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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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Hace Caso Versus Asikaso (Chabacano Versus Tagalog)


The Spanish phrase hacer caso becomes asikaso in Tagalog. Usually, this means to attend to something or to take care of something.

This phrase also exists in Chabacano and as you may have guessed, becomes hace caso in that language. In Chabacano, this phrase means to be responsive or the opposite of ignoring something or someone. For example, when I was in high school, people would constantly tell me: bien soplado, hace tambien caso. It was only much later that I realized that when people said hi to you, you should respond to them.

As far as I know, the Tagalog meaning of this phrase does not occur in Chabacano. For example, I don't believe you can say in Chabacano: ya hace ya yo caso con el de mio papeles ayer whereas you would say: inasikaso ko na ang papeles ko kahapon in Tagalog. If it would ever enter into the Chabacano language, it would probably be incorporated as man asikaso as in ya man asikaso ya yo con el de mio papeles ayer.

Meanwhile, the way we use this in Chabacano can't be applied in Tagalog. For example, it would be weird to say hindi niya ako inasikaso noong nakasalubong ko siya sa daan. But it would be perfectly okay to say no hay ele conmigo hace caso del ya man mirahan kame na camino.

In some cases, you can translate a Chabacano sentence using this phrase into Tagalog and it won't sound weird but it would have a different meaning. For example, the Chabacano sentence no hay ele conmigo hace caso means he ignored me while the direct Tagalog translation hindi niya ako inasikaso would have a totally different meaning.

That's all folks. Stay safe from the virus!
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  1. יאן סבייסקי דייוטJune 11, 2020 at 1:00 PM

    Never heard of it "man asikaso".

    ReplyDelete
  2. יאן סבייסקי דייוטJune 11, 2020 at 1:06 PM

    But it would be perfectly okay to say "no hay ele conmigo hace caso del ya man mirahan kame na camino".

    Just now I heard this way of expression. ^_^

    In my case: "no hay ele conmigo hace caso cuando ya man mirajan kame na camino".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jerome HerreraJune 12, 2020 at 6:15 PM

      Quien man ese hende ta hace caso contigo? Haha

      Delete
    2. יאן סבייסקי דייוטJuly 2, 2020 at 12:46 PM

      Jajajaja . . .
      El viento, ya pasa lang ele . . . ^_^

      Delete
  3. יאן סבייסקי דייוטJune 11, 2020 at 1:07 PM

    ya man asikaso ya yo con el de mio papeles ayer.


    Another thing that is weird ^_^


    We say it: "ya hace ya yo caso con el de mio papeles ayer."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daniél Josué Vidal y FernándezJuly 1, 2020 at 12:42 AM

      Funny. I would say "Ya hace ya yo con caso el (papeles de mio/de mio papeles) ayer.

      I understand CON to be an accusative marker, so putting it before the topic marker El would not make much sense to me grammatically.

      Delete

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