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The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Is Now Available In Chabacano!

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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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Origins of the Chabacano Manda

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The Chabacano manda has two usages. The first is to let or allow someone do something, and the second one is to request or ask someone to do something.

Chabacano: Puede yo contigo manda compra coke?
English: Can I ask you to buy coke?

Chabacano: Puede yo contigo manda saca un vaso de agua?
English: Can I ask you to get a glass of water?

Chabacano: Por que ba tu conmigo pirmi ta manda que manda?
English: Why are you always ordering me around?

Chabacano: Segui ya, manda ya tu conmigo anda na party.
English: Come on. Let me go to the party already.

Chabacano: Puede ba tu manda conmigo dormi tambien?
English: Can you let me sleep now?

Chabacano: Manda con Pedro anda na tienda y compra Coke.
English: Make Pedro go to the store and buy Coke.

A Chabacano word derived from manda is mandador meaning a bossy person or someone who likes to order people around.

You would often hear the word manda in conversations in shops or stores offering some sort of service like printing service, etc.

Chabacano: Puede yo manda man print con este?
English: Can I have this printed?

Chabacano: Puede yo manda hace copia de este llave?
English: Can you make a copy of this copy?

Chabacano: Puede yo manda chequea si ta vende ustedes con este aqui?
English: Can you check if this is sold here?

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Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2012 at 8:57 PM

    I enjoy your blog! It's great to learn more about my mother's culture. She speaks chabacano herself. Thanks Jerome! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jerome HerreraOctober 29, 2012 at 10:18 PM

    You are very much welcome!

    ReplyDelete

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