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
In Chabacano, the word for a liar is embustero. An embustero is somebody who tells embusterias or lies. These words are spelled with an “i” in the Chabacano dictionary of Camins (imbustero, imbusterias). The Spanish meaning of embustero is generally a deceitful person. The word embusteria does not exist in the Spanish language. In most Spanish dictionaries, you wouldn’t find that the word embustero can also mean a liar however according to the WordReference.com website; this word can also refer to a liar in the Spanish language (this usage though is labeled as informal). So there you go, as like many words in the Chabacano language, it is either informal or vulgar in the Spanish language, owning up to its name.
In the Chabacano dictionary of Camins, the Spanish words menti, mentiroso/a, and mentira exist and preserve their Spanish meaning. However, these words are seldom used or not used anymore today in the Chabacano language. I have yet to encounter a Chabacano speaker who uses these words.
The verb 'to lie' in Chabacano becomes ta man or tan embustero. If you read my post about the Chabacano man, you would know that we put this word in front of a noun for it to become a verb. Ta meanwhile is used to denote that it is in the present tense.
Here are different ways to ask someone if he/she is telling is the truth in the Chabacano language:
Chabacano: Ta habla ba tu el deverasan conmigo OR ta habla ba tu el verdad conmigo?
The word deverasan is the more used word.
Chabacano: Tan embustero ba tu conmigo?
Here are some examples of how we use the words embustero (adjective, liar), embusterias (noun, lies), and tan embustero (verb, to lie):
Chabacano: No tu cre (from Spanish creer) con ese gente. Embustero ese gente.
English: Don’t believe that person. That person is a liar.
Chabacano: Na infierno (spelled and pronounced by most as impyerno) anda el mga gente embustero.
English: Liars will go to hell.
Chabacano: No quiere mas yo cree na de vos mga embusterias!
English: I don’t want to believe in your lies anymore!
Chabacano: Basta ya de habla embusterias!
English: Stop telling lies!
Chabacano: Hinde bueno man embustero.
English: It is not good to lie.
Chabacano: No tu debe man embustero na tuyo mga mayores.
English: You shouldn’t lie to your elders.
The Chabacano dictionary of Camins has the word imbusterias (meaning 'lies'), the more recent Chabacano dictionary of Rolando Arquiza Santos spells this word as imbusteria (meaning 'lie').
One theory that I have is that this resulted from the influence of people who lose their 's' if it’s found at the end of the word. It is not common knowledge but there are people who eat their 's' much like Spanish speaking people do (for example the surname De Los Rios becomes de loh rioh). Let me give you an example. I don’t speak with the accent I have mentioned earlier however I tend to say pie (pieh) and not pies. The word for both feet and foot in Chabacano is pies (you won’t find the word pie in any Chabacano dictionary). So I believe what we have here is a word (pronounced in this manner or with this accent) which has crept to mainstream Chabacano and is now deemed as the correct pronunciation.
In the Chabacano dictionary of Camins, the Spanish words menti, mentiroso/a, and mentira exist and preserve their Spanish meaning. However, these words are seldom used or not used anymore today in the Chabacano language. I have yet to encounter a Chabacano speaker who uses these words.
The verb 'to lie' in Chabacano becomes ta man or tan embustero. If you read my post about the Chabacano man, you would know that we put this word in front of a noun for it to become a verb. Ta meanwhile is used to denote that it is in the present tense.
Here are different ways to ask someone if he/she is telling is the truth in the Chabacano language:
Chabacano: Ta habla ba tu el deverasan conmigo OR ta habla ba tu el verdad conmigo?
The word deverasan is the more used word.
Chabacano: Tan embustero ba tu conmigo?
Here are some examples of how we use the words embustero (adjective, liar), embusterias (noun, lies), and tan embustero (verb, to lie):
Chabacano: No tu cre (from Spanish creer) con ese gente. Embustero ese gente.
English: Don’t believe that person. That person is a liar.
Chabacano: Na infierno (spelled and pronounced by most as impyerno) anda el mga gente embustero.
English: Liars will go to hell.
Chabacano: No quiere mas yo cree na de vos mga embusterias!
English: I don’t want to believe in your lies anymore!
Chabacano: Basta ya de habla embusterias!
English: Stop telling lies!
Chabacano: Hinde bueno man embustero.
English: It is not good to lie.
Chabacano: No tu debe man embustero na tuyo mga mayores.
English: You shouldn’t lie to your elders.
The Chabacano dictionary of Camins has the word imbusterias (meaning 'lies'), the more recent Chabacano dictionary of Rolando Arquiza Santos spells this word as imbusteria (meaning 'lie').
One theory that I have is that this resulted from the influence of people who lose their 's' if it’s found at the end of the word. It is not common knowledge but there are people who eat their 's' much like Spanish speaking people do (for example the surname De Los Rios becomes de loh rioh). Let me give you an example. I don’t speak with the accent I have mentioned earlier however I tend to say pie (pieh) and not pies. The word for both feet and foot in Chabacano is pies (you won’t find the word pie in any Chabacano dictionary). So I believe what we have here is a word (pronounced in this manner or with this accent) which has crept to mainstream Chabacano and is now deemed as the correct pronunciation.