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Showing posts from November, 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

Origins of the Chabacano 'Bangak'

I first came across the word bangag in Manila as it is not a very common word in television (which used to be my primary source of exposure to native Tagalog speakers). It is however, common in casual conversations and I often hear it among friends in the office who work at night. To me, it often felt like this word meant something like 'being unable to think straight'. Could the Chabacano word  bangak  come from the Tagalog word  bangag ? Since the Chabacano accent  makes one unable to pronounce words ending in 'G' correctly, these words often end up being pronounced with a 'K'. So isn't it highly probable that the Chabacano word bangak came from the Tagalog word bangag ? Of course, in Chabacano, the meaning of this word is different from its Tagalog counterpart (though it could have evolved from the Tagalog meaning). This word means 'dumb' in Chabacano. However, Tagaloglang  defines this word as being 'high' on drugs/alcohol. Other websi

The Chabacano 'Harta'

A few days ago, I realized that Telemundo's YouTube channel 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. I started to like the story after a few episodes and decided to watch the entire thing. Anyway, one of the Spanish words that I found interesting was the word harto . I remember that when I was working, I heard a friend say: estoy harto de las llamadas and because I spoke Chabacano, I understood immediately what he meant. But I realized that the way they use this word in Spanish and the way we use it in Chabacano is a bit different. While the Spanish meaning of being tired or fed up of something also exists in Chabacano, we don't say things in quite

The Chabacano 'Carga'

This word can be used both as a noun and as verb in Chabacano. As a verb, it is generally used to say 'to carry'. As a noun, it would usually mean 'baggage' or 'things that you're carrying'. For example you may say: pesao el de mio carga *(something I'm carrying) is heavy. Or tiene ba tu carga? *are you carrying or bringing something with you? If you are at the airport, the word carga may pertain to your luggage and if you will be asked tiene ba tu carga , it most probably means check in baggage. Here are some examples in Chabacano: Chabacano: Ya cansa yo carga con el de mio bag. English: I felt tired from carrying my bag. Chabacano: Ya carga yo el silla para na casa. English: I brought (carried) the chair to my house. Chabacano: Manada gayod yo cosa ta carga. English: I'm carrying a lot of things. Chabacano: Puede tu conmigo ayuda carga el cajon? English: Can you help me carry this box? Chabacano: Ta acorda yo ta carga yo contigo antes

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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

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

How to say I Miss You in Chabacano

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