Cebuano phrasebook pronunciation guide · Pronunciation guide in Cebuano phrasebook
All Destinations | Europe | Asia | North America | Africa | South America | Oceania | Hotels
Pronunciation guide in Cebuano phrasebook
Pronunciation guide in Cebuano phrasebook
Cebuano/Bisayan is an extremely phonetic language, thus making it much more simple for non-Cebuano to learn and speak.
If one is familiar with Spanish, this makes Cebuano all the easier. Every Filipino dialect has similarities to Spanish (the Philippines having been conquered by the Spaniards and subsequently under Spanish rule for 300 years), and the pronunciation is nearly identical. Double "l"s in Cebuano are pronounced with a "y" sound, the "j" is typically spoken as "h", and the "r"s are rolled in the same way Spanish-speakers roll their "r"s.
The most common pronunciation mistake made by non-Cebuano speakers trying to learn the language is its double vowels. This by linguist is called a "glotal stop" which makes one sound pause before saying the other sound. Take, for instance, the phrase for good evening:: "Maayong gabii". Most non-Filipinos would read that out loud as "mai-yong gabby". Not so. Every vowel in Filipino languages are pronounced, even when they are following another vowel. Thus, good evening would be "ma-ayong gabi-i". So take notice each double vowel aa, ii, oo, ua, au, etc. have a glotal stop. These sounds "ula and ola" the 'l' has a 'w' sound as in "water". For 'ala' the 'l' disappears eg. halang (hang).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cebuano phrasebook
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cebuano phrasebook - updated Apr 2024
SAVE up to 75% on Last Minute deals! Search for discount Cebuano phrasebook hotels, motels, apartments, hostels, guest accommodations and vacation resorts. Book now and pay at the hotel. Instant email confirmation!
>>> SEARCH FOR DEALS <<<
WHERE TO TRAVEL NEXT IN 2020
Cebuano phrasebook Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.