This post is inspired by the latest Banana Q Podcast episode entitled Why Do (Most) Cebuanos Hate to Speak in Tagalog. As a true blue Cebuano who happened to end up in Manila right after university for work, I can totally relate to this topic, 100%. And because I have so much inputs, I decided to put it in a blog post! Before proceeding, I would like to say that this is my own personal opinion, based on my assessment of most of the people around me while growing up in Cebu and then eventually working in Manila.

So, why do Cebuanos hate to Speak Tagalog?

The podcast has captured a lot of these points but here are the reasons why I think we don’t like to speak Tagalog.

1. People just don’t generally speak Tagalog in Cebu, and the podcast was spot on when they said we only use it (albeit awkwardly) in Filipino classes at school. Other than that, there’s no reason to use it in daily conversations. When I went to Pampanga and purchased something at a store, the personnel would speak to customers in Tagalog by default. But in Cebu, we don’t do that. The default is Bisaya. Even if you speak in Tagalog, most of us will still answer you either in Bisaya or English. We don’t want to be made fun of our accent or our poor choice of Tagalog words. You are in Cebu, so who will adjust? HAHA.
2. Cebuanos are a prideful group of people. We have a strong bond with our land and our language, perhaps, even more than that for the country as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, we can be nationalistic – but you can’t really blame us. Everything in the national news is about Metro Manila. All of the developments are in Metro Manila. Movies and shows are all set in Manila, and are in Tagalog. So basically, we don’t see ourselves portrayed in the media, other than as yayas, house boys or drivers with strong accents in shows or gags. As a personal experience while working in Manila, whenever someone pronounces a word differently, people would jokingly say “Bisaya lang?” which implies that a person is Bisaya for not pronouncing words correctly. But there I was silently judging the same person for pronouncing the word firm as feerm. HAHA.
3. The Cebuano humor doesn’t translate well to Tagalog. Cebuanos are a fun-loving people, much more than those from the capital who are busy making money, furthering their career, etc. There is a reason why people go to the islands for a break from the stressful city life after all. It’s not because Metro Manila is a big metropolis and Cebu isn’t. The tri-cities of Cebu are as progressive or even more progressive than other cities that are part of Metro Manila. That said, Cebuanos like to not take things seriously, crack a joke at the smallest or the biggest things, and we have our own words or set of words to express these things that the Tagalog language doesn’t allow us to. For example: Nganong ni-enter, Istoryahi, Imong mama…xxxx, would lose their playfulness and come off as harsh when translated in Tagalog. There are also just not enough curse words in Tagalog that can go with the level of annoyance one feels – from the mild ahak, the light atot, to the varying degrees of atay depending on how you pronounce it, calling someone yawa (the devil), and a lot of other words (kayasa, kayata, pisti) up to the stronger combination of pisting gi-atay ka yawaa ka – punches the right feelings that Putang ina can never express.

Now what?

Should we bring back the protests? No, that won’t bring us anywhere. I still recognize Filipino (language) as the National Language and believe that we all should learn it as it strengthens our sense of identity as a Filipino (person). But – this doesn’t mean that we should neglect the rest of the other languages of the country. We shouldn’t think twice about using them in mainstream media because we worry that no one will patronize a show, movie or song that uses the local languages. Believe me, that’s not true at all. We need to change that mindset and I’m proud to say we’ve made progress in that department. Although we still have a long way to go, we are slowly seeing the rise of Cebuano language in mainstream media.

1. Bisaya movies spoken fully in Bisaya such as Patay na si Hesus (you can find it on Netflix, and I suggest you watch it to understand what I mean by Cebuano humor haha).
2. Bisaya songs from Bisrock and Vispop are slowly being played in radio stations in Metro Manila, with music videos also played on MYX (the only remaining music channel in the country). Back in college, Bisrock was big in the Visayas and Mindanao, and had a small following in a few universities in Metro Manila. We were super dedicated in promoting this new style of music that’s 100% in Cebuano as it broke mainstream radio in Cebu. The hype has died since with the lack supporters but we are seeing a revival in Cebuano music through Vispop. Now, there’s even a PPOP group produced by Viva called Alamat that sings in 7 local languages on their songs (and believe me, it sounds great).
3. With the rise of YouTube, Bisaya celebrities who were only limited to talking in Tagalog on the big and small screens are now using Bisaya for their vlogs, attracting interest in the language from their fans nationwide.

Those are my few cents on why Cebuanos hate to speak in Tagalog, but more than that, I am looking forward to the day when every language in the country is celebrated, valued and represented on a national scale. Back in college, I was part of a group of friends which really tried to push the Bisaya language forward through music. Discussions like these get me excited because the more we talk about it, we get more awareness, and there’s more chance of people doing something about it, right?

If you’re interested in hearing the rest of this educational but equally fun episode, check it out on Spotify below!

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments below!