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Showing posts from November, 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

Origins of the Chabacano Desma

Growing up, I've always known that the Chabacano word for 'to faint' is desma . However, if you check Chabacano dictionaries, you will not find this word. The word that is listed in Chabacano dictionaries is desmaya . This comes from the Spanish desmayarse . When I asked other people in their 50s, they all agreed that desma is the word for fainting and not desmaya . I figured that there are only a very few number of Chabacano speakers who still say desmaya  and they must be in their 80s already or even dead. Here are some sentences using the Chabacano word desma . Chabacano: Saca agua, ya desma si mama! English: Get some water, mom fainted! Chabacano: Almorza anay tu, baka desma tu de hambre. English: Have some breakfast first, you might faint from hunger. Here are are some posts in social media that I found using the word desma. Malas bos, nuay yo desma.. Nuay yo kosa ya intende kunila yan nosebleed yo byen kere yo desma byen kere gat yo desma kunikaw

The Chabacano Expression 'Todo Bagon'

That’s a load of Crap! B*ullsh*t! These are expressions in the English language that are used to mean nonsense, foolishness or hogwash (which is another expression). In the Chabacano de Zamboanga, we say lasang or lasangan . Lasang or lasangan came out during the early 2000s (I think) and was in use for about a decade. Previously though, the favored word was tonterias, pendejadas or locuras . All these words are actually falling into disuse. Today, the favored word is todo bagon.   Todo means 'all' and bagon means shrimp paste (from  bagoong ). So literally, it means all shrimp paste. When you say that a person is todo bagon , it means that that person is not making any sense. One may also say todo vos bagon or you are all shrimp paste. A word of caution though, this sounds very offensive. I heard that this expression is very popular among the people who live in the rural areas or on the outskirts of Zamboanga city. It is quickly gaining popularity though in main

Origins of the Chabacano Fija

A few days ago, I heard my two friends talking and I heard the word fija from their conversation. This got me listening because I have never heard this word in Chabacano. What got me more interested was that the way that the word fija was used in their conversation was similar to the Spanish fijarse . Here now are some sentences using the Chabacano fija. Chabacano: No fija na sol, queda malo tu vista. English: Don’t stare at the sun; you’ll destroy your eyes. Chabacano: Fija buenamente para conoce con el suspechao ladron. English: Look closely so that you’ll be able to identify the alleged thief. Chabacano: Fija tu con el hombre na retrato, conoce ba tu con ele? English: Look closely at the man in the photo, do you know him? As you may have noticed already, the Chabacano fija means 'to stare' or 'to look closely'. Remarkably, this word is nowhere to be found in Camins’ Chabacano dictionary. It does appear though in Rolando Arquiza Santos’ Chabacano dictio

Origins of the Chabacano Mete

Sometimes, if you don’t speak a language, there is a tendency to just guess the meaning of frequently used words that you don't understand. In Chabacano, there are so many words today whose definitions are being changed because the speakers (mostly parents) fail to explain the meaning of these words to their audience (the children). I heard recently that Chabacano is now being taught in preschools and that is really wonderful news for Chabacano enthusiasts. This will prevent the next generation from failing to understand the meaning of Chabacano words and subsequently misinterpreting it. A good example of this phenomenon in Chabacano is the word menta . It turns out that the “real” meaning of the word menta is 'to mention' but today its meaning has changed 'to blame' or 'to accuse someone'. It’s not hard to imagine how a nonspeaker of the Chabacano de Zamboanga would ultimately derive to the conclusion that the word menta means to blame or accuse somebod

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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

The Chabacano Expression 'Todo Bagon'

That’s a load of Crap! B*ullsh*t! These are expressions in the English language that are used to mean nonsense, foolishness or hogwash (which is another expression). In the Chabacano de Zamboanga, we say lasang or lasangan . Lasang or lasangan came out during the early 2000s (I think) and was in use for about a decade. Previously though, the favored word was tonterias, pendejadas or locuras . All these words are actually falling into disuse. Today, the favored word is todo bagon.   Todo means 'all' and bagon means shrimp paste (from  bagoong ). So literally, it means all shrimp paste. When you say that a person is todo bagon , it means that that person is not making any sense. One may also say todo vos bagon or you are all shrimp paste. A word of caution though, this sounds very offensive. I heard that this expression is very popular among the people who live in the rural areas or on the outskirts of Zamboanga city. It is quickly gaining popularity though in main