As a foreigner living here in the Philippines, I find that communication is a never-ending cultural adventure. In fact, I’ve read that there are 187 languages spoken in the country, 183 of which are living tongues (meaning, someone still uses them), including eight common dialects. It’s no wonder why I’m so confused!
With linguistic differences running the gambit from charming to ingenious to just-head-scratching, the quest for mutual understanding is often elusive. I swear that most of the time, Filipinos just look at me and nod, but don’t register a word I’m saying!
But before I look to hire an English-to-English translator, I remind myself that it’s all part of the wonderful Grand Experience of life as an expat.
So in the spirit of celebrating those differences, here are some of my observations on language and communication here in the Philippines:
I love it that twice is nice in the Philippines with words like loko-loko, halo-halo, oh-oh, and sige-sige.
Sometimes, it’s just pronunciation that differs, such as the amusing Filipino pronunciation of lotto as “lote-toe.”
But I can’t accuse Filipinos of being anything but ultra-positive because they seem to be incapable of saying “no.”
“Can I please order the chicken sandwich?”
“Yes, I’m sorry we don’t have that today.”
“Wait, yes you do? Or yes, you don’t?”
“Yes”
The answer is always “yes” even if I ask a two-part question, like:
“Excuse me, is the market over there or is it that way?”
“Yes.”
Or I’ll get a “yes” with a coy smile and a nod if I ask something, and they’re not sure of the answer, sending me on a wild goose chase.
That same fun game of Let’s Confuse the Foreigner extends to directions, as trike drivers ask me all the time if they should take a left, or “the other left” instead (right).
Filipinos also love abbreviations, acronyms, and creative shortcuts. I’m getting familiar with lingo like “resto” for restaurant, “pax” for passengers, “Good PM” instead of good evening or afternoon, “OFW” for Overseas Filipino Worker, “KJ” for kill-joy, and “OA” if you are being over-acting or overly dramatic.
But I find they despise “LOL” (laugh out loud) for some strange reason.
Filipinos will joke they get a “nosebleed” if they don’t relate or don’t understand something I said. In America, “nosebleed” refers to getting seats so high up in a venue that the altitude is causing you a nose bleed.
Some modern sayings were born from Filipino interaction with American military servicemen, like the tendency to call Americans “Joe” as in G.I. Joe — often with a sharp salute.
A fascinating example of this is the Fil-Am Franken word “buckwheat.” The term originated during World War II when Americans used the word “evacuate” and Filipino soldiers repeated it with their accent as bakwit. That endeared U.S. servicemen, who then started calling an evacuation as “buckwheat” in honor of their Filipino comrades.
And I have to be careful when I say “salvage” which means “to rescue something from wreckage” in American English. Here, however, it refers to murder or extra-judicial killing in the Philippines, derived from the Tagalog word salbahe (naughty, abusive) and the Spanish salvaje (savage) before that.
I’ve noticed that many words are spelled phonetically, like gwapo which comes from the Español word guapo; and also the word eskwela from escuela.
Likewise, the Filipino’s attempts at writing in English — like on Facebook — can sometimes take a turn for the hilarious. I’m not lying when I say I’ve seen “Little Beth” to mean “a little bit”; “not a miss” to mean “anonymous”; and my favorite: “bone app de teeth” (bon appetit).
Filipinos can even breathe life into an inanimate thing with sayings like “We had a traffic” and “It’s very traffic,” or “Did you have a mud in your house after that rain last night?”
Communication in the Philippines also employs many symbols like sticking out the tongue, crossing the eyes in response to someone’s silliness or pandering, and framing the face with the forefinger and thumb in photos to indicate that one is pogi.
Non-verbals come into play, too, as Filipinos can have an entire conversation just by pointing with their lips, raising an eyebrow, or with the ubiquitous subtle head nod.
“What would you like to you avail?” caused me pause when I first moved here, since the word “avail” isn’t used much in American English.
Filipinos will say, “See how you are?!” when you’ve said something irreverent, and I’ve learned the hard way that a “green-minded” person isn’t concerned with the environment, but something far naughty.
You should have seen the look of shocked embarrassment on the waitress when I asked for napkins in a restaurant! Thankfully, she only handed me a box of tissue.
And I love the way they’ll add “only” after telling me how much something costs, like “That’s 2,000 pesos ONLY” — as if to soften the blow.
But that’s still better than the most popular answer to “How much does it cost?” here in the Philippines, “How much can you pay?”
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