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Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Cebuano

Aloha Everyone,

Cebu is the second largest island in the Philippines. While it is only 1 hour to fly, the place is a distant land and many people from Manila have no interest in visiting. 

People in Cebu speak Cebuano. Mixture of Visayan, English, Tagalog with a hint of Malay and Cantonese. 

I overheard a conversation between a 30-something American with Southern accent talking to a local Filipina.

Man - I heard that Dumaghete is a good place to visit.

Woman - Yeah, I also heard that.

Man - I heard there’s a lot more westerners in Dumaghete. I want to go somewhere where I can understand what people are saying.

Woman - We speak English.

Man - But I don’t understand them.

Woman - We speak English, Tagalog and Cebuano

Man - That’s it!  You guys only speak Cebuano among yourselves. I feel isolated.

People we met in Cebu are friendly but unless you learn to speak Cebuano, you will always remain an outsider.

Aloha -- Cathi