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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

Origins the Chabacano Escucha

One of the things that can make Spanish a bit confusing to somebody who speaks Chabacano is that some of the words which exist in both languages would have different meanings in each language. One of these words is the Chabacano escucha. I had a hard time adjusting to the fact that the Spanish escuchar means to listen.

In Chabacano, escucha means 'to peep'. What makes this very interesting is that the Chabacano meaning of this word doesn’t go very far from its Spanish meaning. I can imagine a Spanish speaking guy and a Chabacano speaking guy standing in front of a door. The Spanish speaking person tells the Chabacano speaking person, escucha (meaning 'to listen'). The Chabacano speaking guy (misinterpreting the command) opens the door slightly and tries to take a peek into the room instead of harking which was what he was asked to do. This is probably how the Chabacano word escucha came about.

Here are some sentences in Chabacano which uses the word escucha.

Chabacano: Escucha daw anay afuera. Dol tiene man gente na gate.
English: Can you take a look outside? I think there’s somebody at the gate.

Chabacano: Ya escucha yo adentro del aparador de mama. Sabe ya yo cosa el suyo regalo para conmigo.
English: I took a peep inside mom’s closet. I now know what her gift is for me.

Chabacano: Ta senti yo dao tiene man quien ta escucha conmigo.
English: I feel like somebody’s peeping on me.

This word as spelled only as iscucha in Santos' dictionary. But in Camins' dictionary, it is spelled as escucha and iscucha.

A very interesting word which is related to escucha is escucharul. I am not sure as to what era this word originated from but I feel like it is a word that was first used as recently as fifty years ago. The word escucharul means 'a peeping tom'.

This article was also published in Riquezas: Chabacano Essays and Studies Volume II (an annual journal published by the Local Government of Zamboanga).

Comments

  1. 'Escucharul' is from 'eschuchador'.

    Same how 'sugarol' came from the word 'jugador' in Tagalog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow. You are very observant. Thank you for your contribution. :D

      Delete
  2. Hi there Jerome. I am currently doing a thesis on Filipino creole languages such as chabacano and also the influence and legacy of Spanish/Hispanic culture in the Philippines today. I am wondering if you could help me get in touch with some native speakers of Chabacano to answer some questions about their opinions on this subject. Love your blog and keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You should read "El Folklore Filipino" written by Isabelo de los Reyes. According to that book, Manileños use the verb "escuchar" to mean "to peep" (mirar por un agujero).

    ReplyDelete

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