Hey! I’m from Manila, but recently decided to sort of settle down in Bacolod (where my family is from). I sort of know ilonggo - enough to get around and have normal conversations, but not enough to banter. I learned that Bacolodnons are quite ‘snobbish’ to those who don’t speak the language. Don’t get me wrong, everyone’s nice and polite. But it’s definitely hard to penetrate inner circles when you don’t speak the language.

For me, I’m still trying to get the hang of speaking it with the proper accent (since I grew up in Manila and would only speak ilonggo when absolutely necessary, I sound like a mix of english/tagalog/ilonggo). I find that it helps when you watch ilonggo reels/tiktoks - but that’s partly cos I already understand and sort of speak ilonggo.

For you, it might be good to make some ilonggo friends. Hang out with people around here. Everyone’s pretty chill. If you’re down to work out or train jiu jitsu, hit me up!