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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 Suena

The Chabacano suena can be adjective when it means 'loud' and an adverb when it is used to ask people to speak louder.
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Here are some sample sentences.

Chabacano: Hace suena tu voz. Hinde yo ta oi.
English: Make your voice louder. I can’t hear (you).

Chabacano: Suena gayod el radio.
English: The radio is too loud.

Chabacano: Suena conversa favor para puede yo oi contigo.
English: Speak loudly please so I can hear you.

Chabacano: Bien suena gayod el voz de aquel mujer no?
English: That girl’s voice is very loud, right?

When asking somebody to speak louder, you can also use the word duro instead of suena.

In Spanish, sonar (the infinitive of suena) means to make a sound and this is probably how the Chabacano suena came to be.

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