Bisaya One Step at a Time

My husband was listening to a podcast today called "Spanish of the Day." It was interesting. It got me thinking about how my husband, from here on out to be known as DH, and I have been married forever and he doesn't know squat about my language. Not even some of the salient dirty phrases. I've been remiss.

It's Visaya, or Bisaya or Cebuano aka spoken language of people from Cebu and Mindanao. I used the terms Bisayan or Cebuano interchangeably. I am not sure if there's a difference. So, until someone informs me, I'll keep doing that. Actually, Bisaya or Cebuano is the mostly spoken language of Visayas and Mindanao, two of the major 3 islands of the Philippines. So back to how my husband of almost 15 years still cannot speak my language. None of my 5 children can either.

How sad is that? Here I am have a pretty good command of 3 languages, and my family cannot. I am sure that there are others out there who are in the same boat. I might as well get started teaching some. Maybe, 3 years down the road, DH and my children can actually understand when someone asks them for a glass of water, or even better, can ask for a glass of water.

So here goes...

Bisaya of the day...day one

Palihug, taga-e ko ug tubig.
Other variations: Taga-e ko'g tubig, palihug.
Or to be specific least someone dumps a bucket of water on you:
Palihug, taga-e ko'g isa ka baso nga tubig. (isa ka baso = one glass of
water)
Meaning: Please, give me some water.

Links:

• English-Bisaya Grammar
• English-Cebuano/Cebuano-English
• Cebuano Language resources
• Wikepedia on Bisaya
• Don't know for sure, but some papers on Bisaya