Skip to main content

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

Forming Chabacano Adjectives using 'Con'

In this blog post, we are going to learn how to express some of our physical needs in Chabacano and using the word con or 'with'. You may see this word spelled as kun or cun but the recommended spelling from Chabacano/Chavacano Lexicography is 'con'.

There are three physical needs that we can express in Chabacano just by using the word con.

1. Sleep- Con Sueño (Sleepy)

This is how it is used in Chabacano:

- Con sueño ya yo. (I am already sleepy.)

-Anda ya dormi (Go, sleep.)

Con sueño in Chabacano means to be sleepy. Literally, it means 'with sleep'.

2. Hunger- Con Hambre (Hungry)

This is how it is used in Chabacano:

-Con hambre ba tu? (Are you hungry?)

-Si, con hambre ya yo. (Yes, I am hungry.)

I'm not sure if it's standard Spanish but I remember a friend who was studying Spanish at Instituto Cervantes not knowing this phrase. I think most students at Cervantes are familiar with the phrase 'tengo hambre' (I am hungry) but she made a mistake (when she was about to tell someone else that she was hungry in Spanish) by beginning her sentence with the word estoy (I am). Probably because she was thinking in English.

What she did not realize was that there was a way to use the word estoy in this sense. 'Estoy con hambre' is probably not grammatically correct but is still very understandable.

And no, we definitely do not say 'tiene yo hambre' in Chabacano. 

3. Thirst- Con Sequia, Con Sed (Thirsty)

This is how it is used in Chabacano:

-Bien con sequia (con sed?) ya gayod yo.

-Toma agua.

To be honest, 'con sequia' is the only term that I grew up with but certain people also seem to know the term 'con sed'. They claim that 'con sed' is 'thirsty' while 'con sequia' is 'very thirsty' which is actually the same in Spanish. The Chabacano dictionaries in my arsenal confirm this.

The latest Chabacano dictionary also has the phrase 'tiene sed' which means 'to thirst for something'. Based on my interpretation you can use this in this manner: he thirsts for power (tiene 'le sed para na poder).

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
18 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

The F Word in Chabacano

One of the things that my friend picked up from his Chabacano roommates is the word chinga, he tells me. Indeed, if you listen to Chabacano spoken between friends, you would hear a lot of chinga. According to urbandictionary.com, chingar is a Mexican Spanish word that is the equivalent of the English f word. Another word I presume is derived from chingar which is used often in Chabacano is 'chingona'. It is used towards a female and means whatever it is you think it means. It is sometimes used affectionately among female friends though. When you hear a girl saying chingona vos to another girl, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're quarreling. Another bad word in Chabacano is coño de vos nana (mother). Most Chabacano speakers though would not pronounce the de and s in vos and would say conyobohnana. Now this is something you say to someone you're very angry with. Other adjectives which has a bad meaning in Chabacano are: -pendejo -animal -de mal herencia...
5 comments
Read more