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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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Botella Versus Bote (Chabacano Versus Tagalog)

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Whenever I go to the store to purchase a bottle of vinegar in Manila, I would often forget that the word for bottle in Tagalog is bote and not botella like in Chabacano. Since the first two syllables of these two words are the same, Tagalog speakers don't have any problem understanding what botella is. Yes, since I haven't been working since 2017 and have been mostly staying inside the house, I have started to forget some basic Tagalog words. Even my Manileňo accent is almost gone. The other day, I was asking a friend how much it would cost to dig up a well and I used the word fozo by mistake (which I forgot was Chabacano). He was like: are you referring to a poso negro (which means septic tank in Tagalog)?

According to the entry about the word bote in Tagaloglang.com, the word bote comes from the Spanish bote which means “container” or “boat”. They also claim that the mainstream Spanish word for bottle which is botella is also used in Tagalog.

As far as I can remember, we do not use the word bote in Chabacano for “bottle”. The most recent English to Chabacano dictionary published by the city hall confirms this wherein the listed word under “bottle” is botella. The Chabacano dictionaries of Camins and Santos both contain the word bote but they are defined as “boat” and “small boat” respectively.

Since Tagalog is now heavily influencing the Chabacano language, I won't be surprised if people nowadays use the words bote and botella interchangeably when speaking Chabacano.


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  1. יאן סבייסקי דייוטAugust 23, 2020 at 1:18 PM

    Pozo puede significa Pozo Negro o el Pozo de Bomba donde kita ta recoge agua para toma.

    No hay pa man yo oi ta usa ese palabra "Bote".... Botella lang gayot.. pero, posible porque sabe man tu, tarda ya kita no hay na Zamboanga... jajaja

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