Bisaya Buddy

Learning Bisaya can be easy!

Language Learning

Bisaya Buddy: Pluralization

By Leave a Comment

To get my complete Bisaya Buddy course click here!

Or try Lesson 1 for Free now!

Okay, so you learn how to speak a little bit of Bisaya, you learn some words, learn how to string together some sentences, and put a few phrases together as well. Then it hits you: how do you make plurals?

Well, most foreigners think they you just add an S at the end of the word. Sorry, Charlie, that is not correct. But, you see it online all the time in places where ex-pats gather, on Facebook, or wherever.

No, sorry it’s a little more complicated than that. But, once you learn how, it’s quite easy, because the same thing applies to all words. Mga. That is how you make a plural. That’s right, Mga. I know, If you can’t figure out what I’m talking about, much less how to pronounce that. Watch the video, and you will quickly learn. If you take some time to practice the pronunciation, you will get it. It is not an easy pronunciation for us Westerners though.

Have a look at the video!

Well, I hope that you find that to be quite easy because it is! Yes, the pronunciation will take a little bit of practice, but I am quite sure that you will have it down in no time. And, you can start pluralizing words the right way!

Good luck to you, and come back again next week for another episode of the Bisaya Buddy.

BB: More Personal Pronouns

By 2 Comments

To get the Full Version of my Bisaya Buddy Course, click here!

Or try Lesson 1 for Free now!

Last week on Bisaya Buddy we learned about Personal Pronouns (You, I, He/She, They). But, there are more personal pronouns.  The pronouns we will learn this week are words that we don’t have in English!

These might be hard to grasp at first, but with a little though, I don’t think you will have trouble! You might even find that in this case, the Bisaya language is more specific than English is, because of the availability to address “You” in the group form, and We Inclusive and Exclusive. In English, we just say “You” whether it is one person or a hundred people!

Likewise, when we say “we” in English we might mean We being you and the person you are talking to, or you might be telling the person you are talking to that “we” are doing to do something with another person! It can get confusing if you consider it!With a little practice, this will become second nature to you, I know that is how it worked for me!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s lesson and will be back again next week for our next lesson!

Next week we are going to look at something that a LOT of foreigners make mistakes on when trying to say a few words in Bisaya!

BB: Personal Pronouns

By Leave a Comment

To get my full Bidaya Buddy course click here

Or try Lesson 1 for Free now!

Last week we kicked off my first of a new series of posts here on LiP, Bisaya Buddy. These are intended to be miniature lessons in the Bisaya language, things that will help you in daily conversation so that you can say a few words in Bisaya.

I was really very happy after my post last week because I really got a lot of nice feedback. Many people also subscribed to my YouTube channel, which is also greatly appreciated. If you like these lessons, be sure that you subscribe to my YouTube channel, and after clicking the subscribed but, also click on the little button with a bell symbol on it, because then you will be notified when I have new posts.

In today’s edition of the Bisaya Buddy minicourse, we will be looking at personal pronouns, we will look at how to say things like you, I, he, or they. There will be a little bit more in the way of personal pronouns next week, but these are a good start, and a great building block to help you be able to speak a little bit of Bisaya. In almost everything you say you will be referring to somebody, so these words will be a great way to start you off.

Some people who are more interested in Tagalog than Bisaya will be happy to hear that I will also start doing many Tagalog lessons soon. I have worked out a way that I can do this, even though I do not speak Tagalog fluently. Watch this space, probably within the next week I will have my first mini Tagalog lessons.

Thank you for watching my video, and good luck with learning the language! Learning how to speak Bisaya (or Tagalog) can really help improve your life in the Philippines, make you a happy ex-pat, and a successful part of society here. I know this for sure, because I’ve learned the language, and I know how my life has changed.

Personal Greetings in the Philippines

By 22 Comments

Get my Full Bisaya Buddy Course, click here!

Or try Lesson 1 for Free now!

Well, I am starting something new today, and it is my intention to do it on the website every Saturday (Philippine time). I am going to be giving Bisaya (Cebuano) mini-lessons every week!

I learned to speak Bisaya back from 2006 through 2011 from a local tutor, and very close friend, Bebe Metillo. Bebe is like a sister to me, and she spent a lot of time and effort in teaching me the language. I can say, the work that I put into it paid off with a happy life in the Philippines, and knowing the language has offered me many opportunities too!

Because I have enjoyed knowing the language so much, I want to help others to learn as well. Even if you don’t take the time to learn to be fluent in Bisaya knowing just a little bit will help you become more accepted into Philippine Society, and help you enjoy your life here. I know it has done that for me!

Bisaya is what they call Cebuano in Mindanao. So, that is what I call it. In the Visayas, there are variations of Cebuano in different regions, but knowing Cebuano, Bisaya will be helpful to you if you are visiting or living anywhere in the Visayas or Mindanao. If you will be in Luzon, you probably should think about learning Tagalog to get the great benefits of knowing the language. Sorry, I don’t speak Tagalog, so I can’t be of help to you there!

If you enjoy these mini-lessons, come back to LiP weekly and pick up a new one! Or you can visit my YouTube Channel (please subscribe, and click on the “bell” logo so you get updates).

Subscribe to Bob’s Newsletter