Filipino-American sya( taga bohol iyang fam)tapos ako Papua New Guinean pero nadako kos cebu so bisdak na bisdak jud ko. I lived in cebu since 2 pa ko hangtud 14yrs old.
Unsaon pagsaysay bitaw ang "Oy" oy 😭 unsa ako ingon niya
" its for emphasis"
Nabuang jud ko ani. I spent almost 15 minutes trying to explain to him the usage pero wala pa gyud niya nasabtan giatayyy.
I'm sorry if this comes across as disrespectful, but what is it with some Filipino families shaming their own children when they try to learn/speak their native language?
I (20M), a Papuan/Melanesian Pacific Islander, grew up and lived in the Philippines from the age of 5 to 14 due to my dad's job. As a result, I grew up speaking Cebuano (Binisaya) as my third language. I can speak Tagalog as well, but I can't do the Manila accent for the life of me.
Anyways, my boyfriend( 23M Filipino) and I met in college, and, shocker, his family happens to be from Bohol. He was never taught Bisaya, so I've been helping him learn the basics—grammar, sentence structure, conjugations, and so on.
Three days ago, we attended a party his family hosted. Wanting to improve his Bisaya, he started incorporating Bisaya sentences into conversations. His uncle overheard him and, for some reason, said:
"Way lami imong Bisaya, oy haha."
Which essentially translates to, "Your Bisaya isn't very good."
And Everyone started laughing, and he just awkwardly smiled. When he drove me to my place, he pretty much stayed quiet the whole ride there.
It's been 3 days now, and he hasn't been practicing his Bisaya with me the way he normally would.
Previous similar occurences were mostly them criticizing his pronunciation. The recent one pushed me off the edge.
I know bisaya humour and that was plain bullying. And I won't stand for it.
To his uncle:
Fk u PISTING YAWA KA TANGINA KA AMAWA. GISAPOT TINGALI KA KAY WAY GITI SA IMO KINABUHI.
It's literally like the only thing we have in common with them is that we grew up in the same country. Everything else feels so different.
For context, my friend and I grew up in small cities in the Philippines( I'm 🇵🇬 and he's 🇩🇪) and attended small private schools. Meanwhile, our fellow TCK acquaintances grew up in big cities like Manila and Cebu and went to international schools.
The feeling is hard to explain, but it honestly feels like they didn't grow up in the Philippines at all.
Like, we can't even make a local reference without them asking us to explain it. High-key, it feels like they grew up somewhere like the U.S. or the U.K.
On top of that, most of them have lived in the Philippines for 8–12 years, yet they still can't speak Tagalog or Cebuano. And no, it's not a requirement or anything, but....
My friend and I speak both. We learned Cebuano from our friends, teachers, and classmates at school, and we learned Tagalog through our school's curriculum.
My friend went "so marunong ba kayo magsalita ng tagalog"
Then one of our aquaintances replied: "unfortunately no hahaha only hindi and salamat" idk if he was being deadass.
I don't know. Maybe I'm just being dense, but it really feels like we didn't grow up in the same country.
Like when i see a TCK that grew up in the country that I grew up in, I wanna be able to connect with them through the culture of the country we both basically call a second home😕.
Unsolicited opinion: one of the greatest souvenirs a Third Culture Kid can take with them is the language of the country they grew up in. Makes you feel less like a foreigner despite literally being one lol.
I speak cebuano and rudimentary tagalog.
I learned Tagalog in school, while Cebuano—or Binisaya, as it's known by the locals—was the language predominantly spoken in the area where I grew up. So, naturally, I eventually picked it up too.
When I leave
I want to carry this country with me—
not in my suitcase,
but on my tongue.
Because the greatest souvenir
I could ever take from the place that raised me, is its language.
I Definitely will be sobbing so hard at the airport 😕