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Showing posts from December, 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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Origins of the Chabacano Caga and Miya

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I had always been curious about the word caga and miya in Chabacano. It sounds Spanish but somehow, I can’t seem to find it in any Spanish dictionary. It wasn’t until I tried my luck using WordReference.com that I found the possible Spanish origins of caga and miya . There is indeed a Spanish verb cagar meaning to have a sh*t and mear meaning to have a p*ss. These two words though are considered very vulgar which explains why I couldn't find them in standard Spanish dictionaries. In the Chabacano dictionaries that I have, this word is spelled as miya , which is also the spelling I decided to use in this article. Here are some sample Chabacano sentences using these two words. Chabacano: Quiere tu caga? English: Do you want to defecate? Chabacano: Que hora tu ultimo ya miya? English: When was the last time that you urinated? In hospitals, they tend to use the word ensucia instead of caga to refer to defecating. Thus, caga is also informal in Chabacano but not ne
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Origins of the Chabacano Señor

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In Chabacano, people do not say !Dios mio¡ when they say 'my God' as one would in Spanish. When we say 'my God', we say Señor ! Here are some situations wherein you would use the Chabacano señor and sample sentences along with their rough English translation: In frustration Chabacano: Señor, yo ya daw hace conese! English: My God, let me do it! (let me be the one to do it) When shocked Chabacano: Señor! Cosa ese? English: My God, what is that? In fright Chabacano: Ay señor, tiene ladron na otro lao casa. English: Oh my God, the house on the other side is being robbed. (literally, there's a burglar at the house at the other side) In Chabacano, one says el otro lao casa to mean your neighboring house In relief: Chabacano: Señor! Bueno ya lang ya llega ya tu. English: My God! It's a good thing that you have already arrived. The way you say señor would tell the emotion you are conveying. This article was also published in the  Internat
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Origins of the Chabacano Vene and Uste

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I was watching an Argentine film when I heard this woman telling his husband, “veni, veni!” She was obviously calling on her husband to come to her. Now, in my attempt to learn Spanish, I have learned that the imperative form of venir is ven (informal) and venga (formal), so you could probably imagine how perplexed I was to hear this form of venir . My shock was replaced by amusement when I realized that in Chabacano, we say vene to ask someone to come to us. Here are some sample Chabacano sentences using vene . Chabacano: Vene aqui! Standard Spanish: Ven/ Venga aca! English: Come here! According to my research, veni is the informal imperative form of venir in some countries like Argentina, and Guatemala (where vos is used). Normally, Chabacano verbs are formed out of Spanish infinitives (i.e. habla from hablar , vivi from vivir , and  come from comer ), but vene is an exception to this rule because we never say veni  in Chabacano. Another thing that I heard when
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Origins of the Chabacano Preñada and Pellejo

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One peculiarity in Chabacano is the way that we say the word pregnant. In Spanish,  preñada does mean pregnant as well, however it is used only to refer to animals being pregnant, not people. Here are some examples on how Chabacano preñada (pronounced and spelled by many as prinyada or priniada ): Chabacano:Preñada ya tamen tu? English: Are you pregnant again? Chabacano: Cuanto veces ya tu ya queda preñada? English: How many times have you been pregnant? Chabacano: No quiere mas yo queda preñada. English: I don't want to be pregnant again Chabacano: Grande el bariga del perro. Quiere decir, preñada ese. English: The dog's stomach is big. That means (it) is pregnant. As you may have noticed, Chabacano preñada is used both for animals and people. According to a post in the WordReference forums , the Spanish preñada can also be used for people however it sounds very vulgar (in other words it sounds so Chabacano ). Another word that we use in Chabacano that is
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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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