Is there really a diction problem among Bisayas when it comes to ENGLISH?

[arnoldsa]

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Is there really a diction problem among Bisayas when it comes to ENGLISH?

Why is it that many in Manila look at Cebuanos/Bisayas as the worst english speaker? If so, then why are there so many call centers in Cebu with some Call Center Companies saying that the people here speak better english than in the capital? Very confusing..

For example, is there really a difference between baysikol (Bisaya) and baysikel (Tagalog)? Because in my own point of view, both are just the same (meaning both are not the correct diction).

Aside from this, we can also see in the movies where "Bisayas" are usually portrayed as sounding funny while trying hard to speak english or tagalog.


I'm asking this question and I hope to get the insights of the forumers because I found this article in The Freeman:
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/FRE...0611182402.htm


Below are some excerpts from the article:

But what infuriated me really was the comment of concert producer Girlie Rodis, when Jay-R was nominated for the first time. "You have diction problems siguro dahil taga-Cebu ka." Hello?! What did she mean by that comment? What was she thinking at that time? Did she not realize such line was very insulting to Cebuanos? I think she has to explain what she meant by such comment, because if you'll literally take it, it would mean Cebuanos do not have good diction or cannot speak good English. To which I strongly disagree because call center executives have been saying again and again how practical it has been to put up their businesses here because Cebuanos are not only efficient workers but are also good English speakers.

Good thing direk Joey Reyes later on consoled Jay-R by saying: "you have a diction problem and you have to correct that ... but sasabihin ko sayo iho: don't be ashamed of your Cebuano accent, you should be proud of being a Cebuano." For that I love direk Joey for being sensitive to the feelings of others as compared to the statement of Rodis that already bordered on discrimination and rudeness.

.:.

[Mabix]

tinuyo ma nang uban woi labi na kanang mga taga call centers. ila pa, "di mi hamburger" kung naa mi sa gawas. pero when at work mangawas jud ang pagkafluent sa english. prehas sa ako miga. pwerteng gahia jud mu bisaya ug kanang inenglish kung storya lng sa barkada pero sa trabaho, sus murag " hello america, how may I help you" jud ka.

[lestat1116]

ana jud na sila pagsagdi nalang na. kay basin mo dako na..

[arnoldsa]

^^

No, what I mean is that why do they look at us as having a diction problem when they too have a diction problem?

Sometimes they make fun and say that we have a hard tongue. But don't they have a very soft tongue too which actually makes no difference when speaking proper english?

As what I've said, I guess there's no difference between baysikol (Bisaya for Bicycle) and baysikel (Tagalog for Bicycle). Diba? But why do the people in the capital think that if you're Bisaya, you're not good in english? Could it be because they are the dominant culture in our country?


.:.

[splendid moonlight]

not all people in the Capital. our pinoy boss think Cebuanos have a higher proficiency in English than people in Manila. and he's from Makati.

i wasn't aware that there is a dominant culture here in the Philippines.

[digitalsuperman]

LOL..let the manila peeps think that they are the dominant culture..they can have their own ways, we have our own. Manila peeps are proud people, whereas cebuanos are humble people, IMHO.

[budmendz]

Frankly speaking, I don't worry about that. It's not only diction but pronunciation as well. We may sound a bit "hard" because of our hard tonques compared to our Manilan cousins but mind you a harder tonque is much much better than a soft one. If you have wives or girlfriends, they would prefer harder tonques -he-he-he-he-... -again that diction problem doesn't bother me.

I don't watch their crap anyway but when you say baysikol or baysikel it is obvious that baysikol sounds "closer" to bycycle than baysikel. I have the Macmillan's latest dictionary on CD and the beauty of this dictionary is that you can listen to the audio how to pronounce a certain word the right way wether it be in British or American English.

The problem is that the Manilans have invented their own and says, "Oh, you poor Cebuanos, you're saying it wrong". Anyhow, diction is not a measurement of how smart you are. Mayor Osmena has plans of using the BBC materials to be used in our elementary schools in Cebu. If this pushes through it is a step in the right direction. Our Visayan grown ups will soon be having British accents while the Manilans can continue with their baysikel.

[Ms.Beau]

baysikel is distinctively tagalog while baysikol is distinctively bisaya. neither is better. they're just different from each other (and slightly so).

now if we talk about speaking correct american english, we know the pronunciation should be bai-si-kuhl. strictly not baysikol or baysikel.

so is there a diction problem among bisayas? of course, as there is a diction problem among tagalogs, waray-warays, ilonggos,etc. We filipinos are non-native english speakers, so we speak the language with our local accents. It's not bad; it's just simply NOT the english spoken by americans, british, canadians, and australians. one may opt to take accent-reduction english classes with the purpose of approximating the diction of native english speakers.

that comment by Girlie Rodis was simply a gaffe. she forgot that her own english was very tagalized. strictly speaking, she too has a diction problem.

[arnoldsa]

^^

Nice input guys. Somewhat very intellectual, hehehe..

Actually, in another online forum I also encountered the "same thing." I was actually typing the name "Manuel Quezon" and I mispelled it as "Manuel Quizon."

Another forumer then quoted me and said "Taga Visayas talaga..." just because of the typo error "Quizon" instead of "Quezon."

Maybe he was alluding to the fact that I may pronounce "Quezon" with a hard "i" thus I spelled it as "Quizon" although it was just a simple typo, obviously because I got used to Dolphy's surname which is far more popular..


.:.

[bcasabee]

In my case......it really doesn't matter if I have a diction problem or not since I'm not into the showbiz or the call center industry wherein you really have to sound good for your intended audiences in which pa cute cute jud dapat imong tingog......
Even in the U.S...I think they also have different accents for each states.....U.S..and British even have different ways of saying english words......
The Singaporeans and Japanese(successful in business) are not even good in english but does it matter to them? Inarte ra na sa atoa......kung imong trabaho is ordinary lang and do not involve pa cute cute, unlike sa showbiz or call center(U.S. clients), it really doesn't matter. What matters most is that you have you have presented your ideas well nga maka convince ug potential costumers without regard to accent..........
Even the native english speaker foreigners doesn't care about how we pronounce words, so why should we care?
In the industry that I am into, we really don't care how we pronounce things.....what's important is that the ideas that you have presented are profitable for the company that you are working for.......keyword is idea....mao ra na......
If fellow Filipinos will look down on you because of your accent, then it only show their unprofessionlism(unless if your profession is in line with the pa cute cute industry like showbiz). When I was in highschool, we used to laugh at people who commit mistakes in pronouncing words. But were not in high school anymore, were much mature and don't care muich anymore in that aspect.........
In other words, ayaw pa apektar anang diction kay wala jud nay bearing sa imong profession unless kung naa ka sa showbiz nga porus ra pa cute cute...........