Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2019

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
Read more

10 Common Hispanicized English Words in Chabacano

The following is a list of borrowed words from English which we have taken and converted into hispanicized ones in the Chabacano language along with an example of people using these words in social media. I decided not to edit the spelling used in the examples to show how people tend to spell in Chabacano. The spelling used for the hispanicized English words is Spanish. 1. Accepta English: Accept Spanish: Aceptar "Deberasan gayot se, si nukiere kita aksepta el realidad hinde gayot kita keda alegre." 2. Sacrificia English: Sacrifice Spanish: Sacrificar "Makalastima con el maga estudiante, maga trabahador na govierno y na privado ta sakrifisya mucho para lang pwede bolve." 3. Correcta  English: Correct Spanish: Corregir "Kita nukere kita accepta aton mali pero bien pwerte kita korekta de otro mali." 4. Protecta English: Protect Spanish: Proteger "Gracias con el persona ken ya salva con el baby y gracias ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bear Brand Chabacano TV Commercial

Recording a tv commercial in Chabacano is like capturing a pokemon. It requires patience and great timing. Unfortunately, I was able to begin recording halfway through the commercial already. Bear Brand is a popular powdered milk drink brand by Nestle Philippines. Chabacano is a Spanish creole spoken in Zamboanga city, Philippines. It is one of only two Spanish creoles in the world. "El importante, fuerte el de ila resistencia. Pati ta man tipid man yo, pero debe tiene gayod sila Bear Brand todo'l dia. Ta enferma man el de ila maga amigo y amiga, de mio maga anak fuerte siempre el resistencia. Todo sila ya engranda na Bear Brand, igual tambien conmigo. Hende yo cambia con el Bear Brand! Simple man el de amon vida, pero hende enfermoso de mio maga anak. Diyes is it ya gayod." Subtitles were written using the orthography recommended by the local government of Zamboanga city.
Post a Comment
Read more

Describing Negative Past Events in Chabacano

You might have heard that to form the past tense in Chabacano, you just need to add the past tense marker ya to the infinitive. But alas, Chabacano is not that simple a language. In this article, we shall look at how to form negative statements about the past in Chabacano. They did not go to school. Let's try to translate the simple and very unassuming English sentence above in Chabacano. If you are a Spanish speaker trying to learn Chabacano, you probably would have thought that the Chabacano translation of the English sentence above is no sila ya anda na escuela but here is the right way to say it: no hay sila anda na escuela . As you can see, there is no need for the past tense marker ya to form negative statements about the past in Chabacano.  But what about negative statements in the future and past tenses? Here is the same sentence above but in future and present tense. Future tense: Hende sila ay anda na escuela. Present tense: Hende sila ta anda na escu...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

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

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