Murag Alibangbang

"Alexis Araneta is murag alibangbang."

That was exactly what my Facebook status said a week ago. Murag alibangbang. "Like a butterfly" in some of my beloved friends' native Bisaya. Yes, indeed, I actually had a status message in yet another language that's not my own.

I suppose it was inevitable for me to eventually write a status in Cebuano from the moment I first met Charlie (who's from Cebu, as I've been mentioning here). In a way, I knew that I'd end up trying to learn Bisaya simply because I had a friend (and a very good one at that. He's my soul brother!) who spoke it. My wannabe linguist self just had to ask every single word of Cebuano I couldn't comprehend. Then, Alexa, Karen, Monea, and Jessah came into the picture, and there was even more posts and comments I just had to decipher like an anthropologist trying to crack some ancient code (Too much Discovery Channel, Allie!) . Gradually, more and more lovely people from that beautiful, historical Visayan city began to befriend me. Of course, the desire to learn more of their language was even more fueled.

The enormous leap in linguistic learning came about when a dear friend of mine were talking to each other on Plurk. Lucille instantly noticed my "Prof. Pangga" display name and my greetings of "Maayong buntag", about one of the few sentences I could churn out in the language. When she asked me why I was using her native Bisaya (She's from Dumaguete) for my Plurks, I told her of my current, rather insatiable desire to learn it. And that's when she showed me something I now check out every now and then.

Seriously, thanks, Lucille, for that online Bisaya phrasebook! Okay, so of course, it doesn't contain all the words I'd love to know in this lovely language. So, yes, I still need my wonderful Cebuano friends to tell me what certain words mean (if you guys are all right with it, that is.). But hey, now, at least I could simply replace a few words and construct sentences. Let me repeat that --- construct sentences, something I was never able to do in Cebuano.

So what's a girl who has just cracked the "secret code" of her friends' native tongue to do with her new-found knowledge? Why use it as a Facebook status message, of course! It got a few smiles and comments from some of the aforementioned buddies, and that's always brilliant.

I suppose trying to decipher each other's language --- figuratively or literally --- really is a part of any relationship. We're all different; we have our own tastes, opinions and ways to view the world around us. This is why it's imperative to understand each other to avoid miscommunication.

And yes, it takes effort. After all, these mindsets are sort of conditioned in us, ingrained in us. But, as Newton's 1st Law of Motion says, "Something at rest shall stay at rest unless a force is acted upon it for motion". You can not understand people without taking that first step of trying to. Yes, whether that takes listening to why your best friend likes cricket, a sport you're sure only he understands. Yes, whether that takes being that shoulder to cry on when your lovesick gal pal breaks up with her boyfriend. And yes, whether it takes brushing up on your Bisaya every now and then.


P.S.: By the way, why am I murag alibangbang?

1. Like a butterfly, I'm not afraid of change.
2. Like a butterfly, I choose to fly and spread my colours.
3. What? I like butterflies. They're cute! Enough said!