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Showing posts from September, 2012

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

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 'Don’t Worry' in Chabacano

Saying 'don’t worry' in Chabacano is easy. Just say no tu man lingasa . Here is a dialogue in dialogue featuring this sentence. Husband: No sabe mas yo cosa yo hace.  Ta perde ya yo esperanza. Wife: Por que man? Cosa ya pasa? Husband: Ya quita conmigo na trabajo este dia. Wife: Ha? Por que daw? Husband: No sabe yo. Wife: Ay *dejalo lang. No tu man lingasa. Ay puede lang tu busca otra vez trabajo. Husband: Ojala. Here is an English translation of the dialogue above. Husband: I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m feeling hopeless. Wife: Why? What happened? Husband: I was fired from my job today. Wife: Huh? Why did that happen? Husband: I don’t know. Wife: Oh, just let it go. Don’t worry. You will be able to find a job again. Husband: Let’s hope so. Now let’s dissect the sentence no tu man lingasa. No= no Tu= you Man Lingasa= to worry The word lingasa means 'worry' (noun). We add man in front to make it a verb. This is the same form as man swim...
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How To Say 'How' in Chabacano

In the Chabacano de Zamboanga, there are three different ways to say the word ‘how’. They are que laya , que modo , and que chura . There are different variations of these three words. One can also hear these words as quilaya , paquilaya , quimodo , paquimodo , quichura , and paquichura . The ‘q’ in these words is also at times spelled with a ‘k’. The beginnings or origins of que chura and que laya are a bit uncertain. Que modo obviously comes from the Spanish que  and  modo . It roughly means 'what manner'. Que laya , according to the book of Dr. Esteban A De Ocampo on the Chavacano of Ternate, comes from the Spanish cual haya . This word in the Chavacano of Ternate is spelled as kilaya . An example sentence would be kilaya de mucho (from De Ocampo’s book). So as you can see, it is used just like in the Chabacano of Zamboanga. The only doubt that I have is that cual haya doesn’t seem to translate to anything in Spanish. I have even tried to ask a native Spanish speak...
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The Three Monks Joke in Chabacano

A few days ago, I received an email from Dennis King asking me to be part of a project called Three Monks. Three Monks is a multilingual language translation project wherein the organizers try to collect a version or translation of the Three Monks joke in different languages around the world. To date, they already have versions of the joke in Tagalog, Cebuano, Kapampangan, Tagbanwa, and Cuyunon. Here is a twentieth century version of this joke by Krishnamurti. “There are three monks, who had been sitting in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?’” I was hesitant to...
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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 Nunc...
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How To Say 'I Love You' And 'I Hate You' In Chabacano

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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A Chabacano Christmas Song + An Interview in Spanish With A Former Zamboanga Mayor

It’s that time of the year again when we all feel generous and kind towards one another. For most of us, Christmas is a very busy time of the year with family reunions and Christmas dinners to think about. But there was a time in the not so distant past when Christmas was a quiet holiday. This is what is being described in the song that is featured in this blog post. Noche sagrao, brillante maga estrellas oh noche que el Salvador ya nacé. Por largo tiempo el mundo ya esperá se que aquí canaton el Dios hay vené. Ta gozá el mundo por este esperanza, un día nuevo hay podé llegá. Todo hincá y oí voces del ángel, oh noche divino, el Cristo ya nacé ! Divino noche, oh noche de amor! Ta llevá el luz de fe sereno y claro, y adorá con el Niño Jesús. Ta llevá el luz del cielo bien ardiente, ya llegá Magos de lejos lugar. Na un pesebre el rey de los reyes, amigo diaton, Ele ahí quedá. Sabé el Señor hacé lo que se debe, mirá con el rey y na su presencia incá. Ta aquí el ...
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