Quote Originally Posted by andypaul View Post
Outright translating is very hard work so i can see why some shy away from it. I speak a bit of french and can get a decent idea of whats going on but if asked to translate between the two languages i would find it really tough.
I guess we also have to bear in mind if we speak with brit accents and use british terms and version of words it doesn't help some phills who may just understand better if we say garbage instead of rubbish etc.

For example all the kids in my Wifes family including her, speak or spoke English in School everyday, and in every class they are punshied if they dont. But in front of a native speaker they go to pieces and politely say the accent is hard to understand. Speaking far slower mimicing a phill accent they got me. Without noticing i would speed up and lose the accent which would then most of the time leave them in the same state as before.

Others may say different but sadly with some members you will only have very simple conversations or exchanges neither of you this trip will have the time to learn enough.
yes i find myself speaking in a totally different way when i'm over there. my gf even asked me before why i talk in such a slow way, so i have to try to speak faster with her, but i naturally slow down with others. i find myself also pronouncing vowels the american way. up north a u is very strong, and words like bug or gut can really throw philippine people, who are more used to burg or gurt. thats the only trouble my fiancee has is with some vowel sounds, so i had to adapt my northern accent a bit.
i hope i can persude her to talk a little in visiayan to me throughout the day, if the same words or phrases crop up i soon latch on and it sinks into my grey matter, where as reading words in a dictionary is tough work to learn. just 10 or 15 minutes a day could make a big difference, but its such a complicated language i know i'll never get it completely. anyway i'm just about to get a lift to the station in 5 minutes, so may be missing a few weeks. i'm hoping to sort out a visa for her to come here.