I don’t hide my thick Bisaya accent when I speak Tagalog, even when I am in Manila.
I’m just confident. Just like Sir Manny Pacquiao.
I also don’t work for the hecklers, they don’t pay me to change my accent to sound like those first speakers of Tagalog.
If Manileños (or even a few Bisaya) laughed at my accent. It’s them who sinned because of their ignorance. I’m off the hook.
A lot of Bisaya are embarrassed to show their accent to those around them. From ordinary Bisaya to movie actors and politicians.
When these Bisaya speak, some are trying hard to hide the accent to sound like a Manileño but a good listener can sense the futile effort, others can speak fluently without a trace of Bisaya accent.
When I first came to Manila, I was insecure, with a bit of low self-esteem. I was defensive. I don’t what to be a laughingstock.
On my third time to Manila. I was more confident. I wanted to be different. I’d like those around know that I’m Bisaya.
Nobody had made fun of me or my accent, but there was one instance a guy was trying to hold back his giggle. Sadly, it was inside the church. We had our choir practice that time. But generally, probably 99.9% were nice to me.
But I can think of several reasons why they respected me:
- First, I am handsome.
- I have lighter skin. I’m of Chinese descent.
- I speak English when I can’t express myself in Tagalog.
- My clothes are not shabby.
- I’m an architect.
It could have been different if I was a houseboy or if I looked like Manny Pacquiao.
ok ra na bai.
pero ako naa ko tacloban, waray sila.
ako mag binisaya.. di man sila mo katawa.. mura man noon mo suko kay di kasabot. haha
mag tagalog lang ko usahay basta naa sa mall..
pero sila mag eninglis naman noon kay mura man noon ko chinese kay insikon man ko. hehe.
na lingaw lang ko , sige nalang noon ko smile aron di masuko sila. hehe.
I know why masuko sila, it’s being regionalistic. Even some Ilonggos duna kasuko gamay sa mga Cebuanos. I’m saying from my own observation, this is not generalization or a judgemental comment.
ara diri tanan sayop man nga words!!!!! mag sure ta oy! ania na diri tanan ang sakto.
Ipagpatuloy mo yan. Be proud of who you are. Aside from that, I think Ilonggos and Cebuanos should see the brotherhood in them. Inaapi na nga sila ng mga Tagalog mag-aaway pa sila? Having an Ilonggo mother and Aklanon father, although do not speak their languages except Tagalog and English, I sometimes find myself speaking in their accents already which I think I shouldn’t be ashamed of because it’s the identity I got from my parents.
Yeah, I could also blame Cebuanos for bullying other smaller Visayan regions for the animosity between them.