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Showing posts from June, 2024

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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Donde tu Barriga

Is the word 'barriga' used in Spanish to refer to the stomach as a body part? For example, can you use the word 'barriga' when saying that your stomach hurts?  Based on what I can read online about this topic, the term 'barriga' in Spanish is used like the term 'belly' in English.  In Chabacano, the term 'barriga' is used when referring to the stomach. So you can definitely say duele el de mio barriga . While the term 'estomago' also exists, barriga is more commonly used. Since following the Pinoy in Equatorial Guinea and Cinco Filipinos channel in Youtube, I have noticed several instances wherein the characters tend to speak Spanish using Tagalog grammar. Sometimes, the words that they use seem to sound like Chabacano and not Standard Spanish. In this episode of Pinoy in Equatorial Guinea, Kuya Rowel visits the house of one of his friends in Equatorial Guinea. At the 3:05 mark, he plays with the baby Ilan and asks him, "donde tu ba...
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Tiene Coche, Tiene Tricycle

In the Tagalog language, the manner in which we say 'I have/you have' and 'there is/are' is through the same word: mayroon . In Chabacano, we use the word 'tiene'. For example, the sentence 'I have a cat' and 'there is a cat' are translated as 'tiene yo gato' and 'tiene gato'.  In Spanish, the word used would have been tener ( tengo ) and hay , respectively. Since following the Pinoy in Equatorial Guinea and Cinco Filipinos channel in Youtube, I have noticed several instances wherein the characters tend to speak Spanish using Tagalog grammar. Most of the time, their Spanish tends to sound like Chabacano.  In this episode of Cinco Filipinos, the entire cast visits a church and at the 08:10 mark, Kuya Jose tells the African kids to be careful as they were crossing the street. He tells them, "Espera ha, tiene coche, tiene tricycle." If they were in Zamboanga city, people would think he was speaking in Chabacano. The Pinoy ...
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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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Differences Between The Chabacano of Zamboanga and the Chavacano in Cavite city

Just a few hours ago, I encountered a very interesting blog called Habla Chabacano . The said blog is about Cavite city and it's Chavacano. I found this amusing because I speak Chabacano de Zamboanga. As I read the posts in Habla Chabacano (which were partly in Chabacano), I quickly spotted the differences/similarities between the two Chabacanos. First off, the Chavacano of Cavite looks more Spanish sounding than that of Zamboanga. The sentence structure is also closer to Spanish. Here's an example: Chavacano de Cavite: Cosa ta haci Gina? Enlish: What is Gina doing? Chabacano de Zamboanga: Cosa ta hace si Gina? Spanish: ¿Qué está haciendo Gina? As you can observe, the Chavacano de Cavite comes closer to Spanish in terms of grammar. In Chabacano de Zamboanga, you would use the word si (which comes from Tagalog), added to the subject if it's a person. Meanwhile, the Chavacano de Cavite uses only the name of the person (without the si ) for subjects which are...
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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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