Live in the Philippines

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I passed the test! With new Podcast!

Language Learning, Podcasts / by

Today, I’ll be sharing a new podcast with you, but that will have to wait until the end of the story. It’s been a while since I did a podcast, so it feels good to put one up again.

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been having examinations as part of my Bisaya Class.  For new readers who don’t know, Bisaya (or Cebuano) is the main language used in the Central and Southern parts of the Philippines. As the name implies, Cebuano originated in Cebu, but much of the Visayas and Mindanao speak this language, or a variation of it.  For the past 3 years I have been taking Cebuano classes and learning to speak the language.

The textbook that I am using includes 60 lessons in all.  My teacher is Bebe Metillo, and she has been a real inspiration to me, and is really a great teacher.  A number of regular readers of this Live in the Philippines Web Magazine are also studying with Bebe, upon my recommendation to them.  Bebe and I have now completed lessons 1 through 50.  Lesson 50 is an Exam that covers the lessons between 41 and 50, and we just completed that exam over the past 3 weeks.  The first two weeks, I had to translate sentences from English to Cebuano and from Cebuano to English.  This week, I had to read a short story in Ceubano, translate the story into English, and then answer a series of questions about the story.  The questions asked about the story were in Cebuano, and I had to answer in Cebuano as well.

I found the story kind of fun.  It was interesting, and also just fun to read a full story like that in Cebuano.  For my article on LiP today, I decided to tell about my current lessons, and then to write out the short story (in both Cebuano and English) for you to read, if you wish.  Also, included with the article there is a podcast where you can listen to me reading the story.  All of this will follow.  The way that I am going to compose this article will be different than I have ever done on LiP in the past.  This article will span 3 pages, and you will need to click next page at the bottom of each page to get the full article.  Page 1 (this page) I will talk a bit about my language learning experience.  Page 2 will consist of the short story that was part of my test (in Cebuano).  Page 3 will be my English translation of the short story, and the podcast will be available at the bottom of each page.  I am sorry this will be a long post, I hope it doesn’t bore you.

So, now, I have just 10 more lessons to go in my Cebuano Class with Bebe.  I started out fast with the language learning.  Lessons 1 through 30 were complete in a year or so.  Usually, I completed a full lesson every week, sometimes it took 2 weeks.  Starting on Lesson 30, though, things started getting complicated, and took much longer.  Much of the new material in lessons 31-40 was stuff that required me to “unlearn” my first 30 lessons, because it was new stuff that was almost completely opposite from the first 30 lessons.  It took time, but once I got my head around it, it was not too difficult.  Lessons 41 through 50 were the same – new concepts that were difficult to get into my head.  But, I’ve made it.

So, ten lessons to go.  I am thinking I can do that in 6 more months or so.  Possibly by the end of the year, but I don’t want to push myself.  I want to just enjoy the ride, and take enough time to learn the material well.  I already know enough Cebuano that I can have a good conversation with anybody, and even if they say something that I don’t know yet, I can figure out what they are talking about.  It gets easier every day, it seems.

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Comments

  2. Hi, Bob:

    I don’t know Bisaya, but I’m sure I can discern the foreign accent when spoken by a non-Bisayan. Can’t wait to hear you mangle Cebuano while reading your story with an American accent. LOL

  3. Hi, Bob:

    This is not a criticism, but I know that you are anxious to hear from your readers about what they think of your spoken Bisaya, so here goes:

    For a non-native speaker of Bisaya, I think you did very well reading your Cebuano story. While your intonation could perhaps benefit from a little tweaking here and there, your pronunciation of a couple of words that I noticed suffers from the same common mispronunciation by English speakers of certain Spanish words that end in the letter “e”, like “San Jose”. In this case, the accent should be on the letter “e”, but English speakers tend to drag the letter “e” in San Jose, pronouncing it like “ey”.

    Thus, your pronunciation of the words, “kinapobrehan” (you pronounced it like, “kinapobreyhan” and “prinsipe” (you pronounced it like, “prinsipey” followed the same pattern.

    But, I love the way you correctly pronounced the word, “pangalan” like a native speaker. There are certain litmus tests for speaking the language well, but I think the ability to correctly enunciate the three letters (“nga”) contained in a word is one of them.

    • Hi John – I am happy because my teacher, Bebe, rarely has problems with the way I pronounce words in Cebuano. When she feels that I have pronounced a word improperly, she tells me and we work on it. If Bebe is happy with the way I pronounce a word, then I am also happy.

  4. I think it’s cool Bob, well done! How about your kids, do they speak better than you, and do they like it when they speak Bisaya to them. Vangie has never seemed to want to speak Bisaya with our kids, except when she is really angry, or half asleep, when a bisaya phrase comes out, and the kids look at me and say “Mummy’s speaking ago wago spago again”.

    • Hi Jim – Thanks! Oh, my kids… they could speak Bisaya within a month after we moved here. They are very fluent. However, when it comes down to technical grammar and such… I am much better than them. I also have more vocabulary then they do in many areas. They can speak “street bisaya” – I can speak it a bit more technically correct than they can. But, if you put us out on the street, we can all do OK, but they are a little more “OK” than I am, if you know what I mean. 😉

  5. Congratulations, Bob. That’s quite an accomplishment.

    I feel like I’ve been stuck (and in reality have been) in the same spot for a long time now. I don’t mind though, because I’m still learning even if I’m not moving forward in the lessons.

    I’ve not had a chance to listen to the podcast yet, but I look forward to it. It will be very interesting to hear another American student of Bebe’s speaking the language.

    • Thanks, Randy. I’m looking forward to finishing off the last 10 lessons! Bebe has certainly been a great teacher. Even when I finish the remaining lessons, I still plan to keep up with having Bebe as a teacher for extra practice, and more advanced learning as well. Bebe is a jewel, and I don’t want to lose that!

  6. Bob, since I plan on moving to Cebu, IYHO what do you feel is the biggest attribute when looking for a langauge teacher.

    • Hi brian – Bebe is my third teacher. My first teacher was a man in GenSan. He was a nice guy, I like him, but I could not learn from his teaching style. My second teacher was a college professor at Ateneo de Davao University. Very nice lady, and I like her a lot. I still see her from time to time for coffee and such, but I could not learn well from her. Bebe teaches me very well. I love Bebe. One of the differences with Bebe is that she teaches me the grammar too. The other teachers taught me words, and phrases. With the grammar, I know how to take those words and form sentences on my own, and form them properly. I think the only way you can really do it, Brian, is to try out a teacher and see if you mesh with her. If it doesn’t feel like it is working, try somebody else. As a final resort, Bebe does teach via Skype too. Also, I feel confident that Bebe knows teachers in Cebu and could probably recommend somebody to you.

      • You have to remember also that not all people learn the same way . The style that works for Bob might not work for you. Plus people respond differently to different teaching styles. What Bob learned is that you have to find the right mesh for YOU ! The same teacher can be seen as fantastic by one student, and not very efficient by another

  7. phew (wipes brow) dude, that hurts my head to listen to. You scar me lol I’m going to learn Tagalog when I get there and I’m shakin’ in my pants :/ Its gona be like high school when I started taking German and said ?? I’m taking Spanish lol.

    good job though 🙂

    • Thanks, Jack. You can learn Tagalog, just give it a shot. It’s different than when you tried learning a language when you were in high school. You will be living here, surrounded by the language, and that helps a lot in learning it. In HS, you were not living in Germany, and thus did not hear the language every move you made! Good luck to you.

      Just want to make one friendly request… please use family friendly language when you comment. I slightly edited your comment, because it contained language that I would prefer to keep off the site. Thanks! 🙂

  8. Great job Bob, if only i could do as well as you have i would be very happy,guess i should find a teacher also .Im tired of asking my better half ..what did they say..lol. 🙁

  9. Good job Bob – I have a nose bleed just listening haha. I actually understood quite a bit while listening, although I couldn’t piece the whole story together. I just finished lesson 13, hmmm, and it’s a Friday – oh no B-)

    • Hi Gary – Wow! I am happy to hear that you are moving ahead nicely on your lessons! I was not really happy with the way the podcast came out, because reading does not sound as natural as just speaking. I’ll do something else soon with spoken word instead of reading! It will sound more natural. Anyway, keep it up on your lessons! I feel that even just 10 to 20 lessons and some practice and you can do quite well with Cebuano!

  10. Bob;
    A well deserved Bravo Zulu on learning Cebuano. Just got my Rosetta Stone Tagalong in
    and will be learnig it with the help of my wife. Thanks for the insipration.

  11. i think you have shown you can teach an old dog new tricks. im fifty so theres hope for me yet. great stuff, love your positive can do attitude

  12. I’ve been studying tagolog using the Rosetta Stone software for about six months now. I have all three software packages and I’m only 2/3’s of the way through the first one. The deeper I get into the language the slower going it is. It’s going to take me a long time to learn but I am going to do so. Good luck to you Michaels. Don’t get discouraged and stick with it.

    I used to live in the Philippines for five years back in the 1980’s. I met and married my wife there and we’ve been together ever since. We are planning to move back in about 5 years to retire. I know that my life will be so much more fulfilling having a good understanding and being able to converse in the language.

    Bob, I take my hat off to you. Congrats. I fully understand why you’re devoting so much energy to learning. You should be proud of yourself.

  13. Bob, congrats on passing the tests. I am sure that the most worthwhile part is you now can speak another language that is totally different from english.

    I just want to point out that Bisaya or Visaya means the dialect spoken in the Visayan Region (Central) of the Philippines. On the eastern part, Cebuano is the dialect spoken in Cebu, Bohol and several places in Mindanao. For Samar and Leyte, the dialect is Waray.

    In the western portion, Ilonggo is the prdominant dialect, with Aklanon (in Aklan) being the one with a different dialect.

    In terms of quantity, the biggest number of “Bisaya” speakers, is likely the Cebuano dialect. Just want to point out the Bisaya does not mean Cebuano, especially from us, who come from the Western Visayan region.

    After all is said & done, Congrats !!! on picking up a 2nd language. It takes effort and dedication. Kudos !

    • Hello genuis8 – Firstly, I would like to point out that Bisaya, or Cebuano are not dialects, they are languages. In the area where I live the words “Bisaya” and “Cebuano” are indeed used interchangeably.

      Thanks!

    • Hello genius8- I am sure that the root word of Bisaya is Bisayas(Philippino alphabet has no V). Not all Philippino knows history. So when you go Luzon(manila), Luzon people would generalize southern people are bisayan although they live in Mindanao. And I do not have time to argue with this people especially for those who are zero in Philippine history.

      If we look back few centuries ago, each island in the Philippines has its own language. I was wondering why more than 75% of the population in Mindanao and Visayas region can speak with the same language. They always say Bisaya language. Bisayas is a region and not a specific place. Anyway I do not care whether this language was originated in Davao or in Cebu. As long as I know I really love this language. It’s not romantic but full of humors, it’s not a boring language – lots of vocabulary. Kudos to those people who spreading out this language.

  15. Hi Bob,
    Great job….. I think. 🙂 I do not have a translator with me to know what you were saying.
    My son (4 years old) has now been in the Philippines for over a month. He spoke no Tagalog before he left. Now I hear he is holding his own there. I just hope he remembers English when I get there so I can have someone to speak with!

    • Hi steve – Ha ha… I don’t think you need to worry…. I’m pretty sure your son will still be able to speak English too! 😆 It really is amazing how quickly kids can pick up a language just through interacting with others.

  16. Great job, Bob! Amazing how well you read words like “mga”, “nga”, etc. Aside from the need of a little improvement on the pronunciation of a few of the words in the story, you are well on your way to speaking the language fluently. Keep practicing, that’s the key.

    • Hi Elsie – Thank you, my friend. Actually, I can speak bisaya a lot better than I can read it! Reading is not natural for me, it makes me a bit nervous. If I just talk with somebody using my own words, not what is written on the page, I can sound a lot better than that! 😆