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Showing posts from August, 2020

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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2 Facebook Groups You Should Join For Great Discussions About Chabacano

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It's a Saturday and with the pandemic still raging on I have decided to create a list of Facebook groups which contain great discussions about the Chabacano language. If you are looking to do some fieldwork without actually going to the field, these Facebook groups might be a good place to start. When browsing through these groups, one must take caution to not take everything at face value. Some posts are sarcastic and involves some cultural background to understand while others may not be very authentic as the person who wrote it may have felt peer pressure to write things in a certain manner and not in the way they usually would. 1. Zamboanga De Antes Privacy: Private No. of members: more than 32,000 Visit Zamboanga De Antes Facebook Group 2. Amistad Zamboangueno Privacy: Private No. of members: more than 6,000 Visit Amistad Zamboangueno Facebook Group If you know if any other great Facebook groups for discussions on the Chabacano language, feel free to add it in the
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Botella Versus Bote (Chabacano Versus Tagalog)

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Whenever I go to the store to purchase a bottle of vinegar in Manila, I would often forget that the word for bottle in Tagalog is bote  and not botella like in Chabacano. Since the first two syllables of these two words are the same, Tagalog speakers don't have any problem understanding what botella is. Yes, since I haven't been working since 2017 and have been mostly staying inside the house, I have started to forget some basic Tagalog words. Even my Manile ň o accent is almost gone. The other day, I was asking a friend how much it would cost to dig up a well and I used the word fozo by mistake (which I forgot was Chabacano). He was like: are you referring to a poso negro (which means septic tank in Tagalog)? According to the entry about the word bote in Tagaloglang.com, the word bote comes from the Spanish bote which means “container” or “boat”. They also claim that the mainstream Spanish word for bottle which is botella is also used in Tagalog. As far a
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10 Tagalog Words Now Used in Chabacano

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I remember watching a  documentary by Howie Severino  about the Chabacano in Cavite where a kid was asked to speak Chabacano. The kid says:  taga donde vos  then his dad tells him it should be  de donde vos . I find it amusing and a bit ironic actually that the Chabacano in Zamboanga is starting to sound closer and closer to its cousin in Cavite which uses Tagalog particles. When I told my friend that there are now more people speaking Tagalog than Chabacano in downtown Zamboanga, she said to me  sana Chabacano lang pa rin . Since we were talking in Chabacano, I was like did she just say that in Chabacano or Tagalog? Over time, perhaps due to social media, economics, and television, Tagalog has crept into the Chabacano language and replaced Chabacano particles, words that we use everyday. Here is a list of Tagalog particles (or words) which have recently entered the Chabacano language. The Chabacano word is enclosed in parenthesis while below the word pairs are some (unedited) exam
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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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