is my command." :)

I was also frustrated when they first translated the "I'm feeling lucky" button to "May kutob ako" -- which was not the real sense of that button.

To translate this idiomatic command, we first need to understand what the button does. In case you didn't know: you click the "I'm feeling lucky" button if you trust Google enough. If you click it, Google jumps you to the first result in the search, instead of displaying a page of results.

About a couple of years ago, I was motivated to change the "May kutob..." button, so I looked for a way to send my suggestions to Google. After some digging, I found a form that let me input my suggestions. I promptly entered alternative translations like "Sinuswerte ako."

Last time I checked, "Sinuswerte ako," has been implemented.

I didn't stop at that. I was "swerte" enough to have met Aileen Apolo, Google's head-lady here. Through her I met more Googlers and I fired up an email giving more suggested improvements. Here are some of the suggestions.

1. Programa ng Advertising - suggestion: "Programang Pang-advertising"
2. Mga Imahe - suggestion: "Larawan" or "Mga Larawan". Imahe is awkward and not commonly used.
3. Groups - "Komunidad"
4. Lahat ng Tungkol sa Google - "Patungkol sa Google" or "Ukol sa Google" or "Tungkol sa Google"
5. Preferences - ... now this one is a challenge. I've been trying to think of a better translation than "Kagustuhan". Kagustuhan is awkward when used in the context of Preferences as we use it online. Any suggestions?
6. Magdagdag ng bagay-bagay. "Bagay-bagay" is a literal translation of "stuff" but as a command, it lacks clarity. Suggestion: "Magdagdag ng iba pang bagay" or just "Magdagdag ng iba pa" makes more sense as a command.
7. Pumili ng tema. This is a correct transliteration of "Choose a Theme," but it conveys "Choose a Topic" in Filipino. The usage of "tema" in Filipino pertains more to "topic" than to theme/design. Suggestion: "Palitan ang disenyo" which translates as "Change the design". It sounds better in Filipino and makes more intuitive sense.
8. Mga kagangkapan sa Wika. "Kasangkapan" is misspelled as "Kagangkapan". Also, the phrase is awkward. Suggestion: "Ibang Wika" sounds better and translates to: "Other Language(s)". After all, the page it points to is actually just about other languages. Language tools are not available right now in Filipino.

My guess is that the commands and buttons were isolated into a list of phrases that were then passed to a Filipino who translated them without knowing the context of the phrases. Thus the non-sensical translations.

Why am I obsessing on this? I asked some friends whether they use the Filipino version of Google. The common answer, which is mine too, is that we all wanted to try it, but since the translation was funny, it took some time figuring out what the buttons meant. So we reverted to English.

If we help fix Google's Filipino version, then we may start using it. Not only that -- we can then help those who prefer Filipino to actually also optimize use of Google!

If you have suggestions, please post them here! I'll forward them to Google!