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Showing posts from July, 2020

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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The Chabacano Sabut

When planning to go out with friends, we would sometimes use the word sabut in our conversations as in mañana ya lang kita man sabut si donde man mirahan . The Chabacano word sabut is a very interesting one. It's one of those words which do not have an exact translation in other languages. I don't think you can even translate it directly to Tagalog. The definition of the word sabut is to have a mutual understanding. It is a very useful word and can be used in several instances. You can use it for example to make sure that you get a fair share of the proceeds as in man sabut ya lang kita si cuanto el cada uno ay recibi . If you take a tricycle in Zamboanga, you may need to do this several times:  ya puede ya yo man sabut con el tricycle driver si cuanto yo paga para Tetuan . I have reason to believe that the word sabut is from Cebuano. I am not sure if they use it the way we do in Chabacano, though. In Cebuano, it means 'to understand'. The same word exists i...
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8 Misconceptions (& Possible Misconceptions) About The Chabacacano Language

1. Chabacano is Only Spoken in Zamboanga city While it is perceived that the Chabacano spoken in Zamboanga city is the most vibrant of all the Chabacano variants, there exist two different Chabacano varieties, one in Ternate and another in Cavite city. There are also Zamboangueňo communities abroad which promote the usage of Chabacano among its members. 2. Chabacano is a Pidgin Language While it may have been born out of a pidgin language or was heavily influenced by one, it has already evolved into a real language wiith a solid grammar. 3. Chabacano is Broken Spanish or Corrupted Spanish One of the biggest misconceptions about Chabacano out there is that it is broken or corrupted Spanish. Chabacano I believe never was, definitely is not, and never will be Spanish. Therefore, I also believe that it has never been , is definitely not, and never will be broken or corrupted Spanish. There are however numerous accounts of Chinese traders in the country who would spe...
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Origins of the Chabacano Pueblo

The transportation system in Zamboanga city is very simple to figure out. All jeepneys go from a certain barangay to the downtown area or what we call pueblo and vice versa. Growing up in Zamboanga city and not ever having left it even for vacations, I have always thought that the downtown area of all cities in the Philippines are called pueblo . It wasn't until in high school where some of my classmates came from nearby provinces that I learned that this was not the case. In college, I learned that the equivalent of this word in Cebuano is centro . When I started working in Manila, I realized that the cities in Manila don't even have a well-defined downtown anymore which is incidentally, also what Zamboanga city is currently developing into. I have always wondered why we called the downtown area of Zamboanga city as pueblo . When I checked the meaning of this word in Spanish, I learned that it meant 'the people or the town'. If we are to believe the Chabacano-is-...
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The Chabacano Calcetin and Medias

In Camins' Chabacano dictionary, the distinction between calcetin and medias is very clear. The former is socks and the latter is stockings . Growing up, I have always heard my parents use calcetin for socks but later on (and I believe this is influenced by the predominantly Tagalog television), I started hearing more and more people use medias and so today I use both words (albeit I use medias more because it is more readily understandable). In Tagalog, the term medyas stands for socks . The 2010 Chabacano dictionary of Santos acknowledges this shift and defines calcetin (spelled as calcitin in the dictionary) as socks while medias as socks and hose . The English to Chabacano dictionary recently published by the city hall also lists both medias and calcetin for the word socks .
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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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