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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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3 Ways to say Goodbye in Chabacano

When asked to translate the word goodbye, most Chabacano speakers will probably answer adios but just like the word paalam in Tagalog, almost nobody uses it in daily conversations.

Today, we're going to learn how to say goodbye or take leave of someone in Chabacano in a very natural way.


When taking leave of someone, we are informing somebody that we are about to leave. There are a few ways to do this in Chabacano.

1. Anda ya yo (I'm leaving).

NB

After watching a video wherein they used this to say goodbye to an audience, I realized that this option only works in conversations. It sounds a bit weird to use it in a video. I think the third option might make more sense when saying goodbye to an audience through a video. In formal settings, it makes sense to use the Spanish adios.

2. Man una ya yo (I'll go ahead *literal Chabacano translation of the Tagalog mauuna na ako).

3. Man mirahan ya lang kita otra vez (See you).

How do you respond to it?

Normally, you could respond by saying cuidao or tiene cuidao (take care).

NB

All three options will not make sense when ending a phone call. Philippine languages, all use the word 'bye' to end a personal phone call. In business phone calls, people usually just thank each other to signify an end to the conversation.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 25, 2019 at 8:48 PM

    I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout
    of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
    Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 29, 2019 at 8:25 AM

    I am from Imus Cavite and Chavacano is spoken in Ternate, cavite & also Cavite City. I love Chabacano and your blog is a good help. Gracias Jerome

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jerome HerreraNovember 29, 2019 at 8:52 AM

      Yes! I have been to those places. Gracias tambien contgio!

      Delete
  3. Daniél Josué Vidal y FernándezJuly 1, 2020 at 1:06 AM

    I would respond by saying "vale, vale". I mean, not like I had the chance to say that as of writing.

    ReplyDelete

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