Odd as it may seem, Even the Filipino Nationals seem to have a "Foreigner" issue, among themselves. We have over the years had a few threads about what language we should try and learn. if any at all. Many of the locals here in Dumaguete seem to talk quite a few different dialects and languages and appear, to all get on together Having said that, we were at a wedding over the Weekend and I was quite surprised at the split in the Guests at the meal. They seemed to be Language tables and not in any sort of family and friends order There were Family from all over, Cebu, Luzon and Mindanao, many from Occidental. and other far out Places, now I know you will be thinking o_O What is he going to say. Well it is like this. After all these years here, I have only very recently realized that if you don't speak a certain language at the table conversation seems you are a little out cast and a "Foreigner. YEP! I kid you not. So it seems, not all Visayans speak Tagalog. Tagalog speakers seem not to understand Visayan or illongo Cebuano in General it seems is considered too Rural and Provincial to be in the Company of those from Luzon that only Speak Tagalog. Maybe I will stay with English, not really deciding which if any of the language one needs to be accepted anywhere. The Wedding went off OK but there were a few points that to me, got a little uncomfortable. Anyone else come up against this sort of thing.? JP
Cebuano is aka Bisaya aka Binisaya aka Visayan. They are more or less the same thing and it depends on where the person is from as to what they call the dialect. It is actually the most spoken language in the country (according to some reference I read a long time ago that might be completely wrong). Ilonggo is aka Hiligaynon. Wikipedia says this about it: Supposedly Ilonggo is very different from the other dialects and harder for other Filipino to pick up on. (I was told by my SO that it sounds as if they "sing" when they speak....though I couldn't really hear much of a difference) I find it strange that it jumps Negros Oriental for the most part and then again back down in Mindanao (probably has something to do with with where it originated from or tribal/clan influence back in the day) As for having problems with language: English is pretty widely spoken so it covers my needs. If I am trying to negotiate a price I throw what little Bisaya or Tagalog I know into the conversation to try to show I'm not a sucker....though I'm not sure it works well. I don't find it unusual that they would segregate themselves by language at a wedding. Humans naturally seek out people on similar background. (Don't you almost always see foreigners grouped together at most social gatherings as well?) All this could be incorrect as I routinely seem to be proven wrong on any conversation involving language in the Philippines. I just don't retain much info on it for some reason.
I was at a wedding this weekend also in San Jose. I noticed a different situation that made me felt a little uncomfortable. The wedding was with my gf's cousin. We went to Lee Plaza to get a gift. I wanted something nice, that the bride and groom would cherish from their special day You know like all the stuff I got on my first wedding in the US and never really used. Well we settled on nice dinnerware set with four place setting at a cost a little over 1000 P. When I went to the reception I was the only foreigner. There were few at the wedding but many at the reception with food served. I was treated like royalty, which is did not like because there were much more important people there than myself, and those were the "special" people to me at this type of event. After discussing it with my GF, she explained that the first time you are in a Filipino house, it is very special. Of coarse we all not what great hosts Filipinos are, particularly family. So I sort of understood that situation. What I did feel a little uncomfortable about was that our gift (my GF, also added her Lola and mother on the "from" part which was fine with me) was out of proportion witht he other gifts that everyone else had brought. I have never felt that much of an economic divide between myself and others here as I felt at the wedding. I do not consider myself rich, and try not to impress people with what I have, so I was even more uncomfortable. How do other deal with this issue? Ignore it? .... smile and move on? or pass out 1000 P bills to everyone/ (if you do this please include me in your next event) . We chose to leave rather quickly and walk to a nearby beach, which I did not think was the best solution but made it easier on my comfort. (By the way, Wrye83 is buying the first beer for everyone at the DI get together at La Fiesta, on Friday, so he may be the one to consider giving out 1000 P bills)
You must not have seen the small print below "buy everyone a drink"......it said "while supplies last"....supplies being my pesos.....and I won't bring many of them.
They will speak in whatever language that everyone understands and that everyone gets the most practice with. In many cases, that's English. The locals in Dumaguete see and hear English everywhere but they don't get much practice in Tagalog. My GF had to resort to English when she went to Manila because her Tagalog was really rusty.
