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Showing posts from November, 2010

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

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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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How To Say Health Related Words In Chabacano

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If you've ever been to one of the hospitals or clinics in Zamboanga city, here is a dialogue (in Chabacano) that you might encounter: Dialogue 1 Nurse: Cosa aquel? (pronounced as cosaquel) Patient: Miss, duele man mio cabeza. Nurse: Del cuando pa ese ma'am? Patient: Na, del lunes pa este. Nurse: Tiene ba tu cosa otro ta sinti? No hay ba tu calor? Patient: No hay man, pero ta tose yo ahora ( ahora is normally pronounced in Chabacano as ahra , only on formal settings or by certain people would you hear this word pronounced as it is pronounced in Spanish) Nurse: Pero no hay tu custipao Patient: No hay man. No hay man yo custipao (this word comes the Spanish constipao ). Dialogue 2 Mother: No hay tu entra escuela? Son: No hay. Enfermo yo. Mother: Na anda ya kita na doctor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Doctor: Cosa el problema? Mother: Enfermo mio anak. Son: Grabe mio tos doc. Doctor: Tiene ba flema si ta tose tu? Son: Si. Acabar duele tambien (pronounced as tamen ) mio
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The Chabacano Queda

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In Spanish, the word quedar is used sometimes in place of estar . Other times it is used to mean 'become' or 'left over'. In Chabacano, you will also find similar uses. Here are some examples (along with a Spanish and English translation): Chabacano: Cuanto zapatos ya lang ya queda contigo? Spanish: Cuántos zapatos te quedan? English: How many shoes are left with you? Chabacano: Ya queda malo el TV Spanish: La televisión no funciona más English: The TV is not functioning anymore. Chabacano: Hinde de suyo culpa si ya queda le dormido na mi coche. Spanish: Ella no tiene la culpa de quedarse dormida en mi coche. English: It isn't her fault that she fell asleep in my car. Chabacano: Donde tu ta queda? Spanish: Donde vives? English: Where do you live? As you may have noticed in the last sentence, we don't use the word vivi to express the word live (to reside) in Chabacano. Instead we say queda . Interestingly, the Spanish quedarse means to stay
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Chabacano Greetings

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Greeting people in Chabacano is a bit different compared to Spanish. For example, we say buenas dias instead of buenos dias . This greeting though (along with buenas tardes and buenas noches ) is normally only used in formal settings and by older speakers of Chabacano. When at the doorstep and you are trying to check if there's anyone home, one would yell, buenas ! Now even though you have been escorted inside the house or the owner has asked you to come in already, it is polite to still say buenas . Buenas is also sometimes used as a verb meaning to greet someone or to let someone know that you are at their house. Here is an example: In a party, Maria has not yet greeted Pedro (the host) and is talking to her friend (Pilar) who is also a guest. Maria: Donde ya si Pedro. Man buenas anay yo conele. Pilar: Talla pa na cocina. Here is an English translation: Maria: Where is Pedro? Let me greet him first/ Let me show myself to him first. Pilar: He is still in t
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Porque by Maldita Lyrics (Original Chabacano and Translated Spanish version)

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

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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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How to say I Miss You in Chabacano

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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
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