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Showing posts from April, 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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The Chabacano No Hay Nada

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The Chabacano no hay nada no doubt comes from the Spanish no hay nada . No hay nada , however in Spanish means there is nothing. In Chabacano, this means that something is not good or no good. Here are some sentences using the Chabacano no hay nada . Chabacano: No hay nada man el mall alla. English: That mall over there was not very nice/good. Chabacano: No hay nada gayod este computer de mio. English: This computer is not worth anything/ not nice. Among some people (especially old people), no hay nada has more or less retained its original Spanish meaning. Here is how I heard somebody use the Chabacano no hay nada : no hay nada ya gayod sila (when she was talking about our neighbor). What she meant by this was what they (our neighbors) didn’t have anything anymore (in terms of material and/or financial possessions). I doubt if there are still young Chabacano speakers today who know this other meaning of the Chabacano no hay nada . What I’m sure of is that the meaning of
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How to say Climate related words in Chabacano

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In western countries, they have four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall or invierno, primavera, verano, and otoño in Spanish. In the Philippines, we only have two seasons: the wet and dry season or soles and tiempo de aguasero in Chabacano. From June to December, the country is visited by more or less twenty typhoons or what they call in TV Patrol Chavacano tifun. To my knowledge though, people don’t use this word in everyday conversations. Maybe fuerte aguasero would be used more often. Most of the people however use the Tagalog word baguio (without the stress at the end). Even the word aguasero is not that used anymore when referring to rain. Most people now use the Tagalog word ulan. A very interesting idiom using this word is: quiere cae ulan which literally means ([it] wants to fall rain). Figuratively, it means it looks like it’s about to rain. Here are some sentences using this idiom: Chabacano: Anda pa ba kita na iglesia? Dao quiere man cae ulan. English: Are we s
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Origins of the Chabacano Cen

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In Chabacano, not all people would know what the word dinero means. Instead, the word for money in Chabacano is cen . I have come upon a website recently which said that the word cen is the word for money in archaic Spanish. I cannot, however, remember the website where I found it. In Chabacano, this word refers to money (in general). Here are some examples of how it is used: Chabacano: Tiene tu cen? English: Do you have (any) money? Chabacano: De quien money ese? English: Whose money is that? Chabacano: Dale conmigo cen. English: Give me (some) money. I watched an episode of Mari Mar on Youtube in Spanish wherein she referred to money as cen . I asked my Mexican friend if there are people who say the word cen instead of dinero and she jokingly told me that a poorly educated person might speak like this.  Since we’ve been talking about money, would you know how to say: save money in Chabacano? The idea of saving money is not present in every culture and thus cannot
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Origins of the Chabacano Dale

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The Chabacano word for 'give' is dale . This word has very interesting origins. If you speak Spanish, you know that this word comes from that language. But let us dissect this word in Spanish first to appreciate it more. The word dar in Spanish means 'to give'. The word le meanwhile, means 'him' or 'her' or 'you'. When you give an informal command in Spanish and you say give him or her (something), you say 'dale'. Here is an example: Spanish: Dale (a el) un pedazo de pan English: Give him a piece of bread In Chabacano however, the Spanish dale becomes a whole word and means 'to give'. Here are some sentences using this word. Chabacano: Dale tu con ele pan English: Give him (or her) bread Chabacano: Dale cen con ele English: Give him (or her) money Chabacano: Puede tu conmigo dale arroz? English: Can you give me some rice? Chabacano: Ta dale ele comida na mga pobre. English: He (or she) gives food to the poor.
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The Different Profiles of Chabacano Speaker

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I recently asked my officemate, “ta fuma gale tu?” He replied, “Bata pa yo, recio ya yo ta fuma. I was really surprised when I heard him say recio instead of fuerte . You see, in all my life, I have never heard anyone use that word. In fact, the only reason why I know this word is because I read it in a text which was actually written in the Chabacano de Cavite and subsequently checked its meaning in a Spanish dictionary. Over the years, I have come to realize that Chabacano is not spoken in the same way by everyone. Socioeconomic background, age, and one's geographical location play a vital role in how well one will speak Chabacano as well as one's accent when speaking it. Older people who live in poverty tend to speak a Chabacano without code-switching or borrowing of foreign words. Most of these people are found in the rural areas of Zamboanga city. They are the ones whom Zamboangueños from the lowlands and urban centers would call the de alla-alla , de monte , and
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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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