Ibatan is the language that is spoken in the region of the Batanes Islands here in the Philippines. Actually, until just a short time ago, I had never heard of it! Did you know that here in the Philippines over 80 different languages are spoken in different parts of the country?
As I have discussed many times, I am learning Bisaya (Cebuano) myself, since it is the most commonly spoken language here in Davao where I live. I started studying about 4 to 5 months ago, and am making some nice progress toward being fluent in the language. It seems that since starting my language studies, I have become aware of a number of different language teaching resources online.
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Tom Nixon. Tom is involved in online learning, and has been a regular reader here for some time. He even wrote a guest column a while back about online education. Tom informed me about a website where you can download language guides for a number of different Philippine languages. These guides are used by US Peace Corp volunteers who will be working in the Philippines. I downloaded and looked at the Bisaya guide, and I found it to be quite good. There are some mis-spellings and such, but overall the quality is great for a traveler! Also, the quality of the document is not great, it’s basically a scanned document, not something that is editable, but hey… the price is right! Free! Check out the various language guides available on the site!
And…. let me throw in this site as an added bonus for readers who are looking to learn more Bisaya or Cebuano. The site is not updated as often as I’d like, but it’s still a great resource. One thing that I’d like to mention here is that on this site, they often include downloadable flashcard files for the words that are included in the lesson. In order to use the flashcards you need to download and install a flashcard program called “JMemorize.” I use JMemorize in my studies and it is a great program to assist in your learning, I highly recommend it. And, again, the price is right (free).
Happy learning!
Hi Bob! I think it's Ivatan. It sounds like Ilocano and some words are like those in Ilocano. My dormmates in college would speak it and even if I can speak Ilocano, I couldn't understand it. It is also spoken in Isabela. It's always good to learn a new language.
Hi Cathy – I had never heard of the language until yesterday when I wrote this! On the web, I find it spelled with both a "v" and a "b" so, I'll go with your superior knowledge!
Speaking of learning new languages…. our household is in a language learning mode right now… as you know, I am learning Bisaya, and Feyma is studying German! I'm not sure why she chose German, but she said she wanted something to do, and that was it. Klaus is her teacher!
Hi Bob yes Louis speak it’s correct (exactly) yes error (fault) page I agree with louis.
Hi bob if I open your page write there is something in your
page same yesterday in your page. I look the Klaus page
it's today it's okey no problem.
Hi Zois – What kind of something are you talking about? There is something wrong on my pages? What Operating System are you using, and what browser? Everything looks fine here. Can anybody else verify if there is a problem?
Hi Bob. Everything looks ok to me. At 56 I think I am learning a little slower than when I was young. I went to Baguio to visit the mother of a friend here in Canada. She only spoke Igrot,but her grandson spoke Igrot& Tagalog. The taxi driver spoke Tagalag & english. All& all we had a great conversation. As I was saying I am learning some Tagalog,but coming slow. If I had more exposure I am sure I would improve much faster. I'm just trying to get a head start,for when I get back there.
Hi Guy – Keep plugging away, you will get it, at least enough to make a difference! It might take a long time to be fluent, but even just learning some words and phrases will make a world of difference to those that you converse with! 😀
Hi Bob I have windows XP And I look fron internet explorer if I open your page downstairs on left corner
one yellow draft and write the page have something wrong.
If I look page of Klaus no problem the page of Klaus
downstairs on left corner there is Blue draft and there is
the letter e this from internet explorer. Because if there is
yello draft I can't make translate in greek . But Klaus page
it's okey no problem. But your page no have any other problem
only this yellow sketch on the left corner on the line of internet exlorer.
I think what zois is trying to say is there is a page error which MSIE displays on the bottom left corner of the page as a yellow caution sign with an exclamaition point in it. Seems to me its one of the ads that causing it because the error specifics are this:
Line: 1475
Character: 2
Error: 'length' is null or not an object
Code: 0
URL: http://www.liveinthephilippines.com/2008/01/08/ib…
Basically something has a predefined length and width and the length was not defined so css is confused. It's definately an advert though.
Hi Louis and Zois – I don't get any errors on any of the browsers that I use. So, I need to know.. is this happening on every page on my area (the Bob site), or just on this one page?
Just the page that this post is on. I don't think it's anything to get worried about Bob, maybe just and ad fluke. I sometimes get it on my site with Google. Everything still displays correctly even with this error, whatever it is.
Hi Bob your site it's okey the pages of Klaus And Feyma all writers it's okey. Also your site it's okey . But if I try to
open Bob page everything it's okey no iside in your site
only in the line of internet explorer downstairs on left corner there is
(yellow error this page) that's all.
All the other pages no have problem.
Louis anderstand what happen it's no problem this.
Only today I look this.
Hi Bob your site liveinthephilippines.com no there is any problem.
Hi Bob,I just got error on page,bottom left on I.E.7 nothing to worry about,error is as described by louis 🙂
Louis, Zois and john j. – Thanks for the updates on the error. It seems like the site is working OK, except that is prevents Zois from getting a translation into Greek. But, Zois you said that it is working ok now (no problem), so that is good to know! 😆
Hi Bob only your page I can't to make translate that's all
only for me the problem .
regards
it is called IVATAN.
i think a lot of people think it's Ibatan because of -B-atanes, or the more famous province of Bataan [which is of no connection to Batanes]… but, actually, Batanes is originally Vatanes or Vatan.
just so you know 😀
Hi Bob,
Hope I'm not intruding. It's Ivatan. Ibatan is the sister language spoken in Babuyan, though scholars are still debating whether Ibatan counts as a separate language. On that note, you'll be intrigued to know that Ivatan–yes, the language spoken on tiny Batanes with all of it's 18,000 people!–has three dialects. One spoken on the north island, another on the main island Batan where Basco is, and a different one on the south island, the name of which I give just because anyone's got to love it: Sabtang.
check out http://www.ethnologue.com A non-profit, every language know to man is categorized there!
Hi Travis- Of course you are not intruding, we appreciate your comment!
Thanks for the info!
Hello Bob,
I am an Ivatan and I speak Ivatan. Our dialect is not similar to Ilocano for we neither speak nor understand the Ilocano dialect. We have similarity with the native Formosans in Taiwan, they too speak the Ivatan language.
I think the word "Batanes" is also a misnomer since we don't call ourselves "I-Batan" but I-Vatan (which is a conjugation of "i" and Vatan" which means "from Vatan."
Thanks for this article. Hope to see you in Batanes soon.
Hi Er – Thanks for visiting! Nice to have you here.
@Er: if you really ARE Ivatan, then you shouldn't be calling your native language as a dialect. There's a myriad of differences between the two. Know them.
Sorry for being such a grammar Nazi, Sir Bob. But I really can't help but flare up whenever my fellow Filipinos call all non-tagalog languages as dialects. It's degrading, very degrading.
I agree tagalo hispanoparlante – I hate it when people call Bisaya a dialect too. I understand how you feel.
pls translate this – mañitas rarahan a sumavat
thanks!!
Hahaha i dont know if you still need it but it means “looking for my a way home” or “looking for MY way home” depends on what you really mean to say 🙂