Bien Chabacano

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5 Signs That Prove Chabacano Is In The Brink Of Extinction

1. The language of commerce in downtown Zamboanga is now mostly Tagalog Recently, my mom who is currently based in Pagadian, visited Zamboanga city. Much to her surprise, the language of commerce in downtown Zamboanga is now mostly Tagalog. But she said that it is worse if you try to visit the KCC Mall de Zamboanga , where practically none of the mall employees speak Chabacano. She even said that it is now only in churches that one will hear Chabacano being spoken. Although I think she might have been exaggerating that last part. I made the same observation when I visited a local fast food restaurant. The restaurant employee spoke to me in Tagalog and looked very surprised when I responded in Chabacano. It was as if she couldn't comprehend that someone would want to converse in Chabacano! 2. The emergence of Chagalog While riding a Jeepney once, I heard a student use the word kapitbahay in a Chabacano sentence which really surprised me because judging from her fluency in ...

Chabacano Alphabet

I was browsing the net one day and I found this. This is actually a shirt, a Guachinanggo shirt to be more exact. Guachinanggo in Chabacano means 'a comedienne'. Some people would know this word as ' huachinanggo ' in Chabacano. This shirt actually belongs to Ronan Paul Dayot y Bulahan . Below is a graphic made by the same person on the Chabacano alphabet. "Today, the abecedario letters CH, LL, and RR are still used in the alphabet of the Chavacano language, a heavily Spanish-based creole (mixed Spanish/Native) language commonly spoken in Zamboanga City in Mindanao and some parts of Cavite City in Luzon." Source: http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/66819-evolution-filipino-alphabet

The Chabacano Pasea

In Spanish, the word pasear means to take a walk or a stroll. According to Santos' and Camins' Chabacano dictionary, this word has the same definition in Chabacano. In modern Chabacano, this word means to go somewhere for leisure purposes and not simply to take a walk. The Tagalog counterpart of this word is pasyal which also means to go somewhere for leisure purposes. Today, when we say pasea in Chabacano, the thing that comes to our minds are parks, malls, department stores, or a trip out of town. In the past, they may have thought of water front boardwalks, and esplanades when they used this word. This word is most often spelled as pasia or pasya by young Chabacano speakers. It is pronounced often as pasha. Here are some sentences using the Chabacano pasea. Chabacano: Ta pasea todo'l sabado, el entero familia. English: The whole family goes out every Saturdays. Chabacano: Quiere yo anda pasea na Manila. English: I want to go on a leisure trip to Manila.

Health Reminders in Chabacano

The above signs are found at the city health office in Zamboanga city. It is written in informal Chabacano as its target audience is the masses. The signs talk about what one should do to avoid rabies and tips on how to combat Dengue. Here is a transcription of the messages on the sign. Sign 1 Oficina de Salud Health Advisory Cosa debe hace para ibita con el rabies: Queda responsable dueno del animal: -Cuida enbuenamente de ustedes perro y otro maga animal -Manda man bakuna con el de ustedes perro cada ano -No mas deja largao con el perro na camino Si entralcaso ya pwede morde perro o otro animal: -Limpia enseguida el irida con agua y jabon -Anda derecho consulta na doctor o na serca Health Center -No mas consulta na "tandok" y albolario Preveni el rabies kay este nuay cura! Nuestro deseo un ciudad sin enfermedad English translation: Health Office Health Advisory What one should do to avoid rabies: Become a responsible animal owner: -Take go...

A Tree Saving Sign in Chabacano

Source: www.chancepassenger.com The sign above is found in one of the sprawling century-old Acacia trees near Fort Pilar. I remember my history teacher in college telling me that these trees came from Jose Rizal's plantation in Dapitan. According to her, Jose Rizal won a lottery and used the money to buy land wherein he had a plantation of Acacia trees. If you visit Zamboanga city and you make your way to the Fort Pilar, you will surely not miss these trees. But the real purpose of this post is to bring to your attention the very beautiful Chabacano message found in the sign. it says el govierno del ciudad de Zamboanga ya declara coneste pono como un "centenario y pono de herencia" y ta apela con todo vivientes que proteje y preserva con este pono como parte del d'aton riquesas . Let me translate that for you: the city government of Zamboanga declared this tree as a century and heritage tree and appeals to everyone to protect and preserve this tree as part of ...

The Chabacano Conta

Did you know that aside from 'to count', the word conta has another meaning? In Spanish , aside from 'to count', this word can also mean 'to tell'. I didn't know that this meaning also existed in the Chabacano conta until I heard my mom use this word to mean 'to tell'. If you speak Chabacano, you would know this word as cunta and that its only definition is 'to count'. Here are some sentences using the Chabacano word conta , with the definition 'to tell'. Chabacano: Ya conta le conmigo suyo mga problema. English: He told me his problems. Chabacano: Ya conta le conmigo todo que ya pasa con ele durante el tiempo que talla 'le na Filipinas. Chabacano: He told me everything that happened to him during the time that he was in the Philippines. The average Chabacano speaker will probably use the word habla and ya man cuento instead of conta in the sentences above. I think that there are a very few people who know thi...

25 Signs That You Are In Zamboanga City

Chabacano signs are one way of keeping Chabacano alive, so I have decided to make a mini compilation of Chabacano signs found all over Zamboanga city. Enjoy the photos! 1. First, we have a photo of the City Health Office and its slogan. Nuestro deseo un ciudad sin enfermedad (our desire is a city free of illnesses). I really love how the written Chabacano in that slogan can sound contemporary and traditional at the same time. This is actually my favorite Chabacano sign. 2. Then we have the city tourism office or the oficina de turismo local . If you're ever planning to visit the pinks sands of Sta Cruz island , this is where you can get help from. It is located adjacent to the Paseo del Mar. 3. The next one is a sign found at the National Museum branch in Zamboanga city which I think is photographed very often by tourists coming to Zamboanga city. Pabor deja el sapatos, sandals, y chinelas abajo. It asks visitors to leave the...

Chabacano at the Fort Pilar

The first sign on our list is one that is actually written in Spanish. I was surprised to see this sign written in Spanish since it was most probably created after 1960. This sign was in an obscure part of the Fort Pilar and was already faded when I found it. The canonical coronation talked about in the sign happened on October 12, 1960 and the crown, in fact, has been lost for 50 years. It was only in 2012 that the crown was found in a bank's vault. Here is an article that Yahoo wrote about it. The next two are information on a museum exhibit. To those of you who don't know, the Fort Pilar is also a museum and not just a religious shrine. The Chabacano translation was done by Dr. Roberto B Torres, author of the 'El Primer Alfabeto Chabacano' textbook. I like how the translation below used modern Chabacano but still managed to sound formal (at least as formal as it can be). There are albeit, glaring mistakes that one would suppose shouldn't be pr...

Another Public Announcement in Chabacano

I was browsing an online when I saw this billboard announcing Zamboecozone's application for conversion of land use from Agricultural to Industrial. I decided to post it here since we don't see a lot of written Chabacano. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contact the person who originally posted the photo so I wasn't able to get a clearer photo. Below is a transcription of the text in the billboard in English and Chabacano. If you see any errors in the transcription, please feel free to let me know about them. ENGLISH Notice of Land Conversion Application Notice is hereby given that Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority And Freeport or Zamboecozone has filed an application for land use conversion of the land situated at Sitio San Ramon, Barangay Talisayan, Zamboanga city, specifically identified as follows: Registered Owner: Zamboecozone Area applied for conversion: 33.7 hectares The above parcel is sought to be converted from Agricultural ...

A Public Announcement in Chabacano

The following is a photo of an announcement explaining to the public how they can help prevent terrorist acts specifically, bomb explosions. Here is a transcription of the message in the announcement. Unfortunately, the photo isn't very clear and I am not sure if my transcription is correct. Cosa Tu Puede Ase Para Ayuda Preveni El Maga Plantada De Bomba y “Improvised Explosive Devices” (IEDs) El maga amenaso y incidentes de bomba trabajo de maga terorista. Esta alerto y vihilante con maga bagahe y carga suspechoso y maga hente suspechoso el porma. Tiene cosas suspechoso puede ancina el porma. Reporta Cun El Amenaso: Situacion: Locacion/ Lugar Hora del dia El descripcion del suspechao Clase de vehiculo ya usa Clase de armas ya usa El crimen o acto de terorismo Cosa ya ase Descripcion: Color del pelo Edad Hombre/Mujer Grandor Maga Pali o Tatu Maga defecto fisical Clase del ropa El ensiguidas y exacto detalye amo el dos importante elemento na reportada....

How To 'Say I Told You So' And 'So What' In Chabacano

It is often hard to translate expressions from one language to another. In this post, we shall learn how to say the English expressions 'I told you' so and 'so what' in Chabacano. Let us first see how these expressions would look like in other languages. In Tagalog, 'I told you so' would be sabi ko na nga ba and 'so what' would be ano ngayon or ano naman ngayon . In Spanish, I think these could be translated to ya decia yo and y eso que respectively, based on my chat conversations with a Mexican friend. In Chabacano, 'I told you' so can be translated as habla ya gayod yo while 'so what' could be said as cosa man ahora , y despues , or simply acabar . The Chabacano habla ya gayod yo can also mean I knew it. Here are some dialogues using these expressions: Mario: Pilar, ta habla yo contigo, pensa pensa anay tu antes de compra un coche. Si queda malo el coche, caro con ese manda compone. Y hinde broma el paga cinco mil cada mes...

Origins of the Chabacano Amargoso and Cucuracha

I write about amargoso and cucuracha together in one post because these two have something in common with each, they both exist in the Chavacano de Ternate language. Amargoso though is margozo and cucuracha is spelled as kukuracha in Ternateño according to the book of Esteban A. De Ocampo (The Ternateños: their history, languages, customs, and traditions). But there is one more thing that these two have in common. I hate them both. The Chabacano amargoso is a gourd that is very bitter and is called ampalaya in most areas in the Philippines. I think it got its name from its taste. The Spanish amargo means bitter. Cucuracha meanwhile means cockroach in Chabacano. This most probably comes from the Spanish cucaracha . Here are some sentences using these two words. Chabacano: Ta come ba tu amargoso? English: Do you eat amargoso? Chabacano: Por que bien mucho cucuracha aqui na tuyo casa? English: Why are there a lot of cockroaches in your house? According to...

An Easter Message in Chabacano

I was browsing a forum about Zamboanga city when I happened upon the local government’s Easter message. I must say that I really like how the Easter message was written in simple but formal Chabacano. It’s sad however that a number of young Zamboangueños probably wouldn’t understand fully this Chabacano text. So here’s a vocabulary guide to make this Easter message more understandable. I actually picked out the words which in my opinion would not be known to Zamboangueños who don’t speak Chabacano well or those that speak it as a second language. En calor de (on behalf of) Felicita (to greet) Culminacion (culmination) Amediante (amid) Mejor (better) Ama (to love) Muerte (death) Guia (to guide) Bendici (to bless) Rezo (prayer) Domingo De Pascua (Easter Sunday) Dificultad ( hardship) Fe (faith) If you watch or listen to Chabacano news or attend public school, you probably wouldn’t have...

How To Say 'Law' in Chabacano

In this post, I shall be talking about the word ley . If you regularly watch or listen to news in Chabacano, this word might ring a bell. Ley in Chabacano means the law. I bet you never guessed that. If you are young, chances are you never knew this word and so you always use the English equivalent. Don't worry, you are not alone. I actually only know this word from Spanish but have never heard it in Chabacano conversations in the past. I actually thought about writing this word because I heard it being used by my brother's wife when we were dining out a few days ago. She probably watches a lot of Chavacano TV Patrol. 😜 Now let us take a look at the different useful phrases using this Chabacano word. Chabacano: Segun na ley English: According to the law Chabacano: Ta na ley / No hay na ley English: (Something) is in the law/ not in the law Here are some sentences using the Chabacano ley . Chabacano: Asegun na ley, prohibido escupi na camino. English: According to...

The Chabacano Sonsaca

In Tagalog, whenever a person reminds you of a good thing that he or she did for you in a bid to make you do something good for them in return, it is called pagsusumbat or pagmumukha. In Chabacano, we say sonsaca . Santos' Chabacano dictionary defines sonsaca as 'to remind someone of earlier favor granted and favor is not reciprocated'. Most of the people that I know would spell and pronounce this word as sunsaca (with a u). Surprisingly, Camins' dictionary does not have this word. In my opinion, this is one of those words that young Chabacano speakers would probably identify as hondo Chabacano or deep Chabacano. I myself don't use this word a lot though I know some people who love to use this word. A possible candidate of the origin of sonsaca is the Spanish sonsacar . The problem with this theory is that the Spanish sonsacar has a totally different meaning from the Chabacano sonsaca . Here is a sentence using the Chabacano sonsaca . Chabacano: No t...

The Chabacano Señorita and Amigo

A few hours ago, I come back from a vacation to my lonely and small apartment to find out that my stock of brown rice grew black crawling insects. I was horrified. I debated whether I should just throw the rice away. Having paid a premium for it though, I decided not to. I belatedly asked my dad about it and he said that I should simply wash the rice and remove the insects. He also said that those black crawling insects are called amigo in Chabacano. That prompted me to write this. I don’t know about you but I’ve never heard the word amigo in used like this in Chabacano. Maybe it was because we consumed a lot of rice in the house and never had old stocked rice that there was never any opportunity to learn this word. Anyway, I wonder why these insects would be called amigo , they're hardly anyone's friends. I remember a friend who grew up in Manila but whose father spoke to her in Chabacano, and so she could speak Chabacano only to a certain degree of fluency, say that in ...

The Chabacano O

"Mira tu o. Eroplano ba ese? Pajaro?" (Look, is that a plane? A bird?) I recently read about the Portuguese word (or interjection?) o which is a shortened version of olha (look) and is used to get people's attention to see something. I decided to write this article because in the Chabacano de Zamboanga, we have this exact word and it is used almost in the same way. Here is an example dialogue (taken from wordreference.com ) with the Portuguese o in it: - Onde fica a praça? (Where is the square?) - Aqui o, vá reto e dobre na segunda rua à direita. (Here, go straight and turn at the second street on the right) Now let's take a look at how we use the word o in Chabacano. Chabacano: Bonito o! (said while looking at something) English: Look, it's beautiful! Chabacano: Come ya tu 'se o (said by somebody who doesn't want his food anymore and is asking someone else to eat it) English: You finish that off Chabacano: Senta tu... aqui o... (said b...

Quilaya Bos by Jesus Balmori (A Poem Written in the Chavacano de Ermita)

I got excited when I found a post on a blog regarding a Chavacano de Ermita poem . It is written by Jesus Balmori. At this point, my comprehension of the Chavacano in Cavite and Ternate is somewhere between 4 and 6 on a scale of 10, so I know basic stuff like the fact that de is a future tense marker. I somewhat understood the poem, mostly with the help of a speaker of the Chavacano de Ternate. I think that the Chavacano de Ermita is very similar to the Ternateño variant which is the oldest of all the Chabacano languages. Quilaya Bos Si de jablá yo bueno quilaya el bos pigura No de encontrá yo plores para bisá ele cómo; Bos como un talde blanco, ta lleno de dulsura; Bos como el plores de oro que ta na sinamomo Si bos ta caminá ta sintí yo que todo Ta llená de perfume, resplandor y colores Como si de pasá un procesión na lodo Y el lodo ta queda de repente hecho plores Na todo el nisós pueblo no de encontrá más una Mujer cual bos, tan bella, tan blanca como el luna...

Origins of the Chabacano Entoja

In the Philippines, we seem to believe that pregnant women have food cravings that are brought about by their pregnancies. In Tagalog, we call this paglilihi . it can be green mangoes, peanuts, or crabs, whatever the pregnant woman wants, she should get, or so we've been told. Scientifically though, paglilihi is just attributed to the narcissistic tendencies that a pregnant woman would have. In the Chabacano de Zamboanga, we call this entoja (verb). This probably comes from the Spanish antojar which means to crave something. Interestingly, there are different words connected to the Chabacano entoja depending on which Chabacano dictionary you consult. Camins (1988), has the words entojada (a pregnant woman with strong food cravings), entojau (a person with strong food cravings), and entojo (cravings). Santos (2010), meanwhile, has the verb entoja , entojao , and entojo . Today though, it is only the verb entoja which is used a lot in the Chabacano language. Mostly, the...

The Chabacano Resbaloso and Columbra

In this post, we shall cover the rarely used words resbaloso and columbra . These two words are normally heard from old timers or in formal speech. Resbaloso means slippery and comes from the Spanish resbaloso which means the same thing. Columbra meanwhile means to get a glimpse of (something) or simply to see (something) by chance and it comes from the Spanish columbra which also has the same meaning. In the Chabacano that is spoken by the young today, these two words are not used anymore (or maybe rarely used). Malandug (also pronounced by some as malanduk ) takes the place of resbaloso while mira would be used in place of columbra . A word that is connected to resbaloso is resbala . Yes, you guessed it. Resbala means to slip and is a verb while resbaloso is a noun. The word malandug becomes man landug when used as a verb. Here is a discussion I saw in the Zamboanga de Antes Facebook group which asks the question: do the young today still use the word r...