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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 Adredes

The Chabacano word adredes means 'on purpose' or 'intentionally'. I remember using this word whenever my brother and I would fight and I would explain my side to my dad (who acts as the referee). I would always remember crying out to my dad, "hinde aquel adredes".

This word actually has its origins in the Spanish language. The Spanish word though is adrede.

Here are some ways on how to use the word adredes in Chabacano:

Chabacano: Adredes ba tu con aquel ya hace?
English: Did you do that on purpose?

Chabacano: Ya pacha yo con el mio hermano adredes.
English: I kicked my brother on purpose.

Chabacano: Ya bombia yo con el mio tata na cara adredes.
English: I punched my father in the face intentionally.


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

  1. AnonymousNovember 5, 2012 at 9:56 PM

    Note that in ancient Spanish language there was variation between "adrede" without final -s, and "adredes" with final -s.
    "Adredes" is found in documents and texts until mid-nineteenth century at least

    Congratulations for this blog!

    Mauro Fernández
    from Spain

    ReplyDelete

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