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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 ...
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The Chabacano Enbuenamente

I have always been curious about the Chabacano enbuenamente. I have always thought that it sounded very Spanish especially since the word is used as an adjective which meant to do something properly (very similar to its Spanish counterpart). Recently though, I tried researching on the origins of enbuenamente, but all I could find were Chabacano texts in blogs and other websites. I have come to the conclusion then that it is a Chabacano word without Spanish origins. However, I encountered some texts online (in Chabacano) which spelled enbuenamente as en buena mente and it is there that I found its Spanish origins.The Chabacano word which I have been using all my life to describe an action is actually Spanish. Here are some examples of how enbuenamente is used in Chabacano along with their rough English translation:

Chabacano: Conversa daw enbuenamente
English: Would you speak properly...

Chabacano: Ta hace ya gane yo enbuenamente...
English: I'm doing it properly already…

Chabacano: Oi daw enbuenamente...
English: Would you listen well…

Chabacano: Enbuenamente daw...
English: Would you stop playing around or stop fooling me…

In Chabacano, enbuenamente is pronounced by some people as embuenamente.

En buena mente is literally 'in good mind' in Spanish although as you have seen, it means well in Chabacano. I have not encountered en buena mente in Spanish yet so I don't know if it is used in Spanish. If you speak Spanish, any information about this would be greatly appreciated.

In certain instances, some people would shorten this word to buenamente instead of enbuenamente. Some even pronounce this as bunamente.

I recently watched a travel show wherein a Spaniard who was visiting Zamboanga city was interviewed. She was asked to speak with a Chabacano speaker and she said:"como estas?" The Chabacano speaker actually answered, "enbuenamente". And I'm not sure whether the Spaniard knew that enbuenamente meant 'well' or 'good' in Chabacano or that she interpreted it as "in good or sound mind"

I have also heard this word being used in a vlog. Watch at the 10:45 mark where the man says: "ahora, voy a comer arroz buenamente".
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