[Inside the Newsroom] Rappler in Philippine languages

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‘We believe that while Filipino is largely based on the grammatical rules or structure of Tagalog — because we had to start somewhere — it is in no way exclusive to that language’

It is, of course, a most appropriate time to talk about the Filipino language in August — National Language Month. At Rappler, however, communicating choice content and key issues in the lingua franca is something we do year-round.

After a few years of weekly editorials (they come out Mondays) in English, we decided to write them in Filipino. Editorials (We call them #AnimatED: EDitorial in Animation — gets?) in English are now the exception rather than the rule.

We also have columnists who write in Filipino, like professor Jowie delos Reyes (Tabas ng Dila), who chairs the University of Santo Tomas’ Department of Creative Writing, and occasionally Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio through her Free to Disagree. (Read, for example, her Sabwatan ng mga doktor at drug companies and Meri Krismas para sa ilan.)

And there are the talk shows and video explainers that our reporters, researchers, and editors conduct in Filipino on a daily basis. (If you haven’t followed Teacher Rubilyn, Inside Track, News Reflection, and weekly Top 5 News, you are missing a lot. Then there’s the always-much-awaited Kriminal podcast).

Hi, I’m Miriam Grace Go, Rappler’s managing editor. I am one of the Rapplers who can write, edit, and speak in a Philippine language when we produce content other than our publication’s mainly English stories.

So you ask why we are doing this — “bothering” to come up with content in Filipino or making versions in Philippine languages of our English content. My answers, aside from the fact that, hello, we are Filipinos even if we also commonly use English:

One, we want to reach a wider audience for content that tackles important concerns. By doing this, we hope to see communities more equipped and confident in pushing for their own welfare.

Two, we do this as a contribution to helping enrich the still-evolving common language of our nation, whose peoples have at least eight major and more than a hundred other native languages.

We believe that while Filipino is largely based on the grammatical rules or structure of Tagalog — because we had to start somewhere — it is in no way exclusive to that language. Filipino, the way we use it every day, is an amalgam of the native language that each of us is comfortable with and through which we understand each other. (READ: Bigyan natin ng pagkakataong yumabong ang Filipino | Hindi wikang Filipino ang kaaway)

Over the years I’m particularly proud of these Rappler initiatives:

Our series of short poetry contests, which asked social media users to send us tanaga, diona, dagli, and dalit in various Philippine languages.
The video series where various personalities read Philippine poetry on the subject of love. (One of the readers is now… a senator. Find out who!)
The Voices from the Regions podcast and John Sitchon’s reports in Bisaya and Hiligaynon. (Watch: Olango Island after Odette | Locals laud return of Sinulog parades to Cebu City streets | Who are Iloilo voters choosing for the 2025 polls?)
Dwight de Leon’s video explainers on the political dynamics in the Calabarzon provinces in the 2025 midterm polls.
The Atin ang Pilipinas 2022 elections battle cry, which I wrote and which volunteer and partner translators produced in several versions and disseminated in communities: Ilocano, Pangasinan, Bikol, Hiligaynon, Cebuano, Waray.
In the recent campaigns and elections, I also wrote a series called Local Vote, some of which I myself translated into Botong Lokal.

You can imagine how the last two items took time and energy to produce. While some of us would still love to go through the process of that kind of translation, Rappler has also started using an AI translation tool. The aim is for the tool to eventually have a more nuanced knowledge of the Philippine languages so the text produced will sound more conversational and contemporary, and allow us to translate more of the English content we produce.

Here are the results of some of our early attempts at using the AI translation tool. All these translations are reviewed and edited by the writers and their minder-editors to ensure accuracy and faithfulness to the voice of the authors. They are also properly labeled as AI-assisted outputs:

Tell us what you think of this experiment.