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 ...
Several years ago, my Mexican friend asked me on my birthday: te cantaron las mañanitas? I had very little knowledge about what a Mañanita was back then but now I know that we actually also have this tradition in the Philippines. In fact, there are recent videos in Youtube where they are serenading someone celebrating their birthday in different parts of the country. A few hours ago, I stumbled upon a video in Youtube where they are serenading the birthday celebrant in Chabacano. I remember encountering a similar video a few years ago but when I asked the owner for the lyrics, they couldn't provide them to me. This one is a different song but the audio quality is much better so I decided to transcribe it and provide the lyrics here. Chabacano Mañanita Lyrics Ahora taqui kame para lleva y dale alegria Con corazon sincero este dia cumpleaño Sigui kita ejemplo del Señor ya deja kanaton Ansina ay vivi kita con harmonia aqui na mundo Felices cumpleaño ya lang Ojala...