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
The Chavacano de Ermita is said to have been spoken once in the Ermita district in Manila and thus its name, Ermitaño. Sadly, it has disappeared after the Second World War. It is so unfortunate that there aren’t that many studies done on this once thriving Chavacano. For months now, I have been trying to get some samples of the Chavacano in Ermita without any luck. Yesterday, however, I stumbled on a page in the Skyscraper City Forum which talked about Manila. One of the forum members there gave me a glimpse of what the Chavacano of Ermita would sound like. Ta sumi el sol na fondo del mar, y el mar, callao el boca. Ta juga con su mana marejadas com un muchacha nerviosa con su mana pulseras. El viento no mas el que ta alborota, el viento y el pecho de Felisa que ta lleno de sampaguitas na fuera y lleno de suspiros na dentro. This excerpt was taken from a book called Pidgins and Creoles" by John Holm. The sample though was provided by a linguist named Whinnom in 1956. If we