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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 ...

The F Word in Chabacano

One of the things that my friend picked up from his Chabacano roommates is the word chinga, he tells me. Indeed, if you listen to Chabacano spoken between friends, you would hear a lot of chinga. According to urbandictionary.com, chingar is a Mexican Spanish word that is the equivalent of the English f word.

Another word I presume is derived from chingar which is used often in Chabacano is 'chingona'. It is used towards a female and means whatever it is you think it means. It is sometimes used affectionately among female friends though. When you hear a girl saying chingona vos to another girl, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're quarreling.

Another bad word in Chabacano is coño de vos nana (mother). Most Chabacano speakers though would not pronounce the de and s in vos and would say conyobohnana. Now this is something you say to someone you're very angry with.

Other adjectives which has a bad meaning in Chabacano are:

-pendejo
-animal
-de mal herencia
-maleducao
-tonto
-salvaje

Comments

  1. Ya olvida tú incluí este famoso palabra también "Cabrón".... como Cabrón vos.... jajajaja

    Other expresión of Chinga so it won't be so vulgar, we use the word "chipla te" which we actually mean "chinga". Other expression would be "coconana" short for coño vos nana.

    Jajaja these were the words we use to express when we were young cay si jendêh basîh hay recibí kame palmada de amon nana. ^_^

    Ahora ya lang grande kame que ta puede ya usá el exacto palabra como Chinga y Coño vos nana... jajajaja

    Wait.. tiene pa otro expression "Coño......gayor!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. With regards to "S" in Coño Vos Nana, Pescao, Usted, Cosá, Cosa, etcétera, the letter "S" is not actually omitted instead it is still there but only with a very short emphasis on it.
    Yeah... i've tried make several experiment by recording how i speak and i found out that the letter 'S' was there but has no emphasis on it but there is like a fricción between word before and after the "s" e.g. p'E's'C'ao.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do native Chavacano/Chabacano speakers also use South American Spanish-derived word "Pucha" or the Castillian/Puerto Rican Spanish-derived word "Puñeta"? These are words I've heard from Tagalog speakers.

    ReplyDelete

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