Man, this American speaks better Cebuano that other Pinoys.
Viral on social media right now is a video by Carson “Caloy” Moody, an American living in the Philippines who manages the Facebook page “Bisayang Hilaw.” In the video posted over the weekend, he pranks several Filipinos in Cebu by first only talking to them in English and then surprising them with his excellent Cebuano skills.
“After they struggle a little, I’ll start speaking Visayan (Cebuano),” he explains in the 12-minute video.
The video starts off with him talking to a Filipina who hails from Bacolod. “That’s a nice volcano over there [in Bacolod], yeah?”
“Yeah! And there’s a nice place there, a lot of tourist spots,” the woman responds as she tries to open canned food.
Out of nowhere, Moody says to her in Cebuano: “But you’re not afraid of the volcano, because isn’t it smoking now?”
“Oh my Gosh! I’m shocked! He knows Visayan (Cebuano)!” the woman excitedly says to someone off-cam while laughing.
One of the woman’s companions tells Moody: “You gave us a hard time!”
Another woman says: “This is good at least we won’t get a nosebleed.”
Filipinos who have a rudimentary grasp of English often joke that their nose is “bleeding” when speaking in English. It’s kinda like saying something is giving you a headache.
In another part of the video, Moody asks a Filipino man for directions. The man tries to answer but struggles with his words.
When Moody finally speaks in Visayan to clear things up, the Filipino then laughs, gives him a handshake and says: “I was struggling with English! Then I found out you can speak Bisaya (Cebuano)!”
All of the Filipinos Moody pranked had a good laugh after finding out that he can speak their language.
Moody said he was inspired by YouTuber Dwaine Woolley, who started the English Only prank three months ago.
Moody has lived in the Philippines for two years and said that he has become fluent in speaking the Cebuano and Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) languages.
He said he “wishes to show the world how amazing this country is.”
The video has received over 718,000 views and 13,000 shares on Facebook. Over on YouTube, it had 29,000 views as of this article’s posting.
Filipinos absolutely loved it:
“I’m half [Cebuana] and you put my [Bisaya speaking skills] to shame,” wrote Kathrine Cagl.
Facebook user Sidney John Francisco wrote: “This man has the capacity to promote our culture by loving and appreciating our own native language…Thank you so much for loving our country!”
Karlah Pacer Belmonte tagged a friend and wrote: “[C]heck this out. He’s only been here (the Philippines) for 2 years and he’s already good in speaking the native language.”
Pingping Cutamora Valleser wrote: “Oh my gosh iloveyou already bro.”
There are over 100 languages and dialects in the Philippines. Cebuano is a Visayan language spoken in parts of Visayas and Mindanao island.
