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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

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
Nunca acepta
Si tu ay vira por el dolor ya senti

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

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

Por que contigo yo ya escoge?
Ahora mi corazon ta sufri

*Spelling edited to conform with the prescribed Chabacano orthography

                         


Translated Spanish Version:

Doy vueltas en mi cama
Me cuesta tanto dormir
Me pregunto a mí mismo
Donde yo me equivoqué
¿Por qué me enamoré de ti?
Si como un rayo te fuiste de mí

¿Por qué yo te escogí?
Ahora mi corazon sufre
Lo que deseo es muy simple
Que sientas lo que yo sentí

Pido un milagro que el tiempo atrase
Que sea justo el mal
En mis rezos, yo pido
Que yo te olvide por siempre

Te entregue todo hasta el alma
Ahora lo arrepiento
Me has hecho mucho daño
Ya no quiero vivir
¿Por qué me enamoré de ti?
Si como un rayo te fuiste de mí

¿Por qué yo te escogí?
Ahora mi corazon sufre
Lo que deseo es muy simple
Que sientas lo que yo sentí

Pido un milagro que el tiempo atrase
Que sea justo el mal
En mis rezos, yo pido
Que yo te olvide por siempre

No me estorbes ni me acerques
Podria darte una bofetada
Nunca te aceptaré
Si regresas a mi
Por el dolor que yo sentí

¿Por qué yo te escogí?
Ahora mi corazon sufre
Lo que deseo es muy simple
Que sientas lo que yo sentí

¿Por qué yo te escogí?
Ahora mi corazon sufre
Lo que deseo es muy simple
Que sientas lo que yo sentí

Pido un milagro que el tiempo atrase
Que sea justo el mal
En mis rezos, yo pido
Que yo te olvide por siempre

¿Por qué yo te escogí?
Ahora mi corazon sufre

Just a disclaimer, my Spanish is not that good so the translation above might not be that accurate and will definitely sound unnatural to native Spanish speakers. 😛

Check out more Chabacano songs.

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Comments

  1. Have this song translated in proper Spanish it will sell like hotcakes in Spanish speaking countries

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  2. Translate the song to proper Spanish and this will sell like hot cakes in Spanish speaking countries

    ReplyDelete
  3. The first line should read "Estoy sola en mi cuarto" since the singer is a girl... haven't read the rest tinamad na agad ako first line pa lang mali na... jejejeje

    ReplyDelete
  4. A few suggestions: Please use bofetada or cachetada instead of palmada in "Podria darte una palmada" (palmada can be used to translate "slap" but if it is a slap in the face, bofetada or cachetada is more commonly used)

    Also I believe aserque in "No me estorbes ni me aserque" is a misspelling . Should it be "acerques" from acercarse? The original word "atracar" in Chabacano seems out of context if used untranslated in Spanish. It should also end with an "s" since it is in the second person familiar form.

    I won't pretend that I understand Chabacano perfectly, so I won't correct your interpretation of the song, just a few words here and there. However there are some portions that I wanted to clarify. In Chabacano does "Hindi ta puede dormi" mean "I still can't sleep." or just "I can't sleep."? Relying on my Tagalog, it seems to me that It's closer to "Hindi ako makatulog." than to "Hindi pa rin ako makatulog." in which case "todavía" is not required.

    I also noticed you used "yo" quite often. Please remember that subject pronouns in Spanish are generally used only for emphasis and to avoid ambiguity.

    Just my two cents...



    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the corrections! I really appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. can i have the translation in tagalog??literally?? thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll try to come up with a Tagalog translation for you. :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Estoy de acuerdo con El Somnoliento, el pronombre nominativo <<yo>> se usa con exceso en la versión traducida. Asimismo, la última linea de la cuarta estrofa debería ser Ahora ya me arrepiento..

    JPS

    ReplyDelete
  9. No hace falta traducirlo. Cualquier hispanohablante lo puede entender, si no un 100/100, con la melancolía de la voz, las palabras comunes y el contenido de este tipo de canciones, entiende lo suficiente para poder apreciarlo y soñar con ella. De vez en cuando se oyen en radio y TV canciones en italiano o en portugués, aunque se entienden a medias.

    Lo que sí necesitaría es una producción más profesional y, naturalmente una publicidad adecuada (nicho de mercado, promoción...etc)

    Buena suerte a esta caviteña.
    Quien sabe..., tal vez puedan algún día equipararse a los Panchos, esos neoyorquinos de todas partes (incluso una ¡sefardita!) que arrasaron el mundo hispanohablante allí por donde pasaron. Incluida Filipinas

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sr Jerome,

    Could you correct my attempt at composing a Chavacano rap song, shown below? It is dedicated to all the gallant Chavacanistas and Hispanistas like you who have assiduously applied themselves to maintaining our unique culture.

    Please use the rap any way you please, if it is good enough. I'd be happy to see it as a featured post on your wonderful blog, and since you will have edited it, you can claim co-authorship!

    Here it is:

    TITLE and REFRAIN "Hindi Conyo, Chavacano Yo"

    Hindi conyo, Chavacano yo
    Hindi conyo, Chavacano yo

    No yo accusa como elitista
    Ta tiene orgullo, pero no arrogancia
    Ta ama bien nuestra cultura
    Pero ta respeto cultura de otra

    Yo de familia no muy rica
    Ta estudia na escuela publica
    Pero ta conosce escritura y historia
    Yo iqual de Atenista

    No hay solo una clase de belleza
    Hindi necessita blanca o mestiza
    Porque no puede Maria Clara
    Ser morena y bonita

    Con todos ustedes saludos y respeto
    Con Ilocanos, Pampanguenyos, Tagalos, Bicolanos

    Con todos ustedes saludos y respeto
    Con Visayas, Moros, tambien Chinitos

    Con todos vosotros amistoso abrazos
    Chabacanos Cavitenyos y Ternatenyos, tambien ancianos ta vive Ermitenyos

    Nisotros todos compatriotas y hermanos
    Nisotros todos verdaderos Filipinos


    Muchas gracias,
    El Ilocano

    ReplyDelete
  11. no need to translate this in "proper" Spanish because the song is Chavacano. a different language though it might have evolved from the Spanish language.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi guys! Sorry to not be familiar with this, but may I ask what is the Chavacano language? Where is it spoken in the Philippines? Do people who are native Chavacano understand Spanish spoken in Europe? Also is Chavacano learned in Philippine schools? Thank you very much..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anonymous. The Chavacano language is a Spanish creole. It is the only Spanish creole language in Asia and one of the oldest in the world. The Zamboangueno variant is spoken mainly in Zamboanga city and Basilan. No, I wouldn't say that Spanish and Chavacano are mutually intelligible. Yes, the language is taught in school (although they started this just a few years ago). Thanks for your interest in our language. :)

      Delete
    2. It is interesting to note that this creole has alot of simmilarities with the indo-portuguese creoles, specially the indo-malaio-portuguese from Malaca, Papiá Kristang, and Macau, Papiaçám. It looks evident that Chavacano, specially the Ternateño was inspired in the portuguese creoles in Asia not the ones in Africa or in the Americas. The fact that is contains so much malay it is also an indication for it. It should be interesting to investigat if the Filipines received catholic refugees from Malaca and Indonesia as the Dutch invaded the Malaca, Macassar and the Molucas. It is known that the portuguese population of Macassar fleed as the Dutch invaded, just a small number of people arrived in East-Timor, they were called Malaqueiros, so many others may have gone to the Filipines. This happened during the Personal Crown Union of Portugal and Spain (1580-1640). Back then Dutch were vary mean to any Catholic they would find, the enslaved them.

      Delete
  13. version en castellano filipino.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui-ubLU7pRM

    ReplyDelete

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