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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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How To Use 'Luego' In Chabacano

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There are different ways to use the word luego in Spanish but not all of them can be applied to the Chabacano luego.

A friend of mine who knows Spanish seemed to have mixed up Chabacano and Spanish when he told me: baka compra yo cellphone luego... baka el mes que viene.

 In Chabacano, the above sentence means that my friend would be buying a cellphone later (as in within the day).

Another friend who is trying to learn Chabacano told someone: Luego, volve yo ole na España.

 He was so surprised when the person whom he was talking to answered him: Okay. Adios! Happy trip! Tiene cuidao!

 My friend wasn't leaving for Spain right away! He meant that he would be doing it in the immediate future!

 I was so amused by these stories that I told myself that I simply have to write about how to use the word luego in Chabacano.

As far as I can tell, the Chabacano adverb luego has three uses:

1. To express that something may happen soon as a result of a continuous or habitual action

Chabacano: Luego acaba el de tuyo cen si dale que dale tu presta na de tuyo mga amigo.
English: Your money is going to run out soon if you keep on lending (money) to your friends.

Chabacano: Baka luego no puede mas kita come si ay subi que subi el precio del arroz.
English: We might not be able to eat anymore (by and by) if the price of rice keeps on rising.

2. To express fear of something happening

Chabacano: Luego man absent mañana si Evelyn.
Tagalog: Mamaya magaabsent bukas si Evelyn.

Chabacano: Luego gale conmigo pa sila pedi ayuda.
Tagalog: Baka mamaya sa akin pa sila hihingi ng tulong

This second usage may have evolved from the previous usage and may come from Tagalog. Unfortunately, these sentences are very difficult to translate into English. I'm not sure but I may have heard a friend who speaks Philippine Spanish use the word luego this way.

3. Afterwards (immediate future)

Chabacano: Anda yo luego na tiangue para compra azucar.
English: I will go to the market later to buy some sugar.

Chabacano: Luego ya lang kita come despues mira cine.
English: Why don't we eat later after watching the movie?

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