Sister in Baybayin = SI-TI?

December 9, 2007 by Christian 

I came across this “Alibata” tattoo of “Sister” in the BMEInk gallery. The person probably went to an online Baybayin / Alibata any typed in “Sister” choosing original Baybayin. The result would be SI-TE as you see in the photo below. They might have thought that it was also a language translation as well.

sister baybayin

A couple problems with this 1) There’s a Tagalog translation of sister (Kapatid or Ate), why not use that? 2) Sister could also be phonetically translated but would need to use modern Baybayin.

Below is a Kapatid (KA-PA-TI) and Ate (A-TE) in Baybayin.

kapatid ate alibata baybayin


Here’s sister (SI-S-TE-R) phonetically:

sister baybayin

This is a classic example getting a Baybayin tattoo without the proper research or consultation. The fonts were obviously downloaded from the internet and translated using an online program. The end result is a tattoo that doesn’t make sense language wise or culturally. Unfortunately, I see issues like these rising due to the popularity of Baybayin tattoos.

Hanzi Smatter would be proud :)

Filed under: Articles, Baybayin, Errors
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Comments

2 Responses to “Sister in Baybayin = SI-TI?”

  1. icezorg on December 25th, 2007 4:00 am

    i like your alibata/baybayin translations.

  2. icezorg on December 25th, 2007 3:00 am

    i like your alibata/baybayin translations.

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