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 word estaba in Spanish means someone or something used to be somewhere. If you say yo estaba en Mexico, it means I was or used to be in Mexico.
This is obviously where the Chabacano estaba came from. Estaba in Chabacano means 'to come from'. Here are some examples of how the Chabacano estaba is used.
Chabacano: Donde estaba ese comida?
English: Where did that food come from?
Chabacano: Estaba na mi tata este camisa.
Engish: This shirt came from my dad.
Chabacano: Con quien estaba ese regalo?
English: Who is that gift from?
In some instances though, the way we use the Chabacano estaba somehow looks like the way it used in Spanish. This is the other definition of estaba. Here some examples.
Chabacano: Donde tu estaba?
English: Where were you? (or where did you go)
Chabacano: Estaba yo na banco.
English: I was at the bank. (or I went to the bank)
Chabacano: Estaba, nurse mi nana.
English: My nurse used to be a nurse.
Chabacano: Estaba, na San Roque mi nana ta queda.
English: My mom used to live in San Roque.
In the last two sentences, the word estaba is used to express that something happened a long time ago (like a synonym of antes).
the Chabacano word pensaba is another Spanish word that was incorporated into it in the same grammatical tense.
This is obviously where the Chabacano estaba came from. Estaba in Chabacano means 'to come from'. Here are some examples of how the Chabacano estaba is used.
Chabacano: Donde estaba ese comida?
English: Where did that food come from?
Chabacano: Estaba na mi tata este camisa.
Engish: This shirt came from my dad.
Chabacano: Con quien estaba ese regalo?
English: Who is that gift from?
In some instances though, the way we use the Chabacano estaba somehow looks like the way it used in Spanish. This is the other definition of estaba. Here some examples.
Chabacano: Donde tu estaba?
English: Where were you? (or where did you go)
Chabacano: Estaba yo na banco.
English: I was at the bank. (or I went to the bank)
Chabacano: Estaba, nurse mi nana.
English: My nurse used to be a nurse.
Chabacano: Estaba, na San Roque mi nana ta queda.
English: My mom used to live in San Roque.
In the last two sentences, the word estaba is used to express that something happened a long time ago (like a synonym of antes).
the Chabacano word pensaba is another Spanish word that was incorporated into it in the same grammatical tense.
This article was also published in the International Year of Indigenous Languages Philippines website.
Buenas dias! =D
ReplyDeleteChene iyo el blog post written in Chabacano. Practice-practice lang para queda bueno mi abilidad hablar el lenguaje. :)
Por favor, can you read my post? :) Check if I used the words correctly. :)Gracias :)
http://amahbee.tumblr.com/post/30791474116/el-tres-gentes-my-first-post-in-this-language-3
Hi Emily. I read your post. Okay ya aquel. Tiene mga mali pero entende ya con aquel mga gente. :D
ReplyDelete