The book

In a sense, the idea of translating The Little Prince into the language of the Valley of Xalima came from a necessity, to provide dignity to a unique linguistic mode. What better way than to choose the universal work by Saint-Exupery? The project became a reality thanks to the translatory efforts by three friends, Mingu, Seve and Pepi (Domingo Frades Gaspar, Felix Severino Lopez Fernandez and Jose Maria Gonzalez Rodriguez). The support from Editorial Imcrea was also important. A certain amount of time negotiating with Gallimard from France and a lot of hope. U/O Pequenu Principi wants to be a precious gift to readers (for children and adults) not only in the Valley of Xalima but anywhere in our planet. If you would like to have a copy of the translation, send an email to penquenu.principi@gmail.com

The little prince

This marvellous book was written and also illustrated by the French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint- Exupery (1900-1945) in the year 1943. It is one of the most translated literary works in the world,translated into over 250 languages. In the Iberian peninsula it has been previously translated into Castilian, Portuguese, Catalonian, Galician, Basque, Asturian, Aragonese, Extremaduran, Aranese, Valencian, Leonese, Eonaviego and Mirandese.

The Valley of Xálima and its Language

The valley of Xamila is a natural region in the north-east of Extremadura in the enclave of the Sierra de Gata. It has three areas, Valverdi du Fresnu, As Ellas and Sa Martin de Trevellu with a population of over 5000 inhabitants. It still conserves a Romance language classified under the subgroup Galician-Portuguese. It is know by different names, the Xalima language, the Three Places language, Our language, Xalimegan, Valegan and Galician-Extremaduran. It is thought that its origin lies in the Middle Ages in the re populationnn of the reconquered lands of the Muslims by the Kingdom of Leon by Galicians (or Galician-Portuguese) More than 90% of the inhabitants in the Xaliman Valley normally speak in their language ,it being the minority language spoken by the biggest percentage of people in Europe. Certain peculiarities of speech are found in each place, calling themselves Valverdeuri in Valverdi, Mañegu in Sa Martin and Largerteivu in As Ellas. The total number of speakers could reach 10,000 taking into account the emigrants that still use it. The linguistic base of Xalimengu is Galacian - Portuguese as presented in many features of Exrtemeñan (a variant being Asturian-Leonese) Unfortunately the institutional support it has is practically nil,even though it is a truly linguistic treasure and a high percentage of people still maintain it as their own language.