Photo/Illutration Shinjiro Kazama, left, and Leo Yamada with the new edition of “The Little Prince” on the campus of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Fuchu, western Tokyo. Foreign-language versions of the French author’s book are on the table. (Satoshi Kobayashi)

A new edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince,” with each of its 27 chapters written in a different language, has proven a surprise hit, entering its second print run soon after its release in April.

Actually, one chapter covers two languages, and the book is titled “28 no Gengo de Yomu Hoshi no Oji-sama” (“The Little Prince” to read in 28 languages).

“I hope readers will open the book at a chapter written in the language of a country they are interested in,” said Shinjiro Kazama, a linguistics professor at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and a co-editor of the book. “It could be a country you want to visit after the novel coronavirus pandemic settles down or a country people around you are from.

“I would be happy if the book helps readers imagine different cultures and values.”

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The cover of “28 no Gengo de Yomu Hoshi no Oji-sama” (The Asahi Shimbun)

Each of its first 25 chapters features the original text published in a foreign language, coupled with its phonetic symbols. The 26th chapter combines Turkish and Uzbek, and the last chapter is devoted to Japanese.

The foreign-language sentences are accompanied by a Japanese translation as well as a separate translation of each individual word.

Each chapter also comes with commentaries on the language’s characteristics, family, history and other aspects, supervised by language professors at the university.

Kazama, 56, was responsible for the Asian languages, while graduate student Leo Yamada, 33, who is now a part-time lecturer, was mainly in charge of the European languages.

Kazama has used “The Little Prince,” one of the most beloved pieces of literature in the world, as a textbook for his classes for around two decades.

Students read the book written in a language other than the one they major in and present their analyses of the language system, commentaries on grammar and other findings.

“By taking a comprehensive view on the position of each language on a global scale, students can broaden their perspectives,” Kazama said.

Explaining why he chose “The Little Prince,” Kazama said the book is “probably the most translated book in the world aside from the Bible.”

“The students also know the title,” he said. “‘Harry Potter’ would have been OK, too.”

Kazama got the inspiration to produce the special edition during a school festival five years ago when he received positive responses to an exhibition of panels showing what students did with the French author’s book in his classes.

“The Little Prince” contains 27 chapters, and the university at the time offered 27 languages for students to major in. The editors decided to share the 26th chapter between Turkish and Uzbek after the latter was added to the list of languages taught at the university.

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A chapter written in Burmese with corresponding Japanese words. Images were created and pasted on the pages because some letters of the Burmese alphabet cannot be recognized by the word-processing application. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Kazama and Yamada have collected more than 100 versions of “The Little Prince” in different languages, which are stacked up in their office.

They did not have some editions, such as Laotian and Filipino, and asked students to buy them when they went off to study in countries where they were available.

The sentences translated from the original foreign-language versions are different from those in the widely read Japanese edition, which was translated by Aro Naito and published by Iwanami Shoten Publishers.

In the 21st chapter, a fox says, “What is essential is invisible to the eye,” one of the most famous lines from “The Little Prince.”

While Naito’s translation reproduces the line as above, the new Japanese translation from the Bengali version reads: “The real thing can never be seen with the eye.”

The A5-size, 540-page book, published by the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Press, is available at bookstores and online shops for 3,200 yen ($29), excluding tax.

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