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Showing posts from November, 2025

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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Venya and Viña: A Small Discovery Across Chabacano Variants

Languages often surprise us in the most unexpected ways. Even with a language as familiar and personal to me as Chabacano, there are moments when a small detail suddenly reveals a bigger story connecting variants, hinting at histories, or simply reminding us how alive and adaptive languages truly are. Recently, I stumbled upon one such detail. Look! The Chabacano of Cavite City also uses the term “viña!” This instantly caught my attention because, in Zamboanga Chabacano, we have “venya,” a word I’ve only connected to the Spanish ven ya (“come now”) when I started studying Spanish as a hobby while in university. This can perhaps even be a contracted "vene ya". Whether through evolution, simplification, or just natural linguistic drift, seeing a similar form in the Cavite city variant makes the connection so fascinating. For reference, I previously wrote about the Chabacano word vene, which, contrary to what many might assume, is not a standard Spanish word. You can read that p...
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A Case of Hypercorrection?

In a recent Facebook post from IFM Zamboanga, the word empeza was spelled as en feza . This immediately caught my attention. Could this be a case of hypercorrection? Ancient astronaut theorists say YES. But seriously, there is a pattern behind this. 1. The M/N shift in Chabacano Chabacano speakers often pronounce the middle n as m, especially before certain consonants. Examples: un poco → umpoco en frente → emprente This pronunciation habit might lead speakers to assume that the spelling should also change accordingly. 2. F/V/Z vs. P/B/S confusion Another common feature among Chabacano speakers is the shifting of F → P, V → B, and Z → S in actual speech. Because of this, some people tend to reverse the process when writing, thinking the “correct” form must be the opposite. Examples: gobierno → govierno (very common!) pesca → fesca (observed a long time ago in a  TV Patrol Chavacano post) These spellings come from the idea that “F and V sound more Spanish,” so people insert them ...
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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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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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A Christmas Greeting in Chabacano

In the Spanish-speaking world, the popular greeting during Christmas time is f eliz navidad . There's even a popular Christmas song with this title. In the Chabacano-speaking world, however, the more common greeting is f elices pascuas as shown below in a Facebook greeting by the present mayor of Zamboanga city in her Facebook page. Owing to the fact however that some Chabacano speakers tend not to pronounce the letter 's', this gets spelled as  Felices Pascua at times, as is the case in the greeting below. Source: Facebook page of the mayor This also happens with f eliz cumpleanos . In Chabacano, people tend to say f eliz cumpleano , without the 's' at the end. Now if you are wondering why we say f elices pascuas  instead of f eliz navidad in Chabacano, here is a possible explanation. In case you haven't noticed, there's a tiny inscription in the photo that reads v aya con dios . This is the mayor's sort-of slogan which literally means ...
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