Ilonggo Neo

I’m not sure if you were able to watch Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo movie of Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo.  They have a son named Rafa who has a Bisaya Yaya.  In the course of the movie, Ryan’s mom (played by Gloria Diaz) told the couple that they should be speaking English only to their son.  Judy Ann quickly cuts down the suggestion.  To add humor to the discussion, Rafa’s yaya called her ward to come inside the house.

Yaya: Rafa, pasok na sa loob.

Rafa: Kadyot lang yaya, nagduwa pa ko (saglit lang yaya, naglalaro pa ako).

Imagine the grandchild Gloria Diaz wanted to speak English instead of Tagalog is now conversing in Bisaya. 

That’s Neo’s case.  Our son loves to play Bulaga.  How did he learn this? Ate Marlyn.  But Neo doesn’t say bulaga!  What our baby says is “Ti-ka!”, which is the ilonggo term of bulaga.

Ate Marlyn is an Ilongga and loves to converse to Neo in her dialect.  There are times when she changes Neo’s diaper and would tell our son: “Bebe, alsa ang tiil” (baby, itaas ang paa).

Are we okay with that?  Yes we are.  Our son will learn a lot of Tagalog and English vocabulary at school (or from us, his parents).  He will also learn Ybanag from his papa, Bisaya from his mama – and to add Ilonggo from his ate Marlyn. J  Talk about a multi-lingual baby hahaha :D

Ciao!

Baby Neo’s Mama