Live in the Philippines

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Market Visits with Friends

Language Learning, Philippine Culture / by

Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of getting together with two friends from the States.  Both of these friends are likely to be known by long time LiP Readers.  First, back in June through August or so, Kevin Smith visited the Philippines with his wife and children.  Kevin was one of the early writers here on LiP after I opened up the site to multiple writers (originally, I was the only writer on this site).  Kevin lives in Pennsylvania, but he really wants to move to the Philippines as soon as possible.  Kevin is a school teacher, and teaches Math and Science.

Next, my friend, Randy Countryman visited the Philippines in September, along with his wife, Rechie.  Randy lives in Washington State, although quite far from the area where I lived when I was there.  I have known Randy for a number of years, originally when he was a regular commenter here on LiP, then we met in person about 3 years ago when Randy visited Davao and we got together.  Both Randy and Kevin also own land on Samal Island, so it is possible that we will all be “neighbors” someday.

When I met Kevin for the first time, a little over 2 years ago, I had already been studying Bisaya for a year or so, and could have a bit of a conversation, although not very well.  But, we went to Samal with Kevin and Jaycee (Kevin’s wife), and I was able to converse with some people over there in Bisaya, while Kevin and Jaycee were with us.  Kevin was kind of amazed, I think, and it didn’t take long before he asked me about how he could learn the language.  I put him in touch with my language teacher, Bebe Metillo, and Bebe has been giving Kevin lessons via Skype for about 2 years now, or perhaps even a bit longer.

With Randy, as I recall, he became interested in learning Bisaya after reading some articles I had written about learning the language.  He asked me about it via e-mail, I believe, and I put him in touch with Bebe as well.  Like Kevin, Randy has been studying the language for a couple of years now.

When Kevin was here in June, he stopped and visited my house one day, and I asked him if he would like to go to the Bankerohan Market and get some practice with his Bisaya speaking.  He readily agreed, so we caught a tricycle to the market, only about 5 minutes from where I was living at the time.  When we went to the Market, we visited the Isdahan first (the Fish Market) as I wanted to buy some fish for Feyma to cook for dinner.  I enjoyed a lot watching and listening to Kevin try out his Bisaya for the first time in this kind of setting.  One thing I could tell was that Kevin was very self conscience about speaking Bisaya, he was embarrassed that he might make a mistake in the language, and was quite shy to speak to people.  I knew how this felt, because I was like that in the past myself.  A day came when I just decided that I didn’t care if I pronounced something wrong, or used the wrong word, I was going to use the language skills that I had learned.  I felt like the only way to improve my skills was to use it.  Making mistakes was only part of the process of learning!  Because of this, I really kept encouraging Kevin to not worry about making mistakes, and just to force himself to use the language as much as possible!

A few months later when Randy came to visit, he and Rechie invited Feyma and I out for lunch.  During lunch, Randy told me that he and Bebe would be going to Bankerohan for a lesson in the market later that afternoon.  I really wanted to go along, and asked both Randy and Bebe if they would mind if I tagged along for the visit, and they both agreed!  So, the three of us also jumped in a tricycle and went to the market.  With Randy and Bebe, we started in the Fruit area, and made our way to the Vegetable area, then to the Fish area.  We later visited other parts of the market as well, and had a snack of Putomaya and Hot Chocolate too.  It was a fun day.  Randy was less shy about using the language, but mostly, I think, because our teacher was with us, and was constantly prodding him to say “this and that” to the vendors.

One thing I noticed on the visit was that both Randy and Kevin really had a hard time with pronouncing the words properly.  When I heard this, I realized something that I had already known all along – living here where I hear and use the language every day is a huge advantage to me.  These guys lived in a place where they rarely (if ever) were able to hear the language in daily use.

As we spent time at the market, though, in each case, I could also see that both Kevin and Randy made huge strides in proper pronunciation, and also in the comfort in speaking the language!  At first, when I heard their pronunciation problems, I started wondering if it really was worth it for somebody to learn the language at such a distance using Skype.  However, when I saw the speed with with they progressed during the day, I realized that it was really a good thing to use Skype for learning, with an occasional visit to the Philippines that would give them “live practice” on the streets, where you can really learn, and improve your language skills.

So, as I said, over the past months I have had two opportunities to see my fellow students (long distance students in this case) come here and use the skills they had learned.  I really felt good in witnessing it, and had a lot of fun with each of them!  Another thing I enjoyed was being able to help them a bit with the language, since I was a bit more advanced in learning it than they were.  It really felt good to see both of my friends being able to come here and get a little more enjoyment out of their visit because of their ability to speak the language!

Thanks for including me, Kevin and Randy!  I bet by next time that each of you visit, we will be able to converse like locals!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hey Bob – Nice shot of the many fruits. I’ve never ever been Mindanao. Some day, I hope to. With the language, I don’t understand Visayan dialect, only a little (gwapa, kinsa, ngano. Always those 3 words..he he). But when my mama was alive she and my grandma would be talking in bisaya. They have a world of their own. But it’s cool.

      • Yeah Bob, I suppose so. Got relatives in the Visayas. They don’t speak and can’t understand Tagalog. Only English and Bisaya. Here in Manila, I can pretty much tell if a person speaks bisaya…because they’re the ones really speaks good English.

        • Hi sugar – I bet you can learn Bisaya easy. Especially since you grew up hearing your Mom speaking with your lola, and also knowing Tagalog should make Bisaya easy. The other day, I was surprised. I was in an office, and they had a big sign in the Tagalog. I found that I could read 80% of it, and understood it 100% since I knew enough that I could mentally “fill in” the words that I did not know.

          • It would be nice to learn another language and not just Tagalog. Most of the people I know just speak that language. Do you also want to learn the Tagalog language as fluently as Bisaya.. or there’s no need as you don’t see yourself living in Manila?

            • Hi sugar – I don’t really have any interest in learning Tagalog. In the 10 1/2 years I have lived in the Philippines, I have been to Manila only twice, and I think it’s been at least 6 or 7 years since I’ve been up there. All of the people around here speak Bisaya, so I am very happy with that.

  2. Hi Bob,

    I always here that word “Dialect” isn’t Bisaya and other languages in the Philippines stand alone languages? I known there are common threads but I wouldn’t dare refer to either French/Italian/Spanish or Portuguesse being a dialect.

      • Thanks Bob, that is what I always thought. I wonder why the word is incorrectly over used so much in the PH. At least we are clear hehehe

          • Bob:

            I think part of the reason is that many of the Philippine languages share many loan words from Spanish, Arabic, and Malay. That is part of the confusion between language and dialect.

            Rebecca speaks Ybanag, which is a dialect of Ilocano. Ilocano is a separate language entirely from Tagalog, though they share many common terms. Ybanag, even though it is a dialect, is largely unintelligible among Ilocano speakers. Most Ybanag speakers also speak Ilocano, however, since Ybanag is a dialect of Ilocano.

            Likewise, in China, though there are common origins between languages, each language has dozens of dialects that are mutually unintelligible between speakers, even though they share a common root language.

            I would think that Cebuano, for instance, would be a dialect of Bisaya, correct?

            • Hi John – Not exactly.. truth is, there is not any such language as “Bisaya” it is just a classification of languages and dialects from the Visayan region. Cebuano is the main Bisaya language, and this a lot of people just refer to Cebuano as Bisaya.

  3. Interesting take on the pronunciation, Bob. As my mandarin skills developed while living in Taiwan, I was often told that I spoke more correctly than foreigners whom had learned in their own countries. There really is no substitute for being surrounded by those whom speak a specific language, when one is trying to learn. In fact, I learned more about how to speak latin-american spanish as an exchange student in Mexico for two months, than when taking classes for several years in Canada, and the limited cantonese that I know is remnant of my time in Hong Kong, as a child.

  4. Bob,
    My parents comes from Romblon and they speak Visayan dialect, they called it “ASI” dialect but it was visayan language and some words are mixed of cebuanos , illongo’s and spanish that’s why i understand some of the words that you said in visaya but actually i didn’t know how to speak visaya since i and my bro’s and sisters born and raised in Batangas province (Luzon) where people speak Tagalog….my parents moved to Batangas when they married and live there until now….but i think i can easily learn it since i understand some of the words…..

  5. Bob, would your instructor be interested in another student? I really need to learn bisaya! If she is interested can you help me make contact?

  6. Bob;
    I really don’t speak tagalog very good you would think being married for 32 yrs I would speak it but I don’t Just a few words here and there. So I bought The Rosetta Stone program for Tagalog and will start learning it shortly (after the Holidays). With my wife as my tutor I should be ok. I’ll keep you posted learning the language is part of the Filipino experience.

    • Hi B. Michels – Good luck on the Rosetta Stone! I have heard they are pretty good… although I think a live teacher would be better… but I do hope it works well for you.

  7. Hi Bob,

    I remember going to the market like it was yesterday. Wish I could go back a few more time to practice. I’m taking a break from my Bisaya lessons but I’ll be starting again. Been busy writing curriculum for my first science summer camp. Hope to have it here in Pennsylvania at the local college.

    • That’s great, Kevin! I also enjoyed our visit to the market! Also, I remember our discussion about doing the Science Camp, I’m glad you went ahead with it, I think you will have a huge success with that, if properly promoted! Good luck!

  8. Hi Bob, sorry I didn’t catch this article earlier.

    Thanks again, I had a great time at the market with you and Bebe. It was one of the highlights of my short visit. I am definitely going to spend more time at Bankerohan the next time I get there.

    Bebe and I laugh because my lessons have so many cancelations. I figure I’ll get there eventually. It was a great help to visit the area, and hear the language spoken, but also to see all the signs around town that used Bisaya.

    I don’t know how many people read my article, so I’ll say it again, but it was very inspiring to see your use of the language with the locals.

    It was also great to spend time with you, Feyma and Bebe.

    • Hi Randy – I enjoyed our time together, both at lunch and at the market! I’m glad that you enjoyed it as well. Keep up on the lessons… learning to speak the language before you move here is a major accomplishment, and something that will improve your life here!

  9. Bob,
    I have a question for you and I think I already know the answer! Why learn Visayan instead of Tagalog which is used through out the Philippines?

    • Why, Edwin? Because in the area where I live, if you go out on the street people speak Bisaya, not Tagalog. Sure, if you go to some formal meeting somewhere they speak Tagalog or English. I want to be able to communicate with the guy on the street, though.

      Tagalog is used throughout the Philippines? Ha ha… not as much as you must think. In some parts of the Philippines Tagalog is actually hated.

  10. Hello Mr. Bob, I have a Philipina wife who wants me to retire to the Davao Region.
    We have already bought a small parcel of land in D.O. for a home.
    I came from a farm background, hence I think I could improve the nutrition of some of her family. The problem I have encountered is, the cost of farm land is prohibitive.
    I am astonished at the asking prices I see advertised. Perhaps you could shed some light. Is land really that expensive, or am getting inflated figures from the net? The math does not work. One could never earn enough to justify these prices. Please
    share your knowledge with me. Salamat, John