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Baybayin (Alibata): The Ancient Filipino Alphabet

March 9, 2010 By JohnM 25 Comments
baybayin

I am a believer that expats have a moral obligation to learn as much about the country in which they live as they possibly can. The Philippines, like any other nation, has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. Long before the Spanish conquest of these islands, people lived here, thrived, and developed their own civilization, different and distinct from that of their Spanish conquerors. They say that “History is written by the victors”, and most modern Filipino history is what the Spanish, the Americans, and later the early Philippine governments, wished it to be. The modern history is what is commonly taught in schools, and it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: John Miele Tagged With: Communication, Expats, John Miele, Language, Living in The Philippines

Pride

March 8, 2010 By TrevorB 20 Comments
Spring in Canada

Perhaps I'm feeling an extra amount of pride because of the winter Olympics that are going on in my home city, province and country, but I often wonder about the thoughts of people who make the decision to adopt a new home country. Are they replacing one country for another? My feeling is I'd treat it a bit like a smorgasbord. I'd take the best each has to offer and make the best of what I had in front of me. But, I still wonder if you make the decision to leave your country of origin, weather that be as a snowbird, overseas worked or immigrant do you adopt your new home as your new home or do you continue to wave the flag of your birth country? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Trevor Tagged With: Adjustment, Daily Life, Expats, Language, Living in The Philippines, Trevor Bentley

Is age a limiting factor in language learning?

February 3, 2010 By MindanaoBob 35 Comments
Can these older ladies learn a language? Of course they can!

A while back I wrote an article telling that I was Back in the Saddle, back to studying language again.  I had taken a short break of two months from my classes, and I was happy to get back to learning more of the local language.  In that article, I promised that I would be coming out with an article regarding the age old common knowledge that everybody sites... if you are a bit older, it is very hard to learn a new language. You see, I am an advocate that if you are going to live in a foreign country, it is important that you make an effort to learn how to speak the language that is spoken in that country.  You don't necessarily need to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Daily Life, Expats, Language, Living in The Philippines

Back in the saddle again

January 11, 2010 By MindanaoBob 30 Comments
learning_language

I'm back in the saddle again!  No, I don't ride horses, it's a metaphor!  Ha ha...  last week, I got started back on my Bisaya lessons. When I took a break from my language lessons in November, I promised myself that I would start back again in January, and I kept my word to myself.  I had taken a break from lessons for several reasons.  Firstly, the Christmas season is our busiest time of the year, business-wise.  Because the world economy is so slow this year, I wanted to focus my time on doing everything I could to make sure that our Christmas business was as good as it could be.  Secondly, I was at a point with my lessons where I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Language, Living in The Philippines

Taking a break

November 27, 2009 By MindanaoBob 23 Comments
Happy Thanksgiving to all LiP Readers!

As any regular LiP readers know, I have been taking Cebuano language classes for more than 2 years now.  Recently, I decided to take a little break. It's actually been about 4 weeks already since I stopped taking classes!  At first, having some time away from my studies was a bit of a relief.  It sort of felt like the pressure was off a bit.  I had been experiencing a problem, because I didn't have enough time to properly study.  Every week, as each day passed, I felt guilty because I knew that I had not taken care of my homework, and had not practiced learning my new vocabulary words as I should.  As each day passed, I felt worse about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Bob Martin, Holidays, Language, Living in The Philippines

Coming to grips with Philippine languages

October 23, 2009 By MindanaoBob 43 Comments

This is my weekly column that appears in SunStar Davao every Friday.  I am publishing a copy of it here for LiP readers to enjoy too.  Much of this information has been covered in my many previous LiP articles on the subject of Language, but perhaps this has a bit of a different angle that you will enjoy. In my article a couple weeks ago, I told you that I have been studying and learning how to speak Bisaya.  I started learning the language a little over 2 years ago, despite the fact that I have lived here for nearly 10 years.  When I first moved here, in 2000, I figured that I could get by with only knowing English, since almost all Filipinos … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Language, Living in The Philippines

Cultural Adjustment

October 9, 2009 By MindanaoBob 13 Comments

Since it's Friday, today I'm featuring my column from SunStar Davao Newspaper.  While my LiP Web Magazine is targeted toward foreigner readers who have an interest in visiting or living in the Philippines, my newspaper column is targeted at Filipino readers and trying to foster more understanding toward foreigners who are here.  Because of this, you may notice that this article comes across from a different angle than you are used to, but it might still make interesting reading for you.  This column is appearing in today's SunStar Davao, October 9, 2009. . I've been living in the Philippines for almost 10 years already, and many days I still … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bob, SIR Tagged With: Adjustment, Bob Martin, Daily Life, Filipino Culture, Language, Living in The Philippines

Possessive Markers

August 18, 2009 By Bebe 2 Comments

Lesson  #14 Possessive Markers Today we are only going to learn the possessive markers of  the Proper Nouns. Next lesson we will learn the possessive markers of the common noun. Singular        Plural Proper Noun:             ni        nila ni Common Noun:        sa        sa mga Example for Proper Nouns: Bebe's family    or  the family of Bebe        pamilya ni Bebe Kathy's cat    or  the cat of Kathy        iring ni Kathy Pedro's wife    or  the wife of Pedro        asawa ni Pedro Toto and Tata's toys:  mga dulaan nila ni Toto ug Tata Pedro and Maria's farm:  uma nila … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bebe Tagged With: Bebe Metillo, Language, Living in The Philippines

Showing beneficiary of the action

July 28, 2009 By Bebe 3 Comments

Lesson 13 Showing Beneficiary of the Action or The Reciever of the Action or the location. In showing the direction or the beneficiary of the action we need to have a marker. Markers for the reciever or the direction of the action Singular    Plural Proper Noun    Kang        kang ________ ug kang ________ Common Noun    Sa         sa mga *The plural markers for the proper noun kang ______ug kang _________, the second kang is optional. You can say kang _____ug _______. Para – it means for (para usually uses the marker kang when it’s proper noun and sa when it is a common noun) Examples of  para kang or kang: Moluto … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bebe Tagged With: Language, Living in The Philippines

Lesson 12 – Locative Pronouns

June 28, 2009 By Bebe 3 Comments

Today where are going to learn what to use for direction and location. Locative Pronouns Long form        short form        English Dinhi                         diri                   here Dinha                       diha            there (near the speaker) Didto                           --            there (far from the speaker) Note: You can use the locative pronouns in the beginning of the sentence, middle or at the end. Examples: 1. Mopalit ko ug mangga didto. I will buy the mango there. 2. Palihog anhi diri. Please come here! 3. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bebe Tagged With: Language, Living in The Philippines
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