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