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The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Is Now Available In Chabacano!

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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 Expression 'Mata Hora'

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In shopping malls all over Zamboanga city, you might hear people say that what they are doing is ta mata hora. I think by now you've already guessed what this expression means. Mata hora means to while away the time. I'm almost sure that this Chabacano expression was directly translated from the English expression 'to kill time' because there is no similar expression in Tagalog or Spanish.

Here are some sentences using this Chabacano expression:

Chabacano: Cosa tu quiere-quiere hace para mata hora.
English: What do you like doing to kill time?

Chabacano: Anda anay yo mira laptop para mata hora.
English: I'm going to look at laptops to kill time.

Chabacano: Cosa ba bonito hace para mata hora?
English: What's a good thing to do in order for me to kill time?

What about you? Do you use this expression?

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  1. AnonymousNovember 13, 2014 at 2:44 AM

    Hola de nuevo a todos: Jerome,en espanol existe "matar el tiempo".En una conversacion: "Que haces? Estoy leyendo el periodico,asi mientras espero al profesor,mato el tiempo". El sentido es gastar el tiempo en algo no necesario,por aficion o por transicion a otra cosa.Un abrazo,joaquin

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  2. coronadoNovember 13, 2014 at 4:38 AM

    Hahaha, this is a typical slang in Portuguese language. It's quite common to see many people using it every day here in Brazil (and in the other Portuguese speaking countries, of course). Generally we say something like: "Hmm, então, está matando hora?" (Hmmm, so, are you killing the time?). The "ta" (tá, in Portuguese) is also very used in a general way, as it is more easier to use.

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  3. Zamboangueño fanNovember 13, 2014 at 11:04 AM

    Interesting. Maybe the expression "pampatay oras" also comes from English.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 23, 2014 at 7:06 PM

    Además de "matar el tiempo", "matar horas" existe también en español.
    Saludos

    ReplyDelete

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