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Showing posts from October, 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 Exression 'Muerto Hambre'

A few days ago, I realized that Telemundo's YouTube channel had started uploading some of their telenovelas (most probably as part of their efforts to help people cope with the strict lockdowns imposed a few months ago) including one that I remember being shown in a local TV network dubbed in Tagalog a few years ago. A friend also recommended it to me in the past so I decided to watch the first few episodes to see if I would like it. One interesting expression that I kept on hearing from the telenovela was the expression muerto de hambre . I remember using this expression as an example of Chabacano words which look like they are direct translations from Tagalog . Anyway, after hearing this expression in the telenovela, I'm starting to think that the Tagalog patay gutom is most likely a direct translation of the Spanish muerto de hambre . In the telenovela, one of the characters would often call the poor workers in the hacienda as muerto de hambre . I think it is similar to t...
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The Chabacano Expression 'Mata Ojos'

                                                              I have always thought that the Chabacano expression  mata ojos  (to wink) may have had its origins in Spanish. I mean who could blame me when those two words are most definitely Spanish. However, when I checked my Spanish dictionary I was very surprised to find out that the  Spanish word for  wink  is altogether different. This led me to think that this Chabacano expression may be a direct translation of an expression in a Philippine language (which influenced Chabacano) which meant 'to wink'. If we look at Tagalog, the word for wink is  kindat  so it's definitely not from Tagalog. How about Cebuano? According to my friend, it is  kidhat.  Now let's look at Hiligaynon. My friend said it is  pang...
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The Chabacano Expression 'Ulan De Moro'

I don't know what it's like in other parts of the world, but in the Philippines it is a rare occurrence for the sun to be out while it is raining. That's what happened a few minutes ago and It reminded me that in Chabacano we call this phenomenon ulan de moro . Actually, I don't know if many people still use this expression. A quick search in Facebook will hint that it is no longer used very much. Maybe it is because the expression is offensive towards a certain group of people that you won't see anybody using it in public Facebook posts. I'm not sure why we call this type of rain as ulan de moro but if you grew up in Zamboanga city, you may have an idea or two. I remember in college, a teacher told us that in the Tausug language, the word bisaya meant 'a traitor'. A girl from Sulu quickly corrected her that it actually meant 'a christian'. Anyway, I just wanted to point out that in the past, there may have been some prejudice towards certain g...
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Chabacano Euphemisms For Death

A euphemism is often employed when talking about unpleasant things such as death. In Chabacano, one euphemism that I often hear in my family when talking about someone's death is ya despedi ya si (someone) as in ya despedi ya si daddy ( daddy passed away ). A Spanish speaker told me once that he got rebuked when trying to speak Chabacano and using this expression (which he thought meant to say goodbye in Chabacano). In Santos' Chabacano, he does define this word (spelled as dispidi ) as to say goodbye, to leave, to depart, and to send off however, probably very few Chabacano speakers would use this word in this manner. I remember a friend of mine at the office once asked me how one says goodbye in Chabacano . Since I did not want to be pretentious and say that we use the word adios, I answered: anda ya yo (I am leaving). It does make sense when you think about it because saying goodbye  is essentially telling someone that you are leaving and in fact came from the expression G...
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The Chabacano Atorga

When I first heard my best friend use this word, I was very curious what it meant. I got the impression that it meant something like to let someone get away with something or to allow someone to do something that is not generally allowed. The reason why this word piqued my curiosity is because the word atorgar , as far as I know does not exist in Spanish. On the off chance that 'a' might be simply a prefix that is not found in the Spanish original, I also tried to do some research if the word torgar existed in Spanish but it does not. The closest Spanish word I could think of is the word otorgar whose meaning does not have any similarity to the meaning of the Chabacano word atorga (or does it?) My bestfriend uses this word whenever he talks about his niece who he claims is a spoiled brat. He would lay the blame on the parent who lets her get away with things. Here is a comment written in Chabacano on a Facebook post using this word. This is a complaint by a resident of Zambo...
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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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