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Showing posts from December, 2018

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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Translating The Little Prince: Sunsets

In chapter six of El Diutay Principe (for me, one of the sad moments in the book), it is revealed that the little prince loves watching sunsets especially when he is sad. One of the challenges in translating this chapter was how to translate the word sunset . Rolando Arquiza Santos' dictionary provides us with three choices. a. caida del sol b. sumida del sol c. abajada del sol In El Diutay Principe , I decided to use the most readily understandable term which is abajada del sol . Unfortunately, I can't remember the word that they used for sunset  in TV Patrol Chavacano. I was surprised when I watched a recent episode and it doesn't contain a weather report anymore like it used to. I heard my cousin who grew up in a rural area of Zamboanga city use the word paso  ( step , not flower pot ) a few months ago when he was giving me directions and I told myself that I will definitely have to incorporate this word into my translation. This word appears in chapter...
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How To Use 'Luego' In Chabacano

There are different ways to use the word luego  in Spanish but not all of them can be applied to the Chabacano luego . A friend of mine who knows Spanish seemed to have mixed up Chabacano and Spanish when he told me:  baka compra yo cellphone luego... baka el mes que viene. In Chabacano, the above sentence means that my friend would be buying a cellphone later (as in within the day). Another friend who is trying to learn Chabacano told someone:  Luego, volve yo ole na España. He was so surprised when the person whom he was talking to answered him:  Okay. Adios! Happy trip! Tiene cuidao! My friend wasn't leaving for Spain right away! He meant that he would be doing it in the immediate future! I was so amused by these stories that I told myself that I simply have to write about how to use the word  luego  in Chabacano. As far as I can tell, the Chabacano adverb  luego  has three uses: 1. To express that something may happen soon a...
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Translating The Little Prince: The Most Famous Quote Of Them All

"Por medio del corazon lang ta puede mira enbuenamente. No puede mira el maga ojos si cosa el deverasan importante." This is undeniably the most popular quote from The Little Prince and I took great care in translating it into Chabacano because I wanted the Chabacano version to make the reader feel the same way as they would reading it in English. I used a Chabacano that's in between formal and casual, not too spanishy, and not too conversational either. Here is the quote in its original French: On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. Here is how it was translated in Spanish: No se ve bien sino con el corazón; lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. Here's how it was translated to Filipino by Desiderio Ching in 1991: Sa pamamagitan lamang ng puso makakakitang buti. Hindi kita ng mata ang pinakapuso ng mga bagay. Here's how it was translated in Bicol: An puso sana an makakahiling kan tama; an pinakaubo...
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Ikaw by Yeng Constantino in Chabacano

How can I not share this? When I listened to this lady sing, I was like WOW! Etu is a Chabacano translation of the Tagalog song Ikaw sang by Yeng Constantino. This video is a cover of the original Chabacano version. While there are now several Chabacano songs posted online, most aren't very good quality. Sometimes the audio is poor, sometimes the melody just doesn't sound right, sometimes it's the lyrics, and sometimes it's the singer. Etu is an exception to the rule. Not that it wasn't sung well in the original version but I just happen to like this cover better. I think it's mainly because she sung the song very smoothly while the original one was sung with too much passion that for me, made it sound like a sad or angry song when it's actually a very happy song (which I think is exactly what this singer was able to convey with her rendition). There are parts wherein the singer pronounces some words like in Spanish such as the word cielo (she h...
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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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