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Showing posts from November, 2014

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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A Survey for Chavacano Speakers

Lisa Allen, an Undergraduate Student, School of Arts and Humanities at the Nottingham Trent University in UK is requesting Chavacano speakers to answer a short survey regarding their language. The following is her introduction to the survey: MY RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT THE USE OF ZAMBOANGUEÑO, CURRENT ATTITUDES AND IDEAS ABOUT ITS FUTURE STATUS First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter. I am currently in my final year at university studying Linguistics and Spanish. As part of my linguistic studies, I have become particularly interested in researching Chavacano (mainly the variety spoken in the Zamboanga region) and promoting its existence to others here in the UK. I have decided to base my dissertation on your language as little linguistic research has been done in this area. It is, therefore, extremely important to me to be able to receive the thoughts of, and feedback from, people in the region who have Zamboangueño as their nat...
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How to say Many in Chabacano

I was checking my Facebook when I stumbled upon an on-going discussion in a Facebook group page about when to use the words monton , mucho , and manada in Chabacano. If you haven't realized it yet, these three words all mean the same thing (many). The first word in the list is monton . This comes from the Spanish noun montón  and it is pronounced in Chabacano the same way as it is pronounced in Spanish. the Tagalog gabundo k probably comes from this Spanish word. Mont ó n literally means a big mountain and whenever we say that there is a mont ó n of something, we are actually comparing something to a big mountain. If you watch Philippine television, you have probably heard the expression gabundok na labada  in a laundry detergent commercial, this expression literally means a mountain of laundry. Here are some sentences using the Spanish montón  ( from  http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/mont%C3%B3n ) : Spanish: Sabe un montón de astronomía. Engl...
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A Chabacano Inspirational Message for Women

I was browsing Facebook when I saw this very inspiring message: Okay so it is not in Chabacano, it is in Spanish. But what I'll do today is I'll translate the message from Spanish to Chabacano. Mujer Tu cuerpo, el ta hace contigo sexy Tu cara, el ta hace contigo bonita Tu sonrisa, el ta hace contigo linda Pero tu pensamiento, amo el cosa ta hace contigo bien hermosa... The words linda (pretty), hermosa  (beautiful), and sonrisa (smile) are actually not found in my Chabacano dictionaries so I guess you can say that I borrowed them from Spanish. In the last line, I chose not to use the word totalmente because I wanted the Chabacano in my translation to sound more casual. In the comments section below, arondayot Zamboangueño contributes his version of the last line which is pero tu pensamiento el que ta hace contigo totalmente hermosa (which I actually think sounds better than mine) 😜. There you go, a few words of encouragement for all women out there feeling ...
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The Chabacano Expression 'Mata Hora'

In shopping malls all over Zamboanga city, you might hear people say that what they are doing is  ta mata hora . I think by now you've already guessed what this expression means. Mata hora means to while away the time. I'm almost sure that this Chabacano expression was directly translated from the English expression 'to kill time' because there is no similar expression in Tagalog or Spanish. Here are some sentences using this Chabacano expression: Chabacano: Cosa tu quiere-quiere hace para mata hora. English: What do you like doing to kill time? Chabacano: Anda anay yo mira laptop para mata hora. English: I'm going to look at laptops to kill time. Chabacano: Cosa ba bonito hace para mata hora? English: What's a good thing to do in order for me to kill time? What about you? Do you use this expression?
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The Chabacano Salida

The word salida in Chabacano has three meanings. It can mean either of these three: exit, departure, and TV show. let me give some examples to further illustrate. Chabacano: Donde el salida para na parking? English: Where is the exit towards the parking? Chabacano: Que hora el llegada y salida del eroplano? English: What time are the plane's arrival and departure? Chabacano: Cosa el salida na TV este noche? English: What is on TV tonight? (literally what is the TV show that will be on TV tonight) What actually prompted me to write this was seeing the word salida in a forum and realizing that this word has many definitions. The Chabacano dictionaries that I have only capture one meaning. A guy posted this in a forum: ese salida de uste na Ciudad de Zamboanga, for good ya gad se? (literally your leaving/departure from Zamboanga city, is that for good already or are you leaving Zamboanga city for good) The third meaning (TV show) does not appear in Chabacano dictionar...
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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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