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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

A Public Announcement in Chabacano

The following is a photo of an announcement explaining to the public how they can help prevent terrorist acts specifically, bomb explosions.


Here is a transcription of the message in the announcement. Unfortunately, the photo isn't very clear and I am not sure if my transcription is correct.

Cosa Tu Puede Ase Para Ayuda Preveni El Maga Plantada De Bomba y “Improvised Explosive Devices” (IEDs)

El maga amenaso y incidentes de bomba trabajo de maga terorista. Esta alerto y vihilante con maga bagahe y carga suspechoso y maga hente suspechoso el porma. Tiene cosas suspechoso puede ancina el porma.

Reporta Cun El Amenaso:

Situacion:
Locacion/ Lugar
Hora del dia
El descripcion del suspechao
Clase de vehiculo ya usa
Clase de armas ya usa
El crimen o acto de terorismo
Cosa ya ase

Descripcion:
Color del pelo
Edad
Hombre/Mujer
Grandor
Maga Pali o Tatu
Maga defecto fisical
Clase del ropa

El ensiguidas y exacto detalye amo el dos importante elemento na reportada. Reporta el kosa ya puede mira, nuemas otro. El ensiguidas reportada bien importante antes puede el suspechao comiti el crimen y escapa.

Si Tiene Ustedes Informacion Aserca Maga Posible Plantada De Bomba, Reporta Ensiguidas Na oficina Local del AFP/PNP.

Although some words in the text will not be understandable to some people who are not very exposed to Chabacano, generally, the language used in the text is not very formal and is very straightforward as it aims to disseminate information to the public. Some of the words were spelled as they are pronounced like detalye instead of detalle, bagahe instead of bagaje, ase instead of hace, and nuemas instead of no hay mas (I nearly fell off my chair when I saw this one). This was probably done for easier comprehension by people who are not familiar with the original Spanish spelling. Some words that might not be understood easily in the text are:

Ensiguidas: immediately
Aserca: about
Preveni: prevent
Amenaso: threat

To some people, the words above might be understandable even though they never use it. This is most probably because these words are used very frequently in Chabacano news reports. I actually don’t use the words above but know their meaning because I hear them being used in TV Patrol Chavacano all the time.

Here is a translation of the announcement above:

What You Can Do To Help Prevent Plantings of Bomb and “Improvised Explosive Devices” (IEDs)

The bomb threats and incidents are the work of terrorists. Be alert and vigilant against suspicious baggage and cargo and suspicious looking people. There are suspicious things that may look like this:

Report The Threat:

Situation:
Location/Place
Time of day
The suspect’s description
Type of vehicle used
Type of weapons used
Crime or terrorist act
What was done

Description:
Hair color
Age
Male/Female
Height
Wound marks or Tattoos:
Physical defects
Type of clothes

The speed and exact details are two most important elements in reporting. Report what was seen, nothing else. Reporting right away is very important before the suspect commits the crime and escapes.

If You have Information About Possible Bomb Plantings, Report It Right Away To The Local office of The AFP/PNP.

Comments

  1. Jerome,son comunes este tipo de anuncios? Aparecen por las calles de Zamboanga? Hay intencion politica de colocar estos anuncios en sitios publicos?.Que es "el porma" en castellano?.Un abrazo,Joaquin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hola Joaquin. Si, son mas o menos comunes.

    *maga hente suspechoso el porma= personas sospechosas o personas que parecen sospechosas

    ReplyDelete
  3. Como nota adicional, «Improvised Explosive Devices» = Artefactos explosivos improvisados.

    No me gusta la creciente influencia del inglés en el chabacano actual.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Como "El hombre sospechoso, tienes sus hechos." ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well written content piece. I appreciate your style of
    writing.

    ReplyDelete

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