Language Barrier

How interesting it is to learn other dialect spoken by different provinces here in my country Philippines. I was born in Laguna, grew up in Bulacan and now presently we are residing at my mom's beloved province, the sugar bowl of the Philippines Negros Occidental, the particular city we lived in is known to be the city of smiles Bacolod.

The Philippines has more than a hundred different kinds of dialects but it has at least eight major languages being spoken. We Filipinos learned what are those eight major dialects as it is being taught since our elementary days, those are Tagalog, Bikolano, Ilocano,Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray.

Since I grew up in Bulacan and graduated my elementary there, so I am used to speaking Tagalog. When we finished our school year 2017-18 my parents talked to us and mentioned that they planned to go back to Bacolod and we will live their for good. So change of residency that would mean change of school too. I was really sad at that moment, cannot even say any words because I already have a lot of friends in Bulacan and in my school. I even tried asking my parents what if we stay more years or just let us finished our high school years first before transferring but unfortunately it didn't happened.

We arrived in Bacolod month of May in 2018 and the first thing that comes to my mind is how can I communicate with the people here. I don't even know a single word they speak. What about when we start our school, do they like to befriend me? Or are they going to hate me because of my dialect? I am really getting paranoid that time. I started to loose my self confidence. But my mom told me and my siblings to not be too negative. She told us to think it as an opportunity to meet new friends and to learn new culture and dialect to begin with. So she accompany us to enroll at our new school. We enrolled at STI West Negros University here in Bacolod. On our first day of school I felt excited and at the same time nervous because of the language barrier, our very predicament. To our surprised, the people here were very sweet and friendly. They accepted me and my sibling with open arms and made us really feel comfortable despite we are having a hard time to communicate with them. Day after day I started to gain more friends and I also started to like their friendly and smiling culture here.

I will give you some sample of Hiligaynon words and how it is translated in tagalog and english.

Guapa - maganda - beautiful

Palangga ta ka - mahal kita - i love you

These are just some of the words that I've first learned.

Based on my experience, I have learned to realized that language has never been a barrier to gain friends and to start your new life on that new place and new environment. But of course you must do your part to make some adjustments and learn their culture. Accept and respect the dialect that they speak. You will just surprised that at the end of the day you are already enjoying and started speaking their dialect too.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my very first whole article here.

"Palangga ko kamo"