Raie Week 1: Raie's Problems in Chavacano
Cuanan 1
Raie Cuanan
Mrs. Smith
English 11AP
26 August 2026
Blog Q1
Raie Week 1: Raie’s Problems in Chavacano – 08/26 [6:09 PM]
Hello! I am Raie and I am learning AP English in grade eleven with my teacher Mrs. Smith. I quento my hometown dialect, Chavacano. You could say that Chavacano is my native “language” as it originates in Zamboanga City, often dubbed “The Latin City of Asia.” During my years as a bata, I lived there and spoke that dialect.
While knowing and speaking Chavacano as my dialect is useful in some cases, it gives me a really big headache whenever I speak either Tagalog or Spanish. Both of those languages mix together to create Chavacano. However, people sometimes ask: Why does Chavacano give you such a big headache, Raie? The answer to that is simple. See, whenever I try to speak Spanish, a few words of Tagalog end up seeping into my dialogue. Vice versa for Tagalog, a few words of Spanish tend to seep into my Tagalog dialogue. Combine those two together and the result is Spanish speakers and Tagalog speakers looking at me like I am absolutely crazy. I promise you I am not! It is just difficult for me to differentiate between the two because that’s what I have grown up on! The Spanish used for Chavacano is informal due to the fact that we do not essentially use conjugations, gender markers, accents, or structure our sentences properly in Spanish at all. For Tagalog, we throw its grammar out the window. So whenever I try to speak Spanish or Tagalog as a separate language, I have to make sure I articulate my words very carefully and my structure just right. Even so, I love Chavacano. Chavacano gives me a way of self-expression about my culture that is more than simply flying out there or looking a certain way. However, not a lot of people speak Chavacano, even in my hometown. Chavacano is slowly dying out in Zamboanga City, which is very sad to hear. Most people in my hometown are trying to make Tagalog the recognized province language, which saddens me because despite its messiness, Chavacano is a beautiful dialect. So every time I speak a little bit of it, I feel like I am carrying on a dying part of my culture with every word I convey.
Hi Raie, I really enjoyed reading because you talked about your personal experience with Chavacano and the larger idea of cultural identity. You talked about mixing up your languages and how you can’t truly speak full traditional Tagalog or full traditional Spanish either, which I totally understand. I grew up learning Telugu, my mother tongue, and English alongside one another. Whenever I speak to my parents or grandparents, I try to speak purely in Telugu, but it truly never works out, and I just sound like someone who just started learning the language. I always end up just using English words here and there just to get my point across.
ReplyDeleteIt's also really sad to hear how people are starting to lose their identity, by not practicing Chavacano, and it doesn’t make sense to me why people want to stop being unique and go with the majority. I have recently seen a lot of cultural gatherings where people come together to stay in touch with their culture, and they always remind me how important it is to preserve our languages and traditions. I know how you said there weren’t too many people who speak Chavacano, but I do believe that we as humans should try to find every opportunity to connect back with our culture.