BTS (Image from NBS)
Since their debut 10 years ago, Korean boy group BTS has come a long way, transcending barriers that made them one of the biggest names in the global music industry. The band has broken language barriers, stereotypes, and put Korean music on the world map.
With millions of fans, also known as Army, behind them, everything from BTS's music and merchandise to their fashion choices and food preferences becomes an instant hit with their fans. Thus, to mark their 10th anniversary, the group released their memoir, "Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS.” The U.S. edition of the book was made available for pre-order. It was available at a special discounted price at National Book Store’s online stores and their stores on Lazada and Shopee.
In this book, the boys shared their personal struggles and challenges, allowing themselves to be vulnerable to their fans. But this time, Filipino Armies are up for a special treat, for the book is made available in Filipino translation.
Big Hit Entertainment, the group's management company, only allowed this book to be translated into 24 languages; Filipino is among the chosen ones. And this remarkable task was assigned to APop Books, a local publication company known for translating Korean best-selling books to English and now Filipino.
(L-R) APop publisher Agno Almario, call consultant Kyung Min Bae, editor Bernalyn Sastrillo, translator Oliver John Quintana, NBS president Adrian Ramos, host Yam Tolentino
During the book launch, APop group publisher Agno Almario shared that numerous translators and Korean consultants worked together to make this project successful. He also openly admitted that the task was daunting because they were just given a short time to finish it. But with professional editors and translators on deck, Filipino Armies now have a hard copy of “Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS” in Filipino.
“Istriko. Sobra nilang binantayan lahat ng galaw namin, mineksure talaga nila na yung mapo-produce namin na product ay the quality of the official merchandise. Yun yung pinaka-naging challenge namin (They were so strict. They monitored our movement to make sure that we are producing the best quality for an official BTS merchandise),” he tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “We’re a team of six translators, one Korean consultant, and three editors. Sana kapag binasa n’yo yung libro, maramdaman n’yo yung amount of effort na binuhos namin (We hope that when you read the book, you will feel the amount of effort we poured for this project).”
Meanwhile, translator Oliver John Quintana is confident with the capability and professionalism of the Filipino translators who worked for this project.
“It’s a good thing that all translators know how to speak Korean, studied Korean [language], and in fact are teaching Korean,” Oliver tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle in Filipino. “Mahalaga yun kasi may mga bagay sa Korean language na mahirap ma-capture lalo na yung mga idiomatic expressions. Yun yung malaking challenge kasi trinanslate yung libro mula sa Korean, hindi to dumaan ng English. Korean ang orihinal na basehan nung Filipino translation (It’s important because there are things in the Korean language that are hard to translate into Filipino, especially, the idiomatic expressions. It was a big challenge for us since the book was directly translated from Korean to Filipino, not English to Filipino).”
Limited U.S. and Filipino edition stocks are available in select National Bookstore branches for those interested in having a copy of the book and haven’t pre-ordered. The U.S. edition is available for P1,795 (hardcover), while the Filipino edition is available for P1,295 (hardcover with photocards).