It’s already been the early summer and young leaves show up on May blue sky. I hope everyone breaks fresh ground at the start of the new school year and business year. Then fair words would blossom into newfound friendships.

  I saw the JIM-NET’s exhibition, “Such little girls as flowers ~ I am not ephemeral ~ ” in last February.
http://kamata-minoru.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2016/02/post-1419.html

  The girls with big, round eyes, painted the beautiful flowers on the cans of fund-raising chocolates. But they suffer from leukemia, cancer and other illnesses in Iraq and some of them has now passed away. I feel very sad. I hope more people would join the exhibition and make donations next time. And I hope the Japanese government would promote more peaceful solution through diplomacy.

  Incidentally, Kotoba-mura website poster the article Mr. Maekawa Kenichi’s talk.
http://www.chikyukotobamura.org/forum/salon160312.html

  I like Mr. Maekawa’s essays on “Asia Zougo-rin (Chat about the days in the Asia ) ” and “Ryoko-Jin (Independent Travelers) ” so I wish I could be there…

  Now I plan to have one-day English cafe to enjoy sewing Japanese handicrafts to revitalize the Kasadera town in Nagoya city. (I introduced Kasadera Town in the 1st installment in the series.)

  Kasadera is such an attractive temple town.
https://note.mu/asiapaa/n/n991989dd93b4?magazine_key=m48427ad00930

  And I hope to introduce Kodan, traditional Japanese storytelling in English from Kasadera some other day. Last December Ms. Koike Rinrin, who succeeded to Kyokudou recently, told Kodan storytelling at Saiho-Temple near Kasadera-Temple. Now Kyokudo-Rinrin gives performances that announce her succession to her predecessor’s name, Kyokudo-Nanrin.
http://area.walkerplus.com/walker47/article/detail/ar0623100/
le2240/20151205/2_201512052351301598
http://www.osuengei.nagoya/

  And I would like to introduce one more information. I write about “The Arabian Nights” in the 4th installment in the series. Next June 4th you have a lecture at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka. The Museum’s Professor Nishio Tetsuo, Center for Research Development・Deputy Directors-General, will give the lecture entitled “The mystery of “The Seventh and Last Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor” ~ about the newfound transcription.”
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/museum
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/museum/showcase/media/tabiiroiro/
chikyujin330?platform=hootsuite

  By a curious coincidence, on the front of the latest Quarterly Journal of Ethnology, the photo of “the Pandesal shop in Philippine” appears. When you go to the Museum, you can enjoy the lecture and the magazine article features traditional breakfast in Philippine.

  Now let me introduce Filipino languages to you all. I’ll write about Filipino, Visayan (Cebuano), Ilokano languages in six installments. This time I’m happy to be able to tell you travel information also.

“The gift from God? How talented Filipinos…”

  First, guess a song name and who sings it by only its first few notes. If you can give correct answers, you are a connoisseur of Phillipine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFbI0qlCh7w

  The answer is “Isang tanong Isang sagot” by Donna Cruz. This is a cover of Southern All Stars, Japanese popular band.
http://mu-zix.com/detail.php?id=7248

  In English, American singer Phillip Bailey covers it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKQ77lDoz9E

  The Filipino words “Isang tanong isang sagot” means “One question and One answer,” that means “I have only one question and want only one answer.” In other words, he wishes they could exchange words of love.

  When I worked at an NGO, I looked forward to my business trip because I could drop in CD shops and the National Bookstore. I bought Donna Cruz’, Regine Velasquez’ and Gary Valensiano’s CDs. I happened to know about Regine’s first concert in Nagoya city and luckily attended it. In October 18, 2002, I enjoyed the powerful songs and a conversation in cute Japanese of Regine and Jaya, Asian songbirds, at The Tsurumai Public Hall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5uQ3Uud7QY

  Thus, I studied Filipino through Filipino music in Japan and finally I visited the Manila and bump into the songs in the streets. Music sounded everywhere because Pinoy absolutely loves music. But only through music, I could only remember a type of “Mahal kita (I love you)” phrase and couldn’t remember the words about international activities. So I studied the grammer and give may ears a good warm-up listening, TV Patrol.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/tvpatrol/local

  When you watch various districts’ TV Patrol programs, you can find various districts’ set formula of greetings. In Filipino, “Magandang hapon,” in Visayan (Cebuano), “Maayong buntag,” in Ilocano, “Naimbag panahon,” in English, “Hello,” in Japanese, “Konnichiwa.” But after the greetings, almost of the hosts and hostesses speak in only Filipino. I wasn’t sure the language in only in Filipino or in other districts’ languages before. But last March I talked about this program with Ms Mariko Sorimachi who’s been in Baguio city for long years and she told me the program didn’t have multilingual support.

  Ms Mariko Sorimachi is a CGN ( http://cordillera.exblog.jp/ ) staff and she told me about a beautiful picture book of ethnic minoritis. We talked many things at the cafe annex to Tala Share and Guest House.
http://cordigreen.jimdo.com/
%E5%9B%A3%E4%BD%93%E7%B4%B9%E4%BB%8B/
http://www.tala-guesthouse.org/

  When I hear about Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, I suppose “Well, Filipinos steps so airily that some of them could be outstanding at the boxing.” Filipinos have the gift for dance and music. Here’s a news about Jessa Balote, who lives near a dump in Tondo, Manila.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/266608/from-basurera-to-ballerina

  Last March I saw a basket at a long-distance coach terminal and wonder “how they play here?” and saw children shoot a balloon. Pinoy really love basketball and you can see baskets and childrens’great plays everywhere. They are able to with ease. Now here’s the San Miguel team and the Alaska team basketball game. So exciting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7n8_DHYzqo

  Thus, Filipino language is so interesting and happy to learn at the entry level. You can enjoy Filipino programs, songs and conversation with many amicable Filipinos. In Japanese, you cannot access other languages in Philippine and can access only Filipino books mostly. But intermediate Filipino grammar and correct pronunciation are soooo difficult!!

Linker, Marker, Aspect

  When you study foreign language, you must learn about as-yet-recognized grammar and pronunciation. For us Japanese, confusion of Ls and Rs, Fs and Hs. Luckily, we have Romaji, Japanese pronunciation using the English alphabet so many of us can read the Filipino sentences. But it’s very very difficult to speak with correct grammar and pronunciation, for example a velar sound, a glottal stop, and aspects.

  In English, you have perfective aspect, progressive aspect and so on. In Filipino, they have four types of aspects. Here’s the examples.

  You can consult more information here.
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog/grammar%20activities/
Grammar%202/Verbal%20Focus/Verbalfocus-fs.htm

  It’s impossibly difficult for the most beginners. If you go to Philippine only for a sightseeing, you can speak Filipino only with the root of the words. For example, “Bayad!” is a commonly used phrase when you get on a jeepney.

  Next, linker and marker. The linkers Na and Ng are used to connect certain words that belong together.
http://learningtagalog.com/videos/tagalog_linkers_na_ng.html

  For example, in English would be “a beautiful flower, this house, all the people” that in Filipino would be “magandang bulaklak, itong bahay, lahat na tayo.” The ending -ng is attached to words that end in vowels. Na, on the other hand, is used after words that end in consonants. “five pesos, 4 days,” would be “limang pesos, apat na araw.”

  The markers come before nouns or noun phrases to indicate their roles in a sentence. They may mark nouns as subject, object, location, direction, and so on. The word “Ang, Ng, Sa” are markers. For instance, “Ang bahay,” “Ang” is a marker and bahay means house. The marker is connected to the word (or phrase) that comes right after it and indicates which word is focus. The marker Si and Sina are used to indicate that the name of a person who is the focus of the sentence. For example, “Rita is nice,” in Filipino, “Mabait si Rita.”

  The marker ng covers a broad range of meanings. It indicates that the word that follows it is not the focus of the sentence. For instance, “the teacher of the kid,” in Filipino, “ang titser ng bata,” the focus of the sentence is titser (the teacher), not bata (the kid). Ng indicates possession, the direct object, etc. The markers Ni and Nina marks personal names also.

  There is one more set of markers that goes with nouns: Sa and Kay, Kina. They mark many different meanings, location, direction, the beneficiary of an action, a future time, the possessor. For instance, “They went to Manila,” in Filipino, “Pumunta sila sa Manila.” “Pumunta” means “go,” and “sila” means “they.” In Filipino Sa-phrases indicate some location. Please see the following website browser for details.
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog/grammar%20activities/
Grammar%201/Markers/Markersfs.htm

  Now, that’s all for today. Next time, I’ll tell you about ABKD ? Filipino Alphabet and suggest how to enjoy staying in Philippine. I suppose the Philippines culturally close to Latin America and have unique character. I hope I can express the charm of the Philippine culture and the multilingual society sufficiently. Let’s meet again soon.

[June 1, 2016]

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