I took my first Bisaya lesson on Thursday in Davao. My teacher is Bebe, and she is helping me to learn to speak the native language here in Mindanao. I have been trying to learn on my own, but it’s difficult as there are few resources available for self study. Bisaya, aka Cebuano, is mostly an oral language. Everyone speaks it here, but few understand it’s grammar and structure.
Bob over at LiP is also learning Bisaya and he recommended Bebe. I’m glad he did as she is a very good teacher. My goal is to learn the first nine lessons in the first book that I was given. I’ve completed lesson one and two and I have five pages of homework for this week. I will continue to take one or two lessons every week, depending on the difficulty.
I don’t want to just get through each lesson, I want to make sure that I have plenty of practice with each new concept before I move on. It’s also important to me that I spend time to internalize the new vocabulary and to get the correct pronunciation. Luckily, I have everyone here to help me every day. Ako si Kevin. Maestro ko.
Hi Kevin – I’m looking at taking lessons from Bebe, too. I will have to do it online, though. Bob is discussing the details with her, so hopefully it will all work out. I wonder about the book though. Is that something I could pick up in the States do you think?
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Randy,
Good for you. Bebe puts it all together and explains a lot of things like how the grammar works. The book I bought from her looks like she made it herself. I don’t think you’ll be able to get it in the states. No publisher or ISBN #. Maybe she can post the book for you as a PDF when you start taking lessons with her online. Let me know if you need anything.
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visayan language is very easy to speak and learn i tell you. Its easy as spanish.
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Would like to learn to speak Bisaya also.
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PLEASE SEND INF MATION ON LEARNING TO SPEAK BISAYAI HAVE A FIANCE IN GEN SAN SO PLEASE HELP ME TO LEARN
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Im a bit upset to find the bisaya i was learning from the site is southern and my fiance is northern, what a bummer and no one teaches northern that i can find so i guess i should move on to tagalog until im with my fiance.
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It must be Cebuano or sinebuano Cebuano version.
Visayan(bisaya) has many defferent languages Cebuano,Ilongo,Waray, Capiznon etc. http://www.binisaya.com/content/word-bisaya-cofusion-answered http://www.pagadian.org/bisaya.htm Heavy migration to Mindanao of people from Cebu and Dumaguete etc in 1940′s, spurred by government-sponsored resettlement programmes,is the reason that mostly people in Mindanao are Cebuano or 90% speak the Cebuano language.
Also Ilonggo people from Panay and Negros islands who speak Hiligaynon migrated in Mindanao and most of them settled in Pigkawayan and Midsayap North Cotabato areas. Also the reason why mostly people in these areas are Ilongo.
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Kevin Smith Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 7:55 am
George,
Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for the lesson, I learned a lot.
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