⌛ hi guys

hi there
newbie introducing themselves. as a foreigner who has been here a little while i am kinda embarrassed by 2 things
1.) i know very little about the Philippines. i have lived in a few countries and have been an avid reader of their history/economy/social issues. but i have not read anything here except the newspapers. could you recommend some non fictional work, i am more interested in the anthropological rather than the political stuff
2.) well the second one is my inability to speak visayan, but after spending most of the last 3 years trying to learn a non latin based language, i have to acknowledge that academically i am useless at languages and have given up before i start. so i will have to live with my ignorance

and a general inquiry, is thee a thai boxing or cycle club around town

thanks all

 

Hi and welcome Barramac, you will slowly learn the native language as you go on leaving in Dumaguete.

for your queries on Thai boxing and Cycle club i think we have it, for sure other members here will help.

enjoy reading

 

Welcome barramac

I take it you are Irish? I'm am American and wife is a filipina, from Dumaguete. We are trying real hard to get back to Dumaguete, soon I hope.
Your a programmer? What kind of programmer would that be? I am a retired small business owner of the HVAC kind. My handle is grandpainak which is "Grand Pa in AK" (Alaska). What dose "barramac" come from?

 

Cead míle fáilte Barramac :D

Conas atá tú? I'm sure you'll find all the help you need here, just ask. Take the visayan in your stride and before you know it you'll start speaking a few phrases, rude ones included :D Enjoy!

Slán

 

Well, I have been here two years and sorry to say only speak a few phrases. Why two reasons I think.

1.English is spoken freely making little incentive to learn the native dialect.

2. I have a big problem learning this language, partly because my hearing is not what it used to be, so I can't hear the subtle tonal differnces, and partly I have no facility for Asian languages.

There is a dirth of scholarly works on the socio anthropologic history of the Philippines, (at least in Dmgte), must that there be some somewhere. There seems to be little interest in it amoung the living. I found one book locally published that my banker let me look at while waiting for a transaction, I will have to locate the title, and if it is available.

You are not alone,

 

hi there

re books: maby i should hit the university for the books. some one said that the american library was accessible to outsiders. but i was hoping for bestseller popular history sort not academic stuff and there is alot of security which i presume may not ban you from entering the sentiment of silliman policy would be to prevent outsiders from using their resources.

re visayan : i mostly hang with foreigners(korean, american and a few europeans) in town and have not really been exposed to the local language. it is frustrating that there is no cable tv channels in visayan, because the prevalence of talalog in the media

programmer : i do c#, over any medium, servers, web, windows, mobile devices

nice to see that you have kept up the gaelge is still alive

barramac is my name in irish. barry is the english name.

rock on
thanks

 

I live with Filipinos, and surrounded with them all day, I cant get the dialect. I am not stupid, but there is no written gramatical stucture to it, (at least documented for the local) so the vernacular changes even from town to town, province to povince. some younger visayan filipinos can't speak their own lanuage, don't no how to say basic things like "Happy Birthday", English is supplanting visayan and combining with Tagalog (creating Taglish). The visayan dialect(there are 30 sub dialects) is not evolving, so sadly it is dying slowly. Since it is not taught in the school system. I have spoken what I thought was passble Visayan to locals, and they give me a blank stare.

I do have a reference to an online source for Cebuano Grammer, but I find it hard to follow, plus it is not the Visayan spoken here which can only be learned if you learn it here,. supposedly cebuano is spoken here, but it differs in that certain consonants are dropped or interchanged. But as I said, my language aquisition skills may be sub par.
Maayong Gabii.

 

Hi Barramac,

Welcome to the forum and I hope your able to find all the answers to your questions. you have some very good folks here who will be able to help you out.

 

Barramac,

Welcome to the board, the only way to to learn the language is to speak it I guess. Try to catch some phreses, use them, extend them...
But like RHB said this still does not mean that the people here understand you...

Rhoody

 

Just to be off on this sub topic one time, If you are speaking English here to a store clerk or similar person. If they say no stock sir, sometimes it means they don't have a clue what you are saying. Say it again, draw a picture, or gaze around.
Also asking directions is a lot of fun when you first arrive. The universal answer is over there accompanied by a hand motion in a vague direction. Ofen a ply just to get rid of yo because they do not have the English skills required to explain. otherwise it is indicative of the way they navigate, a very Global intuitive outlook on life. Do not plan ahead, just look around.
English is very complex, specific and has a highly developed tense grammar.

visayan is primitive, and a recombination of Malay, Spanish, and English. Borrowing something from each, often they do not indicate even gender in a personal reference, or past present or future tenses. couple that with the fact that they use a limited alphabet.
e, c, f, j, q, v, x, z are not used in pure Visayan, but you will see them in foreign derived words and names often pronounced differently depending on the use.

Just go try speak it if you can, get drunk with the locals, it will get easier I think, or you will care less:D It is how I got by when I went Germany!
Haben sie dunkles bier? Works everytime.