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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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Origins of the Chabacano Preñada and Pellejo

One peculiarity in Chabacano is the way that we say the word pregnant. In Spanish, preñada does mean pregnant as well, however it is used only to refer to animals being pregnant, not people. Here are some examples on how Chabacano preñada (pronounced and spelled by many as prinyada or priniada):

Chabacano:Preñada ya tamen tu?
English: Are you pregnant again?

Chabacano: Cuanto veces ya tu ya queda preñada?
English: How many times have you been pregnant?

Chabacano: No quiere mas yo queda preñada.
English: I don't want to be pregnant again

Chabacano: Grande el bariga del perro. Quiere decir, preñada ese.
English: The dog's stomach is big. That means (it) is pregnant.

As you may have noticed, Chabacano preñada is used both for animals and people. According to a post in the WordReference forums, the Spanish preñada can also be used for people however it sounds very vulgar (in other words it sounds so Chabacano).

Another word that we use in Chabacano that is similar to this is the word pellejo. The Chabacano pellejo means human and animal skin while Spanish pellejo refers generally only to animal skin (hide or pelt). Here are some sample sentences of the Chabacano pellejo.

Chabacano: Ya quema mio pellejo.
English: My skin burned.

Chabacano: Ta queda ya negro mio pellejo.
English: My skin is becoming darker.

Aside from human skin, the Chabacano pellejo can also be used for fruit peelings.

According to a post in the WordReference forum, The Spanish pellejo can also be used on people but only when you try to insult them.

The standard terms for pregnant (human) and skin (human) in Spanish are embarazada and piel.

The word pellejo is defined in Camins' and Santos' dictionaries as 'skin' and 'hide'. The word piel is in Santos' dictionary where it is defined as 'skin' but it does not appear in Camins' dictionary. In Santos' dictionary, the word embarazada is listed and defined as 'pregnant'. I have, however, not yet encountered anybody who uses the words embarazada and piel in Chabacano.

This article was also published in the International Year of Indigenous Languages Philippines website.
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