From the Cebuano language

[Davis Knowlton]

^Not really. I admit to great lethargy when it came to learning Tagalog. I was bi-lingual in French, could speak, read and write Hindi, and could function in Thai and to a lesser degree Khmer. Tagalog was just too easy not to do, given that a lot of Filipinos spoke English which, while not great, was certainly better than my poor effort at Tagalog. My wife speaks English, Tagalog. Visayan, and some Thai. Basically, I pretty much leave the local language stuff to her. I also only speak English in the house and elsewhere to the twins - they get plenty of local language exposure outside, even though their schools are 'English only', and don't need more Tagalog/Visayan at home.

[WujouMao]

Mmmm, nasty. Learning filipino has just got all the more complex.

It depends on what you want to achieve. If it is getting around in most parts of the country, English is still your best bet.

I was sort of taking the piss out of myself mate. Seeing how in Cebuano its Wala ko kasabot and the same said just a few islands over means i have no public hair.

I'm always putting me foot in it.

Some girls have said before why dont you speak with an american accent. Fuck that!
I'm proud to be British and there's many accents in America that i'm sure that filipinos would just not understand let alone a posh accent like mine.

One word which ive learnt in Cebu last year was Istoryahe. I hear it everywhere and to break the ice in front of a group of filipino you have just met and say Istoryahe, really makes them laugh.

"you're so handsome - istoryahe!

[Takeovers]

I have found this online Cebuano-English dictionary.


It is old, from 1934. But maybe it is interesting for someone.

The one presently worked at by Project Gutenberg is progressing but will take a while.

[WujouMao]

I have found this online Cebuano-English dictionary.


It is old, from 1934. But maybe it is interesting for someone.

The one presently worked at by Project Gutenberg is progressing but will take a while.

Thanks mate, but like olde English, it changes over time and i'm sure at least some of the words might be out of use now.

I do however like the other dictionary links the site has to offer. [i couldnt post the link on page 1 as i had forgotten the web address. thought it was living in cebu.com]

A Handbook of Cebuano by Anssi & Nida Räisänen (Paperback) - Lulu - taken from The Boholano Language in the Culture, Language tab.

[Takeovers]

The Project Gutenberg dictionary Cebuano-English is now online. It is the one I had a very small part in converting into an eBook. I still have to find out if it is usable as an eBook but sure the searchable version I linked to is usable.

It is far less old than the previous one. It is from 1972, not new but much more useful than the older one I am sure. It already has Tupperware as entry.

[WujouMao]

While playing around with my phone and it add on dictionary pack from the apps market, i discover that there was a Filipino alphabet used for the Tagalog language of its time before the Spanish came to the Philippines.

Its called Baybayin and here's a few links to show you what the characters look like.

Baybayin - Intro

Indio:Bravo// • Baybayin: The Lost Filipino Script (Part 1) The...

Baybayin, How to Write the Ancient Script of the Philippines




I wanted to see how James is written using this script, but that didnt take long as 1, at the time there was no "James" in tagalog language, 2nd, the J sound doesnt even exist, not even in Spanish.

I think its quite cool, sadly though, if i show these characters to a Filipino, they sadly wouldnt even know it was Tagalog script.

Writing Foreign Words

Writing non-Filipino words in the baybayin script can be difficult. Many sounds do not have letters in the baybayin and clusters of consonants, especially in English, cannot be written without modifing either the baybayin script or the English words. Strategies for writing non-Filipino words are discussed on the page entitled, How do I write my name in baybayin?