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Showing posts from October, 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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Origins of the Chabacano Manda

The Chabacano manda has two usages. The first is to let or allow someone do something, and the second one is to request or ask someone to do something. Chabacano: Puede yo contigo manda compra coke? English: Can I ask you to buy coke? Chabacano: Puede yo contigo manda saca un vaso de agua? English: Can I ask you to get a glass of water? Chabacano: Por que ba tu conmigo pirmi ta manda que manda? English: Why are you always ordering me around? Chabacano: Segui ya, manda ya tu conmigo anda na party. English: Come on. Let me go to the party already. Chabacano: Puede ba tu manda conmigo dormi tambien? English: Can you let me sleep now? Chabacano: Manda con Pedro anda na tienda y compra Coke. English: Make Pedro go to the store and buy Coke. A Chabacano word derived from manda  is mandador meaning a bossy person or someone who likes to order people around. You would often hear the word manda in conversations in shops or stores offering some sort of service like p...
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Origins of the Chabacano Vira

Since I don’t speak much Spanish, I’m afraid I can’t explain very well how the word virar is used in Spanish. My Spanish dictionary though says that it means to turn or to go back (vehicle). I guess if a vehicle makes a U-turn, that would be virar . Or maybe, if a ship is heading to Manila from Zamboanga and decides to turn around and head back to Zamboanga, that is virar . In Chabacano, this word is pronounced and spelled by most as bira . It means to return or go back (not to be confused with the Chabacano volve ). Here are some examples of how to use the word vira in Chabacano. Chabacano: Vira yo na Zamboanga despues de diez anos. English: I will go back to Zamboanga after ten years. Chabacano: Vira kame otra vez na Manila algun dia. English: We will go to Manila again someday. Chabacano: Cuando tu vira na oficina? English: When will you go back to the office? An expression that we can derive from this word is  vira cara  meaning 'to look back'. Here are some...
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Origins of the Chabacano Era

The Chabacano era is one of the many words that when used by a Chabacano speaker will tell you that that person is very fluent in the language. This word has multiple uses in the Chabacano de Zamboanga language. In the Chavacano de Zamboanga Compendio y Diccionario by Rolando Arquiza Santos, the author explains that the word can mean perhaps and almost. Here are some examples given by the book mentioned above. Chabacano: Ya olvida yo era llama contigo. English: I almost forgot to call you. Chabacano: Ya visita era tu con ele. English: Perhaps you should have visited him. Note that you only use the word era to mean almost when you mean that you almost were or weren't able to do something but still ended up not doing or doing it (respectively). Here is another example: Chabacano: No hay era yo puede mira American Idol. English: I nearly forgot to watch American Idol. In the Chabacano de Zamboanga handbook by Camins, he translates the word as the English 'shou...
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Origins of the Chabacano Gumita

The Chabacano word gumita means to vomit. It comes from the Spanish word vomitar . In fact, you can hear some people say this word as vomita  ( bumita ) and not gumita . My dad is one of those people. Camins' dictionary lists this word as gumita  and vomita . Here are some example sentences using the Chabacano word gumita: Chabacano: Cuanto veces tu ya gumita ayer? English: How many times did you vomit yesterday? Chabacano: No tu gumita aqui adentro. English: Don’t vomit here (inside). Chabacano: Ta gumita ba el perro? English: Do dogs vomit? The noun for the verb gumita is gomitorio . Here are some example sentences on how the word gomitorio is used in Chabacano. Chabacano: Favor limpia el gomitorio del bata. English: Please clean up the child’s vomit. Chabacano: Hiede el gomitorio suyo. English: His vomit smells.
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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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