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Showing posts from May, 2013

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 Tiene Vez

In Chabacano, the word for sometimes is tiene vez . It is often spelled and pronounced as chene bes . In Spanish, this Chabacano phrase is a veces or hay veces . From this comparison, we can see how very similar the two languages are. Here are some sentences using the Chabacano tiene vez. Chabacano: Tiene vez, hinde yo ta puede dormi. English: Sometimes, I’m not able to sleep. Chabacano: Tiene vez lang yo ta anda na casa de mi tata. English: I only go to my dad’s house sometimes. Chabacano: Tiene vez no sabe gayod kita cosa ay pasa na deaton mga vida. English: Sometimes, we really don’t know what is going to happen to our lives. Here is a song titled Tiene Ves. It is in the Chabacano de Zamboanga language.
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Origins of the Chabacano Vale

My friend and I were speaking about the company Christmas party recently and something she said caught my attention. She said yung comida no vale talaga . This friend of mine had a Spanish mestiza grandmother who taught her how to speak Spanish. I was more intrigued though when I was chatting with a Mexican friend of mine and she told me mas vale si… (when she was telling me what I ought to do). The reason why these caught my attention is that these usages of the word vale are very close to the Chabacano usage. Here are some sentences using the word vale (meaning 'good' or 'nice') in Chabacano. Chabacano: Vale gale aqui na Manila… English: I didn’t know that Manila was nice. Chabacano: Vale man ese tuyo cellphone… English: Your cellphone is nice. Chabacano: Mas vale si cen ya lang tu conmigo dale. English: It’s better if you just give me money. There is also another way to use the word vale in Chabacano and I discussed that  here .
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The Chavacano de Ternate Criatura

Ay, naku! Ya kái el criatura na escalera. This is a sentence I found in a book titled The Ternateños written by Esteban A De Ocamp. It is written in the Chavacano de Ternate dialect. I found this sentence quite funny mainly because of the word criatura . I couldn’t believe that the word for a kid in the Chavacano de Ternate is criatura . Criatura in Spanish literally means creature. I was very surprised however when a Mexican friend used this word to mean children (offspring) when we were chatting online. So I did some research on this word and it turns out that  criatura can also mean 'a child', or 'an infant' in Spanish. This word, however (to the best of my knowledge) never appears in the Chabacano de Zamboanga. For everyone's benefit, the sentence that appears at the beginning of this entry means 'oh my, the child fell from the stairs'. Camins' Chabacano dictionary does not have the word criatura. Santos' dictionary does have it an...
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Observations on A Pilot Study on the Dialects of Philippine Creole Spanish

I have just read a study done by Maria Isabelita O. Riego de Dios regarding the different Chabacano dialects. In her study she compares the different words used in the Chabacano dialects of Zamboanga, Ternate, Cavite (city), and Cotabato. Maria Isabelita O. Riego De Dios is an RVM sister and she produced a dictionary on the Chavacano de Cotabato with a Zamboangueño, Ternateño, and Caviteño Chabacano equivalents.The following are some observations on her work: A Pilot Study on the Dialects of Philippine Creole Spanish. One of the first observations that she makes in her research are that there are words like the Cotabato and Zamboanga Chabacano gordo wherein the ‘r ‘ becomes an ‘l’ in the Chabacano dialects of Cavite and Ternate.  This is a very peculiar phenomenon but it affirms the theory that the Chabacano of Zamboanga underwent some hispanification over the last centuries. This theory appears in the study of John M Lipski on the Chabacano de Zamboanga. This also explains why...
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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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