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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 Corre


The word corre can mean three different things in the Chabacano language. The Chabacano corre can be a verb meaning 'to run'. This meaning is similar to the Spanish correr. However, corre can also be an adjective or an adverb meaning 'fast' and this second definition of corre in Chabacano does not occur in the Spanish correr. The last meaning of the word corre is to function or work (like in English). This last meaning of corre does not appear in any of my Chabacano dictionaries and is not used all the time and may not be known by many people.

Here are some examples of how the word corre is used in the Chabacano language.

Chabacano: Todol dia yo ta corre na Pasonanca Park.
English: I run every day at the Pasonanca Park.

Chabacano: Por que tu ta corre?
English: Why are you running?

Chabacano: Corre man gayod aquel coche…
English: That car sure runs fast…

Chabacano: Corre gayod ta conversa el de amon maestra.
English: Our teacher speaks very fast.

Chabacano: Bien corre gayod el caballo.
English: The horse is running so fast.

Chabacano: Ta corre pa ba ese computer?
English: Does that computer still work?

Chabacano: Hinde mas ta corre el coche.
English: The car doesn’t run anymore.

According to Esteban A. De Ocampo's book The Ternateños, the term 'korre' in Chabacano Ternateño is also used both as an adjective (fast) and as a verb (to run).


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

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