Skip to main content

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 ...
12 comments

How To 'Say I Told You So' And 'So What' In Chabacano

It is often hard to translate expressions from one language to another. In this post, we shall learn how to say the English expressions 'I told you' so and 'so what' in Chabacano.

Let us first see how these expressions would look like in other languages. In Tagalog, 'I told you so' would be sabi ko na nga ba and 'so what' would be ano ngayon or ano naman ngayon. In Spanish, I think these could be translated to ya decia yo and y eso que respectively, based on my chat conversations with a Mexican friend.

In Chabacano, 'I told you' so can be translated as habla ya gayod yo while 'so what' could be said as cosa man ahora, y despues, or simply acabar. The Chabacano habla ya gayod yo can also mean I knew it.

Here are some dialogues using these expressions:

Mario:  Pilar, ta habla yo contigo, pensa pensa anay tu antes de compra un coche. Si queda malo el coche, caro con ese manda compone. Y hinde broma el paga cinco mil cada mes para lang na un coche.

Plar: Ay, cosa man ahora. Yo man paga, hinde man tu.

Mario: Na yo ta habla lang.
_______

Pilar: Mario, puede ba tu conmigo dale presta cen?

Mario: Porque man? Cosa ya pasa? Porque tu necesita cen?

Pilar: Na ya falta ba mio cen para na pago del coche.

Mario: Ay na, ya habla ya gayod yo ese contigo. Pero no quiere tu conmigo cree.
_______

Pilar: Mario, sabe ba tu, ya admiti ya daw si Paulo ayer que mareng ele.

Mario: Ha? Ansina? Na, ya habla ya ba gayod yo.
_______

Mario: Oy Paulo, ya habla conmigo si Pilar ayer, mareng daw tu.

Paulo: Acabar? Cosa man ahora?

Here is the English translation.

Mario:  Pilar, I'm telling you, think about it first before buying a car. if the car breaks down, it's expensive to get it fixed. And paying five thousand each month just for a car is not a joke.

Plar: So what? I'm the one who's going to pay for it, not you.

Mario: I'm just saying...
_______

Pilar: Mario, can you lend me money?

Mario: Why? What happened? Why do you need money?

Pilar: It's just that I lack money for my car payment.

Mario: See., I told you so.
_______

Pilar: Mario, you know what? Paolo already admitted yesterday that he was gay.

Mario: Oh really? I told you so!
_______

Mario: Hey Paulo, Pilar told me yesterday that you were gay.

Paulo: So what?

I hope you enjoyed the article. 😀

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 12, 2014 at 9:58 AM

    I'm a big fan of your posts. Just a suggestion for this one: It might be better to put the phrases you're emphasizing inside quotation marks? It was a little difficult distinguishing these from the rest of the sentence. Thank you.

    For example, the following paragraph, would read better as:
    In Chabacano, "I told you so" is known as "habla ya gayod yo" while "so what?" could be said as "cosa man ahora, y despues?" or simply "acabar." The Chabacano "habla ya gayod yo" can also mean, "I knew it."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jerome HerreraMay 17, 2014 at 4:54 AM

    Hi Anonymous. Thanks for your suggestion. Im a bit lazy to do these things but Ill try hehe.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
17 comments
Read more

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 ...
9 comments
Read more

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...
98 comments
Read more