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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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The Chabacano Expression 'Mata Ojos'

                                                 

I have always thought that the Chabacano expression mata ojos (to wink) may have had its origins in Spanish. I mean who could blame me when those two words are most definitely Spanish. However, when I checked my Spanish dictionary I was very surprised to find out that the Spanish word for wink is altogether different. This led me to think that this Chabacano expression may be a direct translation of an expression in a Philippine language (which influenced Chabacano) which meant 'to wink'.

If we look at Tagalog, the word for wink is kindat so it's definitely not from Tagalog. How about Cebuano? According to my friend, it is kidhat. Now let's look at Hiligaynon. My friend said it is pangilay. For good measure, let us look at Tausug as well. In Tausug, my friend told me that it is kirat. So based on my mini-research, this phrase doesn't come from those Philippine languages.

Here are some examples of this expression being used in Chabacano.

Chabacano: No sabe yo que laya mata ojos

English: I do not know how to wink

Chabacano: Si ta mata ojos contigo el hombre, quiere decir ba quiere 'le contigo?

English: If a guy winks at me, does it mean he likes me?

In the past, if someone winks at you (at least in our culture), it may mean that they like you. Of course, this is no longer the case today. How about you? Do you still wink at somebody that you like?


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