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Showing posts from August, 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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How to Ask and Give Directions in Chabacano

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So you find yourself in downtown Zamboanga city where all the action happens and you wanted to ask directions in the local language. What would you say? Well, that is exactly what this blog post will teach you. Here is a dialogue between two people, one is a local and the other a Basileño (or a native of Basilan *where they also speak Chabacano). Joseph: Noy, puede tu conmigo habla donde yo? Cosa camino este? Arnold: Taqui tu sir na pueblo. Calle Ramos el nombre de este camino. Joseph: Que modo yo anda na city hall? Kay manmirahan kame de mio hermana na Plaza Pershing. Ya habla conmigo de mio hermana cerca daw el city hall na Plaza Pershing. Arnold: Onde ba tu necesita anda sir? Na city hall o na Plaza Pershing? Joseph: Na Plaza Pershing. Arnold: Camina lang tu derecho sir. Despues cuando llega tu na canto, camina tu pa izquierda. Despues cuando llega tu otra vez na canto, travesa tu con el camino. Basta ese Plaza Pershing en frente ‘se ele del Lucky Mall. Joseph: Cosa hechura
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Origins of the Chabacano Siguiditos

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The word siguiditos is a curious word. It most probably came from Spanish but it is nowhere present in the Spanish language.We definitely know that it comes from the Spanish seguir . This word is not incorporated in the dictionary of Camins. It is however found in the 2010 dictionary of Rolando Arquiza Santos. Santos defines the word as 'one after the other' or 'successively'. At times though, this word is also used as an adverb to mean 'continuous' by certain people (namely ME). Here now are some sample sentences using this word: Chabacano: Siguiditos ya morri el mio dos perro English: My two dogs died successively Chabacano: Siguiditos ya rebenta el mga bomba English: The bombs exploded one after the other
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The Chabacano Embesti

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The Chabacano word embesti is used in several different contexts. An older brother can tell his younger brother ta embesti ya vos conmigo ? He might also say  sabe ya vos conmigo embesti ? This usage is a bit difficult to explain to non-Filipinos. To those who speak Tagalog, this is equivalent to lalaban ka na sa akin ? To some extent, this word can also mean 'to revenge'. When kid A punches kid B, the mother of kid B might say to him (kid B)  no mas ya embesti . This word is spelled as  envisti  in Camins’ Chabacano dictionary. He defines it as: to stand up to a challenge. The reason why I spelled the word as embesti is because I have an inkling that this word came from the Spanish embestir . The Spanish embestir means to attack, assault, or assail. I can picture out Spanish army officers commanding an indio foot soldier  embiste, embiste ! This word can be pronounced in many ways: imbesti , embisti , embesti , and imbisti . This word is curiously not found in Rol
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The Chabacano Guevon and Haragan

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The words guevon and haragan are colloquial words found mostly in Latin American Spanish. They both mean lazy. These words also occur in the Chabacano language. There are however some differences in how these words are used in the Spanish and Chabacano language. In Chabacano, the word haragan is an adjective meaning glutton. The word guevon meanwhile is an adjective that can mean 'somebody with big testicles' and 'a lazy person'. The word guevon is also colloquial (and offensive) in the Chabacano language and it doesn’t, in fact, appear in the dictionary of Camins and Rolando Arquiza Santos (2010). The word haragan does appear in both these dictionaries because it is not considered colloquial. Rolando Arquiza Santos defines the word haragan as 'glutton', 'greedy', and 'ravenous'. Camins meanwhile defines it as 'a glutton'. Santos’ dictionary also has the word 'guevos' which he defines as testicles (the more used word
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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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