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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 Anda

Anda in Chabacano means 'to go'. It is the word we use when one uses the verb ir in Spanish. The verb andar in Spanish has several definitions. Here is a Spanish sentence which I found here using the word anda just like we would in Chabacano.

Spanish: Anda a comprar el periódico.
English: Go and buy the newspaper.
Chabacano: Anda compra el periodico.

Here are some examples of the Chabacano anda being used in a sentence.

In bidding farewell:

Chabacano: Anda ya yo.
English: I’m going/ I’m leaving.

To go:

Chabacano: Anda tu na pueblo?
English: Are you going to the downtown area?

Chabacano: Ya anda le compra comida.
English: He went and bought food.

Chabacano: Anda tu conversa con aquel gente.
English: Go speak with that person.

Chabacano: Anda kita na Manila.
English: Let’s go Manila.

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