Cebuano Or Tagalog

[UnCheckedOther]

Just remember that Pilipino languages mostly rely on short vowels ie: Asa ka adto? (Where are you going?) is "Ah-sah kah adh-toh" rather than "ay-sah kah ad-toe."

If you know some Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Romanian...), you'd find it easier to pick up Bisaya. (Cebuano is the dialect.)

W/r/t to slangs, it's usually just the first syllable of the word plus an S ie: guapa (beautiful) becomes guaps and naku (oh) becomes naks. If it's a word with a first syllable that's too common or too uncommon, then the last syllable is used minus the S ie kumusta (how are you) becomes musta and ig-agaw (cousin) becomes gaw. It's just something I learned after almost going nuts when trying to read through texts, e-mails, and status updates from my Pinoy relatives :)

[Thomas]

If you know some Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Romanian...), you'd find it easier to pick up Bisaya. (Cebuano is the dialect.)

Oh Bisaya too. I knew Tagalog/Filipino have borrowed many Spanish words, but I didn't know Bisaya has done that too.   Good   :thumbsup:    because I will probably go for Bisaya  :)

[UnCheckedOther]

Thomas, Bisaya is easier to understand than Tagalog, I think. For the most part, Bisaya and Tagalog are easy to pronouncr except that Bisaya has those pesky NG sounds ie ngano man? (Why?) which is a sound that's uncommon to N. American and most European languages. It usually ends up sounding like GAH-noh man? and NAH-noh man? Tagalog has it, too, but is usually preceded by a consonant blend so it's easier to break down and pronounce ie pangalan (name). You can pronounce it as pahnh-AH-lahn quickly and it sounds right.

[UnCheckedOther]

Ooops...edited to say "pahng-AH-lahn" and not pahnh-AH-lahn.

[Methersgate]

Just remember that Pilipino languages mostly rely on short vowels ie: Asa ka adto? (Where are you going?) is "Ah-sah kah adh-toh" rather than "ay-sah kah ad-toe."

If you know some Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Romanian...), you'd find it easier to pick up Bisaya. (Cebuano is the dialect.)

W/r/t to slangs, it's usually just the first syllable of the word plus an S ie: guapa (beautiful) becomes guaps and naku (oh) becomes naks. If it's a word with a first syllable that's too common or too uncommon, then the last syllable is used minus the S ie kumusta (how are you) becomes musta and ig-agaw (cousin) becomes gaw. It's just something I learned after almost going nuts when trying to read through texts, e-mails, and status updates from my Pinoy relatives :)

At tea today with my two older sons (20 and 13) and their mother, my ex wife, we were discussing this very point.

They are both keen on learning, not their mother tongue (English, and how!) but their mother's tongue, Tagalog. I am more interested in learning some Bisaya.

We all agreed that the reason to learn is not to make oneself understood - there is always someone with good enough English nearby - but to participate in conversations.

I do indeed find Bisaya easier to pick up. Despite 17 years of marriage to "a pure*Tagalog" (her father was from Cavite, her mother is from Bataan) I never really got to grips with Tagalog.

It does not "sound pretty". Bisaya sounds much nicer. I lived in Hong Kong, with friends whose family name was, indeed, "Ng", for several years, so "ng" holds no terrors for me, but I find Mandarin much nicer to hear and much easier to attempt to pronounce than Cantonese, and I picked up some Mandarin but never got far with Cantonese.

Indeed I do typically make the mistake, when trying to pronounce Bisaya words like place names, of shortening the vowels. Yesterday I was talking to K and I mentioned "Mahayag" - "Ah, she said, Ma-HAY-ag!"

 

Edited February 16, 2015 by Methersgate

[Thomas]

Thomas, Bisaya is easier to understand than Tagalog, I think. For the most part, Bisaya and Tagalog are easy to pronouncr except that Bisaya has those pesky NG sounds ie ngano man? (Why?) which is a sound that's uncommon to N. American and most European languages. It usually ends up sounding like GAH-noh man? and NAH-noh man? Tagalog has it, too, but is usually preceded by a consonant blend so it's easier to break down and pronounce ie pangalan (name). You can pronounce it as pahnh-AH-lahn quickly and it sounds right.

I don't have any big problems to pronounce it, because Swedish has rather many NG sounds, but never starting words with or separate as the "ng" word. (I don't know if it's Tagalog or Bisaya, because many Filipinos MIX a lot  :)  with English too.)

We all agreed that the reason to learn is not to make oneself understood - there is always someone with good enough English nearby - but to participate in conversations.

And to haggle in the local language  :dance:  to get better chance to avoid "kano price" or at least get a "deduction".   The two foreigners I know, who don't are asked "kano price" from their normal vendors no more, have reached it by become friends with them, supported by trying to speak some of the local language...

[Jack Peterson]

And to haggle in the local language 

 

 

 You would be surprised at how quick the local vendor will change is Mood/mind when you confront them with " Oy Mate! Do you want to sell this or Not

They can in the Majority all speak English certainly well enough not to loose any custom, There are days when we will never speak the Local lingo good enough to get a fair deal and they now know, that we are "Once Bitten"

 

JP :tiphat:  

[Thomas]

 

And to haggle in the local language 

 

 

 You would be surprised at how quick the local vendor will change is Mood/mind when you confront them with " Oy Mate! Do you want to sell this or Not

They can in the Majority all speak English certainly well enough not to loose any custom, There are days when we will never speak the Local lingo good enough to get a fair deal and they now know, that we are "Once Bitten"

 

JP :tiphat:  

Sure,

but according to the two foreigners I know, who are NOT ASKED to pay "kano prices",  got ACCEPTED as a "normal Filipino" customers ASSISTED by they acted more as Filipinos and talked some local language.

[Jack Peterson]

got ACCEPTED as a "normal Filipino" customers ASSISTED by they acted more as Filipinos and talked some local language.

 

 Thomas we are talking about Foreigners that ARE asked to pay Foreigner prices not those that can speak the language and are not asked to, there is a Big Difference here. I would suggest you read the whole Topic so you don't get mixed up.

[callippo]

It pays to be linguistically aware in the Philippines, but that doesn't mean you have to learn a Filipino language. The most important one to get to grips with is the Filipino English dialect. Don't expect them to automatically learn yours, although being the gifted linguists they are (pretty much all of them understand 3 languages, at least) they probably will.