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

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 ...
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Plural Nouns in Chabacano

  In songs and perhaps poems or formal speeches, we do tend to hear people use a plural form for Chabacano nouns. For example it's not uncommon to hear terms like mujeres , oficiales and actividades . Sometimes the word maga is also added so that it becomes maga mujeres , maga oficiales , and maga actividades . Another instance wherein Chabacano nouns seem to have a plural form is  "muchas gracias" and "las cosas" however, these phrases seem to have been transferred into the Chabacano language as they were in the originating language. There are times when it is confusing whether a noun ends in S or not. An example is the word 'pie' and 'huevo'. I swear I hear both 'pie' and 'pies' as well as 'huevo' and 'huevos'. Sometimes, people could be saying 'huevos' and 'pies' but the S gets ommitted at the end because of their accents. Some Spanish-derived words have been transferred into Chabacano in their...
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A Kahlil Gibran Poem in Chabacano

On a lazy Saturday, I decided to translate a poem written by the famous author of the book "The Prophet", Kahlil Gibran into Chabacano. "El Rio No Puede Vira" de Kahlil Gibran Tiene ta habla que antes anda para na mar,  el rio ta tembla de miedo. Ta mira 'le con el camino donde ele estaba, Desde el pico del maga monte, Hasta na largo camino para na maga gulod y maga barrio. Acabar en frente con ele ta mira 'le con el mar bien grande, Donde si ay zambulli ele, Ay guinda ele para na oscuro eternidad. Pero no hay otro camino. No puede mas vira el rio. No hay quien ta puede vira. Imposible ese. Necesita queda valiente el rio antes guinda na mar. Por medio de este manera lang ay perde el miedo, Alli ay entende el rio Hende ele necesita desaparece para na mar, Sino necesita ele queda el mar. The poem "Fear" is part of the book titled "The Prophet" written by Kahlil Gibran.
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Chronicles of Tony the Explorer

Today, we are investigating a mysterious text in Chabacano. El Renacimiento was a Filipino newspaper founded after American colonization and in fact published articles that criticized the American colonial government in the islands. In this croniquilla, an exchange is featured between a playful Spanish-speaking gentleman and a Chabacano-speaking dalaga. At first, the setting is not that clear. Were they talking about Zamboanga in a different place altogether or were they actually in Zamboanga? Was the visitor a would-be visitor to Zamboanga or was he already there. Since, the dalaga uses the word aqui when she described Zamboanga, it obviously means that they were both in Zamboanga. But were they inside the walls? Who knows. Let's divide the croniquilla into three parts and scrutinize each part separately. CRONIQUILLA Desde la tierra Samboangueña -Señorita ¿puede V. decirme si Zamboanga es bonita población? -Ati man... ¡oy Jisús! (con un tono al parecer extraido de lo más hondo de ...
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Porque by Maldita Lyrics (Original Chabacano and Translated Spanish version)

Here are the original lyrics of the song Porque by Maldita as well as a rough Spanish translation below. 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 Nunc...
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How To Say 'I Love You' And 'I Hate You' In Chabacano

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...
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Differences Between The Chabacano of Zamboanga and the Chavacano in Cavite city

Just a few hours ago, I encountered a very interesting blog called Habla Chabacano . The said blog is about Cavite city and it's Chavacano. I found this amusing because I speak Chabacano de Zamboanga. As I read the posts in Habla Chabacano (which were partly in Chabacano), I quickly spotted the differences/similarities between the two Chabacanos. First off, the Chavacano of Cavite looks more Spanish sounding than that of Zamboanga. The sentence structure is also closer to Spanish. Here's an example: Chavacano de Cavite: Cosa ta haci Gina? Enlish: What is Gina doing? Chabacano de Zamboanga: Cosa ta hace si Gina? Spanish: ¿Qué está haciendo Gina? As you can observe, the Chavacano de Cavite comes closer to Spanish in terms of grammar. In Chabacano de Zamboanga, you would use the word si (which comes from Tagalog), added to the subject if it's a person. Meanwhile, the Chavacano de Cavite uses only the name of the person (without the si ) for subjects which are...
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