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
While the little prince is commonly interpreted as a young boy, I shied away from translating it in this manner because some parts of the story allude to the little prince being short (in stature) or small (in size), while other parts allude to him being a child.
In Tagalog (Ang Munting Prinsipe) and Bicol (An Sadit na Prinsipe), the title was translated literally as well.
Strictly speaking, the Tagalog word munti only means small but since many translators in recent history have used this word for TV program titles such as Sarah Ang Munting Prinsesa and Cedie Ang Munting Prinsipe, this usage of the word munti caught on and is now accepted by the public. Today, titles like Ang Munting Anghel, Ang Munting Tindera, Ang Munting Pulubi, etc are ubiquitous. Unfortunately, Chabacano isn't as developed as the Tagalog language so we don't have a similar word in our language.
In certain occasions, the word diutay could also figuratively mean young such as when we say: cuando diutay yo (when I was small), bata diutay (little kid), or durmido ya el mga diutay (the little ones are asleep). Here is a Chavacano poem that makes use of the word diutay meaning young (reposted with permission from the author):
"Mi Nana"
Jesthoni Acosta (BPED,WMSU)
El mujer ya dale vida
Yo el bata nueve meses na su barriga
El mujer ya sacrificia
Ele mi nana
Principia diutay conmigo ta cuida
Masquin salawayun bien largo su paciencia
Llora lang yo, Oh talli ele para manda calla
Ele mi nana
Ahora grande ya yo
Ta puede yo comete maga mal acto
Maga palabra vira'y vira na pensamiento
Oh yo el bata ta queda no hay respeto
Nunca este sucede
No quiere yo mi nana perde
Si ta mira yo con ele triste
Mi corazon ta llora sangre
Este tiempo y momento ay dale yo con ele el regalo
Hinde man grandioso
Pero yo el soltero
Que manda senti con mi nana que ele tiene valor na mundo
In Spanish, they translated the title into El Principito. The diminutive in Spanish often means that something is small or cute. Most titles that are in this format: Little + Noun in English are translated using the Spanish diminutive.
The title is translated as O Pequeno Principe in Brazilian Portuguese while it is O Principezinho in Portugal Portuguese.
Since the title is a very important part of the book, I decided to translate it literally in Chavacano and leave the interpretation to the readers. I was presented with several Chabacano words for small/ little: diutay, pequeño, and chiquito. I told myself that I wanted a title which is readily understandable by Chabacano speakers. I didn't want to use words like pequeño or chiquito because these words are so far removed from contemporary Chabacano and hence the word diutay.
But it doesn't stop there. Based on the recommended orthography by the local government, all words should be spelled etymologically or based on how they are spelled in the originating language. In the case of diutay, I was presented with two spelling options: dyutay and diyutay. However, based on personal and totally unscientific research, I got the feeling that diutay was the socially accepted spelling and hence, the spelling diutay.
I think the title captures the Chabacano language very accurately. It manages to convey to those who are not familiar with the language that it is a Spanish creole language and not broken Spanish as some people think. It also shows the fact that Chabacano has a lot of words from other Philippine languages. I don't know why. Maybe it is colonial mentality but some people like to make Chabacano appear as Spanish which it is definitely not. Anyway, colonial mentality is so passe. Brown is in, white is out. Just look at the newfound popularity of brown rice.
If you wish to read the complete translator's notes, please visit https://rebrand.ly/translatorsnotes.
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