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20 Bicol and Tagalog Words I Love

August 1, 2018January 9, 2022 | Chelsea
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“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.”

– Flora Lewis

After my most recent Language Proficiency Interview, I started thinking about words in Bicol and Tagalog I’ve come to love.  I like these words for a variety of reasons, I like how they relate to Filipino culture, I like that some of them have no direct English translation, and others have become such a part of my vocabulary I use them with Filipinos and Peace Corps Volunteers alike.

1. Mahal

Pronounced: Ma-hal

This means expensive and it’s probably the tagalog word most commonly used between Peace Corps Volunteers.  No one knows when it started, but now it has become synonymous with expensive.

Example: I looked into that hostel but it’s mahal so I need to find a different option.

2. Lang

Pronounced: La-ng

Lang means only or just but it’s used after the subject.  So if something is only 20 pesos, it would be ‘20 pesos lang’.  It’s a super easy word to just tack on to every day speech and it’s an easy way to ask for clarification.

Example:

You: Tag-pira ang pamasahae? (how much is the fare)

Me: 30 pesos

You: 30 pesos lang?

Me: Oo (yes)

3. Kilig

Pronounced Kee-li-g

This word doesn’t directly translate in English.  It’s used to describe the light in your stomach, racing heart feeling.  Most people have explained it to me as the way you feel when you see your crush, and I think the closest English translation would be what we call ‘having butterflies in your stomach’.  Learning a new language, I’ve realized how much a language says about it’s associated culture and I believe this word is a perfect example.  The Philippines loves love, and they have a lot of words to describe feelings of love that we don’t have in English.

4. Masiram/Masarap

Pronounced Ma-si-ram / Ma-sa-ra-p

The first (masiram) is Bicol and the second (masarap) is Tagalog, they both directly translate to delicious.  While these words are directly used to describe the taste of food, I love these words because they’re often used to describe things other than food.  They’re also used to describe when something is particularly refreshing.  When a strong, cool breeze blows through on a hot day, it can be described as masarap or ‘sarap.

“‘sarap ang hangin”

Or when jumping into a cold pool on a hot day, the water can also be described as ‘masarap’

“Masarap ang tubig”

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5. Ate, Kuya, Nanay

Pronounced: Ah-tay, Koo-yah, and Nah-n-aye

These words mean older sister, older brother, and mother respectively, but they’re not reserved only for those people.  Ate and Kuya apply to everyone and anyone.  The kids in my community call me Ate Chelsea, I call tryke drivers and jeep conductors ‘kuya’.  It’s used a term to get someone’s attention but it’s more informal than ‘ma’am’.  I would say the term ‘nanay’ is used more as a term of endearment.  When an elder woman is getting off a jeep and has to walk crouched over to the exit, the jeep conductor might tell her ‘luway luway nanay’ (slowly, slowly, nanay).  I like the use of these words because it reflects the closeness of community here.  I know I will miss being called Ate Chelsea.

6. Salamat sa Dios

Pronounced: Sa-la-ma-t sah Di-o-s

The first time I heard the direct translation of this phrase was after I first met my counterpart.  We took a taxi from our hotel to the bus station to go to my site for the first time.  When we arrived safely at the bus station, she turned to me and said ‘Thanks God’.  Since then, I’ve heard the tagalog phrase used whenever something favorable happens.  For example, when the fans have been off all day because of a power outage and everyone is sweaty and uncomfortable.  When the power suddenly flips back on and the fans come to life, people will sigh and say ‘Salamat sa Dios’

7. Butiki

Prounounced: Boo-ti-kee

This is a small house lizard that I can say with confidence inhabits every home of the Philippines.  They skitter across the walls chasing one another and the bugs.  They are welcome house guests keeping away the mosquitos and cockroaches.  Sometimes they fight with one another and make loud territorial clicking noises.  When I still lived at my host family’s house, our cat had a bunch of kittens and when they were big enough they started pouncing on the butiki that skittered across the floor.  One time, one of the kittens caught one by the tail and the lizard quickly detached it’s tail and took off.  The tail kept wriggling and kept the kitten entertained while the butiki was able to escape!  Evolution, one point; Kitten, zero.

I once accidentally confused binuton (a glutinous rice snack) with butiki and my host family still won’t let me live it down because it sounded like I said I wanted to eat lizards.

8. Palay, Bigas, Kanin, Tipo

Prounounced: Pal-aye, Bee-gas, Ka-nin, Tee-po

The Philippines has a bunch of different words for different types and conditions for rice!  I like these words because it’s a reflection of how important rice is here.  Are there any English words that behave this way? Something Americans use different words to describe different details or conditions of one subject that other languages would just use one word to describe?  If you think of one, leave it in the comments!

Palay is unmilled rice

Bigas is milled rice

Kain is cooked rice

Tipo is burnt rice

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9. Niyog, Buko, Copra, Nata de coco, Gata, Lambanog

Pronounced: Nee-y-og, Boo-ko, Ko-pra, Na-ta de ko-ko, Gaa-ta, Lam-ba-nog

What do all these words have in common? They’re all words for coconut!

Niyog is a mature coconut.

Buko is green coconut that is not yet fully ripened.  At this stage the coconut contains coconut water, or buko juice.  Sometimes entire coconuts are sold on the side of the road.  A kuya will cut off the top so you can drink all of the buko juice.  When you’re finished with the juice, they’ll cut it in half for you and fashion a spoon out of the piece they cut off the top earlier.  Then you use the coconut spoon to scrape the sides of the middle for the buko meat.  Buko and buko juice is one of the food items I will absolutely miss the most.  The coconut water in the USA just CANNOT compare with juice from a fresh coconut!

Copra is dried coconut.  Whenever things need drying they’re laid out on the sides of the road in the Philippine sun.  So, it’s not uncommon to pass sections of the street covered in copra (usually there is still a narrow lane for vehicles) drying out.  You can usually smell these areas before you see them because they have a pungent, somewhat sour, smell.  When the copra is done drying the meat is used for coconut oil.

Nata de coco- fermented coconut water (Wikipedia) the coconut water gels together when fermented and creates a jelly that is used in buko salad, a filipino dessert.

Gata is coconut milk which you can get fresh at any filipino market, however it may not come how you expect it to.  The inside of the ripe coconut is shredded and put into a bag.  You use this to make coconut milk by pouring hot water over it and squeezing the pulp with your hands.  Then you drain the milk from the pulp, and viola you have gata!

Lambanog has been explained to me as coconut wine, but I believe it’s closer to a spirit than a wine (EDIT: Lambanog is a distilled coconut spirit, Thanks Kenny!).  It’s made of fermented sap from coconut flowers or palms and it is a strong but cheap alcohol, commonly drank in tagay circles on the beach.

10. Tagay

Pronounced: Ta-guy

This is a style of drinking where people sit in a circle with a bottle of alcohol, wine, or beer, in the middle.  They then pass around one cup.  The person who has the cup pours a little into the cup, finishes it, and passes it to the next person who repeats the process.  In the Philippines this is primarily used to describe this method of drinking, but between my batchmates and I we use it to describe consuming almost anything in this, one serving-pass it on, fashion.

Example: Wanna tagay the last slice of pizza?

What’s your favorite word (in any language!) and why? Post it in the comments below!

Thanksgiving, the American ‘Fiesta’

November 23, 2017November 24, 2017 | Chelsea

Your alarm goes off and you peel your eyes open to be partially blinded by your phone’s screen.  The time reads 5:30am and you sit up straight and begin to stretch.  Out in the kitchen you make yourself a cup of coffee and rest before beginning to prepare the biggest feast of the year.  The menu is the same every year, but you still find yourself meticulously going over each recipe to make sure you didn’t forget any ingredients.  No one wants to run to the neighbor’s house today to ask for a forgotten can of cream, or half cup of sugar.

After you contend that you have everything you could possibly need you begin to prepare the traditional dishes.  Slowly and steadily the table begins to fill.  The rest of the house wakes up to the sweet aroma of cooking foods. The family is immediately hungry and eager for the feast to come.  You take a short break to watch the parade, and get ready to welcome family and old friends to share in the spirit of….

Thanksgiving? Fiesta? The end of that sentence is entirely up to you, Bahala ka.

On the surface these events seem very different, but the purpose of these celebrations is rooted in values that know no cultural bounds.  Family, food, and cultural pride.

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Christmas has begun
Christmas has begun

Family.

Fiesta, or Thanksgiving, family travels far and wide to come home and celebrate with their loved ones.  The house is brought to life by warm hugs and conversations of life in the year (or years) past.

Food.

These holidays are nothing without the food!  Buko salad, lechon, pansit, fried chicken, macaroni salad, fruit salad, among others grace the table during fiesta as stuffing, turkey, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry sauce do during Thanksgiving.

Cultural Pride.

Both of these celebrations have parades that go along with them that highlight distinctive traits of their respective cultures.   It had never occurred to me how deeply cultural the Thanksgiving day parade was until I saw the fiesta parades of the Philippines.

To me, the fiesta parades illustrated cultural value, history, and folklore.  The dancers describe historical happenings, and the floats are designed to highlight important foods and exports.  The Thanksgiving day parade is no different.  The Thanksgiving day parade highlights foods that are typically used in it’s celebration, turkey, pumpkins, apples.  We also dress in costume that is meant to be a tribute to the history of the holiday (the accuracy of this costume and version of history is another story).  Many of it’s floats and acts are unique to the United States, whether they feature TV cartoon characters, a scene from a new Broadway show, or well-known celebrities.

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It’s a fascinating experience to take a step back, and analyze my own culture on a larger scale.  Describing the culture of the United States to people who have never experienced it, is a very difficult task.  People want generalizations.

What do Americans eat?

What do Americans wear?

What sort of things do Americans do?

I always find it impossible to answer questions that generalize about the United States, because we are a country of such vast cultural diversity.  Of course not EVERYONE in The United States celebrates Thanksgiving the same, but it’s one of the few generalizations I feel comfortable making.

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Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, it holds a different meaning for different people. For my family it’s the epitome of autumn celebrations.  Thanksgiving signifies the end of fall and the beginning of the Christmas season.  It’s a time for family and to be thankful. Usually at my home we celebrate by cooking up all of the traditional foods, and a few of our own specialties (chocolate chocolate cake, cheesecake by mistake, to name a few of my mom’s famous dishes).  We eat far too much and end up watching the movie ‘Elf’ in our sleepy, stuffed, stupor to officially start the Christmas season.

Christmas has begun
Christmas has begun
Post Thanksgiving Food Coma
Post Thanksgiving Food Coma
1 Thanksgiving dinner later...
1 Thanksgiving dinner later…

This year I taught my host nieces how to make hand turkeys, baked apple pie and stuffing.  Tonight I’ll feel a little homesick while I video chat with my family, and I’ll make them turn the camera towards the television so I can watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

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As the ‘firsts’ turn into ‘lasts’ this year, I can’t help but wonder maybe next year I’ll be experiencing similar feelings as I force feed my family in the United States buko salad to celebrate fiesta…

Get Ready, Get Set, BOODLE FIGHT: Tips and tricks to surviving a boodle fight

May 19, 2017January 9, 2022 | Chelsea

Boodle fighting is serious business.

Joke lang.

Similar many other traditions in filipino culture, this is a fun and light-hearted activity that takes place at many family reunions, and fiestas.  

The Boodle Fight is a style of eating.  As a Philippine Military Academy tradition, cadets would gather around a long table of foods arranged on top of banana leaves and eat together ‘kamayan’ or with your hands.  This tradition is said to perpetuate oneness, and equality, as soldiers of different ranks would partake in one boodle fight.  Haphazardly, a boodle fight is also every person for themselves as the food is ‘fought’ over until not a grain of rice remains!  

So how does one survive a boodle fight?  Having participated in three this past week, consider me your personal spirit guide on all things boodle fight related.

First things first, battle field preparation

The table arrangement is very important.  The table must be long enough to accommodate an entire platoon of family and friends, but also must be wide enough to hold plenty of rice, ulam (main dish), soups, sauces, and fruits.  

Once you are content with your table arrangement, all of the tables must be dressed with banana leaves.  Don’t worry about not having enough to cover the table, there’s always a nearby banana tree with some leaves to spare if you’re running short.

Second, What’s a Boodle Fight Without Food?

Of course you MUST have food.  Be sure to cook plenty of rice as this will run down the table in two thick lines.  Have plenty of rice on reserve to replenish throughout the boodle.  

Most of the boodle fight food is prepared on a grill over charcoal.  The grill requires two Ates.  While one person grills, the other fans the coals and the chefs because the Philippine summer is MAINIT-ON (the hottest).  Of course not all of the ulams are prepared over the grill, a stew or two is usually on the table as well.  Be sure to have plenty of ulam options, but also be wary of your table’s carrying capacity.

FINALLY, THE SET-UP

Each ‘section’ of the boodle fight table must have equal reachability to all the different types of ulam.  This gets particularly tricky when you have to fit 6 different ulams, as well as sauces and fruits, all within the reachability margin.  But don’t despair, it is possible.  It may take a few rounds of rearranging, but it is possible to fit various ulams, soups, sauces, and fruits between the two rows of rice.  

TIPS: BOODLE FIGHT ETIQUETTE

There are a few ‘do’s and don’ts’ that go along with boodle fighting.

First, do not start early.

The food may look delicious, but you must not start a second before the person in charge says so.  Keep those hands ‘taas-on an kamay!’ (hands up high!)

Second, do not switch spots.

This is highly frowned upon (and why it’s so important that all the different ulams are equally reachable from every spot).  

Third, when you’re finished clear out!

Move out the way for the next round of hungry fighters! 

Finally, have fun and stuff your face!

No one leaves a boodle fight ‘gutom’ (hungry). 

To my Filipino readers, post in the comments section any steps, tips, or tricks, I may have missed! 

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