psst… secret lang ha, but Kiwis like our Pinoy accent

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el84efC10oE&w=560&h=315] [Note : after all the seriousness of previous blogs, I woke up with a lighthearted post dancing in front of my eyes, and below is the result. It’s something that’s been playing around in the inaagiw (cobweb-filled) corners of my mind, and before I forget any more, I’ll just put it right here. Almost out of the lockdown and hoping our family and friends back home get their ayuda, I acknowledge and thank Netflix for the video above, ] HARD “e”s AND SOFT “i”s. HARD “f”s AND SOFT “p”s. “Creative” syllabications like “good morNENG” and “good ibNENG”. You know who’s accent these pronunciations belong to, because it’s the accent you grew up with, your beloved Pinoy (Filipino) accent. To be sure, the famous Filipino accent is subdivided into regional and provincial accents, but we all know the most popular parts of how our tongues roll and teeth click, and we know which are best remembered by our non-Pinoy friends. Origins. Many historical factors have shaped our Pinoy accent, but for me the two major influences have been our being a colony of Spain and a member of the American Commonwealth for three and a half centuries. even our constant trade with China and neighboring Southeast Asian nations have influenced our accent. It’s no big surprise that when you listen to tennis Grand Slammer Rafael Nadal he sounds oddly similar to Manny Pacquiao. Then if you listen to YouTube and global comedian Jokoy, though he is already an American, there are distinct traces of Filipino in his accent. The clipped vowels and exaggerated consonants and other peculiarities of our Pinoy accent are a mixture of the above influences and our own addition through the decades of course, but because we are also migrants, we add local flavor of the language of whichever host country we are in. And guess what? Because of our natural facility in English, and our ability to “mirror” whatever accents we are frequently exposed to (in this case the New Zealand – Kiwi accent), we haven’t encountered a single negative reaction to how we sound or speak (although the sample size is small, just the non-Pinoys we interact and encounter with daily), and we compare very favorably to other Asian accents, which will go unmentioned today. A few observations from our hosts: I recognise Filipino accents – I was a caregiver in a psychogeriatric hospital and a lot of the RN’s (registered nurses) were Filipino. Definitely the preferred accent over those you mentioned (other Asian accents), it’s much easier to hear and understand. Less harsh. – from a Kiwi colleague who’s worked across various industries. I can usually tell a Filipino because they usually drop a couple of Tagalog words in while speaking to each other… Well I think Filipinos have a better grasp on English and are able to pronounce the words easier than guys from other Asian countries. Maybe it’s because of your close relationship with the USA and have been more exposed to it the other Asian countries, I don’t know. – a Kiwi employer who’s worked with migrants, Filipino and otherwise. I grew up with quite a few Filo’s (pet name for Filipinos in Australia) in Sydney, and though they speak English in school, they probably speak their own language at home the way I did in mine. They try to speak with hip-hop and gangsta references but I can always discern the Filipino accent in between, it’s always been familiar to me. Almost like my own. – a mixed Kiwi-Pacific Islander who grew up in Australia but returned to New Zealand in adulthood. What feedback have you gotten kabayan from our beloved Pinoy accent? Comments below welcome, thanks for reading!