It is no joke when you have to travel to other worldly destinations and the first hurdle you need to overcome is the language barrier. Is it possible to be ready to mingle and interact with the locals armed with your spoken language whether it be English, German, Finnish, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, or whichever language you speak?
The answer is an unequivocal, YES.
It is absolutely possible especially in Cebu and the Philippine islands in general, for you to explore the islands even without knowing a single spoken word in the locale since English is considered a second language. Thus, most everyone know and understand English.
But if you have the chance to be equipped and be readily able to speak the language which you could potentially use to enrich your island-hopping experience, would you pass the opportunity?
Learning a new language in general seems to be such a daunting task. And it's even going to be such a challenge if you don't have the time to learn it. If you merely decided to fly to the Cebu islands on a whim, and realize later than sooner that you knew nothing about the language, let alone the culture of the people living in that island, chances are you'll be praying on your way there that you will find a good travel agent who can guide you around, and hope with all your might that you'll meet people who will be more than willing to help you out to keep you safe and have an enjoyable stay away from home.
Well, those days of leaving your options to chance is over. You can actually prepare yourself for the new experience by taking a quick handy tutorial that you can learn while en route to the Philippine islands. Let's put it this way. All you need is a good two to five hours of your travel time which you will probably mostly spend watching movies or shows that you have previously watched a thousand times already, on the plane. I promise you it's not uncommon. I've done that myself out of boredom and excitement to arrive to my destination as quickly as I can. This happens when your mindset is traveling faster than your actual on air speed, theoretically. I am just stating the obvious. Travel to the tropical islands is always a very exciting adventure, and the enthusiasm sometimes kills our enjoyment of the journey.
But going back, if you can make good use of two hours of your travel time to learn the basics and spend another three hours to gain mastery of the most common phrases of the Cebuano language will you waste that chance?
I am not going to write a very lengthy prologue, but this post is intended for your to get acquainted to a Cebuano language learning material that a good friend of mine has authored and I personally believe as one of the best Visayan language tutorials available today be it online or from a hard copy. Fortunately for travelers like you who has a need to get tutored on the spoken language, this material is available now for easy download from www.amazon.com. You can quickly find it by typing the keyword -- bisdak which is the slang for a Cebuano local or native.
There is a bunch of possible language tutorials that you can buy out there, but those references don't really convey to you the core idea of what the spoken Cebuano or Visayan language is about. The tutorials out there are either too lengthy or too complex to digest in a short amount of time. Sometimes we get panicked when we don't have enough time to learn something new, and more so when the subject matter is not laid out for the total beginner.
And I could not stress enough the importance of a well-devised language tutorial that focuses on the functional use of the language especially without the extra language structure conundrum.
I am not saying that this beginner's reference for the spoken Visayan language is not structured per se, but it is designed with you in mind -- a traveler who is pressed for time and has no exposure to the language.
It is made with practical simplicity and an uncompromising flow so that by the time you get to finish the book, you are already armed with the most commonly spoken words and phrases. You will literally surprise any Cebuano or Visayan speaking resident of your new-found skill and unquestionable comprehension of a foreign language. In addition to that you will also gain a basic understanding of Cebu's cultural heritage and a bit of the Cebuano background.
Enrich your learning now with an easily deliverable e-book which you can read through the kindle app on your desktop or on your different mobile devices. Better yet, if time affords you, you can order the paperback copy and have it delivered to your doorstep overnight.
With that I am hoping that the material that I have shared to you will effectively make your travel to the islands, easy, enjoyable, worthwhile and will enrich your experience with new adventures.
I will be eagerly awaiting for your feedback
Bon voyage!
And when you get to Cebu or the Visayan islands, let me say in unison with the locals, 'Maayong Pag-abot.'
