As Filipinos from all over the world celebrate “Buwan ng Wika” (National Language Month), they honor the birthdate of the Father of the National Language, Manuel L. Quezon on August 19, 1878.
As part of the month-long celebration, The Filipino Times challenged expats from several nationalities to try out our very own tongue twisters in our native language to see how they would fare. Ranging from easy to difficult, here were the 7 tongue twisters that they had to do.
Easy
– Siopao, siomai, suman. (Steamed buns, pork dumplings, rice cake)
– Nakakapagpabagabag kapag kinakabag ka.
– Bituka, botika, butiki. (Intestine, pharmacy, lizard)
Medium
– Pitumpu’t pitong puting tupa (77 white sheeps.)
– Sinusi ni Susan ang sisidlan ng sisiw. (Susan locked the chick’s cage.)
Difficult
– Pinaputi ni Tepiterio ang pitong puting putong patong patong. (Tepiterio whitened up the 7 white rice cakes on top of each other.)
– Palakang kabkab, kumakalabukab. Kakakalabukab pa lamang, kumakalabukab na naman.
The participants mentioned that after the exercise they were more inclined to learn more about the Filipino language as it will help them understand what their Filipino colleagues are talking about.
Filipinos press on to enrich their native language as they continue to use it even if they’re miles away from their home country. With several fellow Filipinos to talk to overseas, they don’t need to feel alienated as they can easily speak to someone who knows their native language by heart.
TFT Lifestyle TV is a weekly show that tells the life stories and shares the lifestyle of OFWs based in the UAE. A new episode is shown every Friday so be sure to check the Facebook page of The Filipino Times to stay updated with each episode.
In case you missed it on our Facebook page, here’s the video:
