bisdaks unite!
lami ra gyud ang bisaya.
kung ikumpara sa tagalog, i am certainly prejudiced kay bisaya gud ko! palag?!! hehe.
from the time i first learned to talk until the time i went off to college, i spoke tagalog...well, "davao tagalog" really. it was what was spoken at home and in school. i could understand bisaya, but i couldn't speak it fluently. the most lalum phrase that i could say back then was "ayaw kabalaka...".
when i decided to go to a university in the visayas, i simply had no idea what i got myself into. i arrived weeks before school started and had my mom for company. i was practically mute and would talk only with mama; she'd be the one communicating with everybody else--medyo funny paminawon kay she speaks with a mix of ilonggo, bisaya and tagalog.
anyway, even before school began, i was referred to by my dorm mates as "hilas", "arte", "dato nga tagalog". the latter was meant contemptuously. my bank account had no actual bearing on the matter. for some reason, a tagalog-speaking person was perceived as elitist.
i had joined the archery team at the beginning of the semester and hanging out with a bunch of dumaguete guys, plus a scornful dumaguetena who had no patience for my speech, i learned to revise my tongue quickly.
in a matter of weeks, i was fluent in dumaguetespeak. madahan! di pud dagway! hehe!
karon, mas ganahan na ko magbinisaya. usahay maglisud gihapon ko pero mas layhan na ko kesa managalog...mas kumportable na hinuon ko. ambot lang kung sakto ba ang spelling sa akong visayan words or kung sakto ba ang grammar. basta, in any case, i found my true self--bisaya dyud diay ko!