Chavacano is one of the numerous dialects of the Philippines. It is the vernacular of the people living in the southern part of the country called Zamboanga City. It's is indeed very close to spanish.
Hi Im neeko 25, from Zamboanga Philippines. I wish to be able to find someone (preferably native spanish) who can help me improve on my Spanish communication skills (both written and verbal). I speak Chavacano and again (I'd like to emphasize), it's closely similar to spanish.
Below are examples of chavacano phrases:
English: How are you?
Chavacano: Quetal tu? or Como esta tu?
English: Where do you live?
Cha: De donde tu?
English: How old are you?
Cha: Cuantos año tu?
This is the very reason Zamboanga is popularly known as the Asia's Latin City.
I had heard about that language and I can see Spanish with Chavacano are very similar. Another languague of Philippines is Cebuano.
I have heard chabacano before I learn spanish and it's look like a mix with english, spanish and some other languages. I understand a little. very funny. I saw the comment from someone said chabacano have some words from Nahuatl ( native language from Mexico) . Interesting!
chabacano, na.
1. adj. Sin arte o grosero y de mal gusto.
2. m. Lengua hablada en las ciudades filipinas de Zamboanga, Basilan y Cavite, en la que predomina el vocabulario y las frases españolas sobre una estructura gramatical tagala o bisaya.
3. m. <em>Méx</em>. albaricoque.
(copied from RAE dictionary)
Our spelling is 'chabacano'. Maybe it's spelt differently in the Philippines. Where I live, we use meaning n.1 in the dictionary. It's interesting to know there's more to this word than just that.
Thanks for sharing.
alberto, cebuano is a dialect with little broken spanish. howver, chavacano remains to be closest to spanish knowing the fact that each and every single word in chavacano has exactly the same meaning with those of spanish. They only go differ when it comes to conjugations.
Fascinating, I am learning Spanish so I can't help but good to know there is another place where my Spanish might come in handy!
