Remembering Bisayan words

Today’s Guest Column is from Kevin Smith.

I’m trying to learn the Bisayan language like Bob and some others here and I figure that the more words you know then the easier it will be to pick up new words. My goal is to learn 100 words this school year. Then, using those words, try to put them in small sentences and continue learning more of the language. I’ll also continue to read AmericanLola’s Bisayan lessons, which are a big help. Also, my wife can help me pronounce the words.

This will be difficult as I’m here in Pennsylvania and not many people speak Bisayan. My wife has a few more Filipino friends to talk to now because a Filipino food store opened not far from here and she made some more friends. My short term goal is to understand them and speak to them. Long term, I would like to speak to my relatives in Mindanao when we go for our next visit. My wife speaks Bisayan but, like it was said here before, she doesn’t understand the grammar, she just speaks it. So I’m not sure how much she could help me.

For me, when I hear Bisayan words, they just don’t sound like anything familiar and they are hard to remember. The words need to be said over and over to get into my brain. So what I’ve decided to do is to use the memory system I teach my class to try and get them down. This way, during the day in my science class, I can post some Bisayan words related to science on my front board. This system will work better for some words, but not all.

This system and its techniques have been around for a long time, but were made popular by the book The Memory Book, by Jerry Lucas and Harry Lorraine. I read this book in 1980 and it has been one of the best books I have ever read. Techniques like the “link” and “peg” are explained and examples on how to use them are given. I’ll try to give the peg technique to get the numbers down. Then I’ll try to peg some different science words.

The peg system might seem like a lot to learn in the beginning, but once you get it down, you can remember tons of things. I think by combining the “sounds-like” and “peg” techniques together will help me remember the numbers.

By turning numbers into letters, one can make words out of numbers. This is how people remember pi to many digits. By learning some peg words, we can link them to the Bisayan words. And this will get us started. This is easier to explain to someone, but I’ll give it a try here. If this system works for you, then use it. But if it’s not your style, move on to something else.

The idea is to assign letters to numbers. Not any letters, but consonants. You add the vowels to make words. Lets do the first four numbers.

The number 1 gets the sounds T, D and Th
The number 2 gets the sound N
The number 3 gets the sound M
The number 4 gets the sound R

Lets make a small word for each that has these sounds.

For 1, a small word with just a t,d, or th could be Tie, like a tie a man would wear on a shirt.

For 2, a small word with a n sound could be Noah. Think of a man in a white robe with a boat.

For 3, a small word with an m sound could be ma. think of your mom.

For 4, a small word with the r sound could be rye. Think of rye bread.

Our first four peg words are
1 tie
2 Noah
3 ma
4 rye

Now link the new word to the peg word.

1 tie – usa think of a big tie with the letters U S A on it.
2 Noah- duha think of Noah going ha ha ha
3 ma -tulo think of mom going downstairs go low, tu low
4 rye -upat think of patting rye bread on the table
The more weird you can make the connection between the peg and word, then the easier it is to remember. These peg words always stay the same, the new information is always changing. If there is any interest, I’ll continue with more of the peg system. Have a great day.

Last 5 posts by Guest

• We're moving to the Philippines! - October 8th, 2008
• Tyleen's Adventure - Part 3 - October 2nd, 2008
• My trip to the Philippines - Part 2 - August 17th, 2008
• My trip to the Philippines - August 12th, 2008
• Living in the UK with my Filipino Wife, Annaliza - July 21st, 2008