Sunday, 03 May 2009

• Can you speak a foreign language? If not, which one would you want to learn? Why?

   

  In the Philippines, we have 70 dialects and languages. Only nine of which are spoken by 89% of the population. Our first/native language is Filipino and it's Tagalog-based.

  Technically, English is a foreign langauge to me but I can understand, write and speak it well.

  I've been learning Spanish and Korean.

   
  

  I want to learn how to speak Bisaya again because I'm visiting the maternal grandparents this year and they don't speak Tagalog and no not English. Bisaya is my mother's native dialect. I grew up in a different island and spent most of my childhood days there. When we got in Manila, my classmates picked on me because I have a wierd accent and I could hardly speak Tagalog. Mama decided that she'd talk to us in pure Tagalog and no Bisaya at home. So now, I can only understand and speak few Bisaya phrases and words. Although I can understand people, they need to speak slowly. My father on the other hand, he grew up in a different island, he speaks Ilocano. I only know one Ilocano phrase: "Afato inafu" which means "the rice is hot". And it was my late paternal grandma who taught me that when I ate with her once. Papa never bothered teaching us Ilocano, we have enought confusion with Bisaya and Tagalog while growing up. He knows Bisaya because we stayed there for more than 10 years. Whenever I hear him talk to our relatives on his side, the conversation sounds like that of mixed Chinese people talking and chirping birds. It's a really wierd dialect. I dont' think there's available material like books to learn it.

  
  Currently, I'm teaching myself Italian. I want to be fluent with it so I can be his translator when we visit there. He's from the outer space but I can understand and speak his language.  I hope our plans would materialize. Does he still remember me? I hope he won't have amnesia.

   

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