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Showing posts from June, 2015

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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The Chabacano Desculpa

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TV Patrol asks its viewers for its Opinion del Pueblo segment: Con quien ba debe desculpa na largo hora black out que ta experiencia el ciudad de Zamboanga este maga tiempo? Porque canila debe desculpa? When I first saw this post on TV Patrol Chavacano's Facebook page , I did not understand their question. To be honest, I don't know the Chabacano word desculpa . I do know the Spanish word disculpar and I thought that the Chabacano desculpa meant the same thing. However, the definition of the Spanish disculpar does not fit in the sentence above because disculpar in Spanish means to forgive or to excuse. I asked a friend whom I know from this blog and he also said that the word desculpa/disculpa in Chabacano should mean to excuse or forgive. But if you read the sentence above, it sounds like the word desculpa means to blame or accuse (someone). In that post's comments, I see other people also using the word desculpa to mean to blame or accuse (someone).
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Origins of the Chabacano Dalaga Vieja

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I once used the Chabacano word dalaga vieja while chatting with a friend who is a language enthusiast. This friend of mine speaks Spanish and Portuguese and knows some Tagalog. Just to see how he would interpret this word, I asked him what he thought it meant. So what is a d alaga vieja ? If you speak both Spanish and Tagalog, you would have probably guessed by now that this word is a noun meaning 'old maid' or 'a spinster'. This word probably came from the Tagalog word for spinster which is matandang dalaga . Matanda in Tagalog means old and dalaga refers to a maiden. The Chabacano d alaga vieja is either a direct translation of the Tagalog matandang dalaga or the English old maid . Other varieties of this word are soltera vieja and soltero viejo . Obviously, soltero viejo is the male version of a dalaga vieja . The word dalaga is a curious one. I've seen this word used in the folk song  Zamboanga Hermosa  which is written purely in standard Span
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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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