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Showing posts from January, 2013

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 Escuro

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“Escuro ya. Noma sale na casa.” This is probably something that you would hear in Zamboanga city when darkness sets in. While the streets are well lit and safe, most Zamboangueños prefer to stay indoors at night. In fact you wouldn’t see a lot of night life or business establishments that are open at night in the city. This is changing little by little though, especially with the recently opened Paseo del Mar. Paseo del Mar is a park located near the fort Pilar. It is very popular both with the young and old. It becomes packed when the sun starts to set at around five thirty in the afternoon. I have personally witnessed the sunset at Paseo del Mar and I can really say that it was breathtakingly beautifully. For me, it can best the famous Manila bay sunset any time of the day. The word escuro , in my opinion, may come from the Spanish oscuro . According to the book of Esteban A De Ocampo titled The Ternateños, this word also exists in the Chavacano de Ternate. He spells i
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6 Ways to Sound Polite in Chabacano

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In each culture, there is a distinct way to sound polite. In Tagalog, we always add the word po at the end of statements and requests. In English, we replace 'can' with 'could' and we say 'please'. Here are six different ways to sound polite when speaking Chabacano. 1. Use que  instead of cosa. When asking people to repeat themselves, you would normally ask, cosa 'quel ( aquel ) or cosa ? While this doesn’t seem very rude, using the word  que is more polite. Using cosa to ask somebody (older than you or with more authority than you ) to repeat his/herself would be considered rude. Here's an example: Respectful: Old woman: Ya come ya tu? Kid: Que? Rude: Old woman: Ya come ya tu? Kid: Cosa? 2. Always say buenas when entering a home. When entering a home, it is customary and polite to say buenas . This word is also used for checking if somebody is at home. It is the equivalent of the Tagalog tao po or the Bisaya ayu . I remember ba
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Recommendations for the Next Chabacano Dictionary

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To date, I have encountered two dictionaries of  Chabacano de Zamboanga. One is by Bernardino S. Camins and the other (most recent) is by Rolando Arquiza Santos. I know of a third one which was authored by Father Chambers (although, I’m not sure of this information) and a fourth one by Felino M Santos. One common feature of these three dictionaries is that they were all written by old men. These dictionaries contain some archaic words. I think that these words need to be labeled 'ARCHAIC' or 'OBSOLETE' in the next Chabacano dictionary. Of course, we don’t want these words to be lost so it is a good thing that they are incorporated in these dictionaries. Some of these obsolete or archaic words are Spanish or even old Spanish in origin and are only used by people who have or had relatives educated in Spanish or who are themselves educated in Spanish. Some words are used in certain locales only. An example is words used by people who live in rural villages or in the mo
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Origins of the Chabacano Vacia

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The Chabacano vacia is pronounced as basha . For this article, we will use the Spanish spelling vacia . The Spanish vaciar means 'to empty or drain'. Obviously, this comes from the Spanish word vacio  (or at least the two words are connected) which means 'empty'. In Chabacano, the word vacia can mean either 'to pour' or 'to empty'. So when asking somebody to pour the contents of a container, it is often necessary to specify whether you mean to pour everything or just a partial amount in Chabacano. Here are some examples of how this is used in the Chabacano language. Chabacano: Vacia todo aqui. English: Pour everything here. Chabacano: *Un poco lang vacia na balde. English: Pour a little into the bucket. Chabacano: Vacia agua favor na palangana. English: Pour water into the basin, please. In Spanish, the word vaciar also means to empty out or drain something. However, I am not certain if this word can also mean to pour in the Spanish
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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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