Skip to main content

The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Is Now Available In Chabacano!

By
While Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) written by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry in 1943 now has over 300 translations in different languages worldwide and is now considered the world’s most translated book (not counting religious works), there have been surprisingly only two translations of his book in the Philippines (Filipino and Bicol). El Diutay Principe is only the third edition featuring a Philippine language. The Little Prince is a classic French novella about a pilot who gets stranded in the desert after a plane crash and encounters a little fellow who asks him to draw a sheep for him. Through the course of their meeting, the pilot rediscovers the true meaning of life and what people should value the most. When I came across the book in 2013, I found that I could relate very well to the negative image given to “growing up” in the book. When the idea to translate the book into my mother tongue was presented to me, I didn’t think twice. I thought, ‘a lot of people my
11 comments

Origins of the Chabacano Amargoso and Cucuracha

Image
By
I write about amargoso and cucuracha together in one post because these two have something in common with each, they both exist in the Chavacano de Ternate language. Amargoso though is margozo and cucuracha is spelled as kukuracha in Ternateño according to the book of Esteban A. De Ocampo (The Ternateños: their history, languages, customs, and traditions). But there is one more thing that these two have in common. I hate them both.

The Chabacano amargoso is a gourd that is very bitter and is called ampalaya in most areas in the Philippines. I think it got its name from its taste. The Spanish amargo means bitter. Cucuracha meanwhile means cockroach in Chabacano. This most probably comes from the Spanish cucaracha.

Here are some sentences using these two words.

Chabacano: Ta come ba tu amargoso?

English: Do you eat amargoso?

Chabacano: Por que bien mucho cucuracha aqui na tuyo casa?

English: Why are there a lot of cockroaches in your house?

According to Merriam-Webster, the word amargoso is from Philippine Spanish.
Labels:

Comments

  1. יאן סבייסקי דייוטMay 12, 2014 at 1:37 PM

    ese palabra "amargo" ta oí yo antes con mi difunta tía abuela y abuela con expresión "con amargo man gayot de vos cara." jajajajaja

    ese Amargoso o na Ingles "Bitter Melon" es uno del mana jendeh favorito mio pero na ultimo por causa de amon ya insistí gayot manda acerta canamon come ese gulay por eso ahora ya queda ya como uno de mi mana favorito gulay. ^_^

    jajajaja Cucuracha . . .^_^ mucho se antes aqui na Flat donde kame ya cambia pero ya busca gat yo muchas maneras na que laya eradica canila todo por medio de muchos trampas na casa. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jerome HerreraMay 17, 2014 at 4:54 AM

    ya gusta gayod yo tuyo comento hehe

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Porque by Maldita Lyrics (Original Chabacano and Translated Spanish version)

By
Original Chabacano Version: Solo-solo na mi cuarto Hinde ta puede dormi Vira-vira na cabeza El dolor yo ya senti Por que pa contigo yo ya quiere? Como bula lang tu ya perde Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta sufri Bien simple lang yo ta pedi Era senti tu el cosa yo ya senti Ta pedi milagro, vira'l tiempo El mali hace derecho Na de mio rezo ta pedi yo Era olvida yo contigo Todo-todo yo ya dale Ahora ta arrepenti Sobra-sobra el dolencia Tormento para vivi Por que pa contigo yo ya quiere? Como bula lang tu ya perde Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta sufri Bien simple lang yo ta pedi Era senti tu el cosa yo ya senti Ta pedi milagro, vira'l tiempo El mali hace derecho Na de mio rezo ta pedi yo Era olvida yo contigo No tu distorba Y no atraca kay baka palmadea yo contigo Nunca acepta Si tu ay vira por el dolor ya senti Por que contigo yo ya escoge? Ahora mi corazon ta suf
16 comments
Read more

How To Say 'I Love You' And 'I Hate You' In Chabacano

By
Saying I love you in Chabacano is a bit tricky. Most people just say 'I love you' (pronouncing the word love as lab ). But in songs or formal occasions, Chabacano speakers say 'I love you like this': ta ama yo contigo . Let’s dissect this sentence. Ta= Present tense indicator Ama= love Yo= I Contigo= you Again, you’ll only hear this in songs. You really won’t hear people saying to each other  ta ama yo contigo. Saying I hate you in Chabacano is also a bit difficult. In the dictionary of Santos (2010), the word hate in Chabacano is rabia or odia . However I’m not really sure how to use these two words in a sentence because to me ta rabia yo contigo or ta odia yo contigo just doesn’t sound natural. Rabiao yo contigo (which is something people frequently say in Chabacano) just doesn't convey the correct emotion because it means something like I am angry at you (milder than hate). So how do we say the English 'I hate you' in Chabacano? One of
98 comments
Read more

How to say I Miss You in Chabacano

By
In Facebook groups, a lot of people, even Chabacano speakers themselves, seem to be wondering how to say 'I miss you' in Chabacano. Most Chabacano speakers get away with just saying tan miss ya yo contigo . However, the verb miss is still untranslated. The English verb to miss (someone or something) may very well be untranslatable. I googled I miss you in Tagalog  and I nearly fell off my chair when I saw what Google Translate had to say: In very formal Tagalog, one can say nangungulila ako sa iyo although it will probably make you cringe saying it. Most formal Chabacano translations of I miss you  are similar; they will make you cringe saying them. Besides, most people wouldn't understand you anyway, if you use them. In Cebuano, they actually have a translation for I miss you  and that is gimingaw kaayo ko nimo. I'm not sure though if Cebuano speakers actually say this. My friend tells me that it's more common to hear people say namiss na ta ka which if yo
11 comments
Read more