Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2021

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

Ermita Chabacano: The Lost Ark of Chabacano

If Chabacano is the holy grail of Linguistics, the videoconference I watched calls the Chabacano spoken in Ermita the lost ark of the covenant. When the announcement that a conference on the Chabacano spoken in Ermita popped up in my newsfeed, I was very excited. The Chabacano in Ermita is probably the least studied among all the Chabacano varieties so I was happy that someone will finally be talking about it. Is it just a legend? For me, some of the Chabacano varieties such as the one spoken in Ermita and Davao are a bit like the Loch Ness monster. Just like the famous legend, there are numerous reported sightings of the Chabacano spoken in those places. When I was still working, I told my friend about the Chabacano in Ermita and she was like , 'it figures, I was passing by that area and heard some people speaking in a Spanish-like language!' When I told another friend about the Chabacano in Davao, he said he could attest to that language being real since he heard it himse...
4 comments
Read more

Why do Zamboangueños think Spanish is Old Chabacano?

Today, I found a video on YouTube where they translate a common announcement heard in airport terminals into Chabacano. I knew right away that it was in Spanish and was not one bit of an iota Chabacano. The funny thing was that a commenter said that it was old Chabacano and was how his grandmother spoke Chabacano. I also asked a friend to watch it and I was surprised when he also commented that it was probably old Chabacano. Did Zamboangueños speak Spanish?   It is most probably true that before the twentieth century, there were many Spanish speakers in Zamboanga city. The same was probably true in major cities at that time like Cebu and Manila. My parents did tell me that my grandparents spoke in Spanish amongst themselves but were they fluent in it? My guess is that they spoke it after a fashion and perhaps inserted a Spanish phrase here and there. If it's the current generation of Zamboangueños who say that their grandparents spoke in a Spanish-like Chabacano, were they actually...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Chabacano Expression 'Caliente Boca'

             I was speaking to a friend on the phone in Chabacano this afternoon when I used the Chabacano expression caliente boca . At the same time, I realized that I never wrote about this Chabacano expression before. Caliente boca translates to 'hot mouth' literally but this Chabacano expression refers to a person who says that something will happen before it does. For example you can say that your friend is caliente boca because perhaps he said that it might rain tomorrow and it did. You can also say that his boca  is caliente  ( caliente de suyo boca ). As far as I know, this expression did not come from Tagalog or English. Growing up, my dad would always tell me that I was caliente boca  because whenever I said that a certain fish in our aquarium looked like it was about to die, it almost always certainly will! Here is a post I got from Facebook which uses the Chabacano expression caliente boca . Written in three language...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Chabacano Zafa

It probably looks weird to you written that way but this is a word that we use almost everyday in Chabacano. For most of us, we spell this word as sapa and for good reason since that is the way that we pronounce it. Yes, folks I have reason to believe that the Chabacano word sapa and the Spanish word zafar are one and the same. The DRAE defines this word as either: 1. Desembarazar, libertar, quitar los estorbos de algo. 2. Soltar o desatar algo. 3. Descoser una costura o una prenda de ropa. 4. Desentenderse, librarse de un compromiso o de una obligación. 5. Escaparse o esconderse para evitar un encuentro o riesgo. 6. Librarse de una molestia. 7. Excusarse de hacer algo. 8. Dicho de la correa de una máquina: Salirse del canto de la rueda. 9. Dicho de un hueso: Dislocarse o descoyuntarse. Zafa is a word that we use in Chabacano when something gets removed without direct action from the speaker. For example a painting falling off the wall or a stain that disappeared. Over the past ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Origins of the Chabacano word 'Gulud'

Would you ever have imagined that the Chabacano word gulud  possibly came from Tagalog? Personally, I have only heard this word being used by my cousins from a rural village in Zamboanga city so I always thought of it as a hondo  Chabacano word. However, today I came across this word in Facebook which led me to do some research about it. It turns out that in Tagalog, the word gulod  means the top portion of a hill or a mountain. I have never heard the Tagalog word gulod used in all my life until I encountered it in a Facebook post which mentioned of a movie in 1949 titled ang bahay sa lumang gulod . In Chabacano, the word gulud  means 'hill'. The Chabacano dictionary of Santos and Camins spells this word as gulud  and defines it as 'hill'. However, I have never heard anybody pronounce this word with a hard 'D' in Chabacano but most old Chabacano speakers who sport a heavy Chabacano accent have a hard time pronouncing the letter 'D' when it is at the e...
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