One of the things language learning enthusiasts will tell you is to read, listen to, and watch things in the language that you are interested in.
After 15 years teaching computer courses at a private school and at a private university in the USA I made a huge leap into a new job, TRUCKER! Truck driver!
I only did it for 18 months but during that time I had a blast traveling all over the United States and a big part of Canada.
In fact it was during that time I started listening to Pimsleur’s audio course for Tagalog. It was great.
I was simply earning a living by driving all day and I could listen to the Tagalog lessons over and over as I drove. How cool is that?
I liked traveling my truck and seeing so many new places and I also enjoyed learning Tagalog while I was doing it!
So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to find a YouTube channel about truck driving from a totally different angle. It helps me keep up on my Tagalog as well as entertain me with memories of my driving days.
I would like to introduce you to a Filipina named Lily that rides along with her wonderful, loving truck driver husband all over the USA.
She has a great personality and her ability to adapt to many life situations shines through in her videos.
That is a typical trait I’ve noticed in Filipinos. They can learn to adapt to anything, even the cold, cold winters in parts of the USA.
She SPEAKS a good amount of Tagalog! I love it. She also speaks English to give a really nice mix of both languages.
If you are not too good at Tagalog yet, you can still understand a lot of what’s going on through her actions and English.
When I was a truck driver I was alone. I chatted a lot during my off duty times to practice my Tagalog but couldn’t do that while driving.
I got around that by putting my laptop on the drivers seat so my external camera could reach the dash.
I put my camera on the dash facing the road so my friends online could see where I was at and going to.
I plugged the external speaker jack into the input of my truck’s stereo so I could hear my friends speaking and they could hear me fine over the microphone on the laptop.
What a blast!
It was like I had a Filipino sitting in my truck sharing the beautiful views with me and I was able to carry on a conversation without taking my eyes off the road or my hands off the steering wheel. AND, I could practice Tagalog at the same time!
I feel that way by watching the “Pinay Trucker’s Wife” channel’s videos.
Ngayon, nakatira ako sa Pilipinas. Sa probinsya sa Southern Cebu. (Now, I live in the Philippines. In the province in Southern Cebu.)
I don’t hear a lot of Tagalog here, only on TV or movies, etc. so it is cool to watch new, entertaining content on YouTube with enough Tagalog to keep me refreshed in the language and sometimes challenged. 🙂
I hope you will visit Lily’s channel, “Pinay Trucker’s Wife” on YouTube and give her a thumbs up and subscribe to her channel. Leave a comment! I think she would be thrilled to know you are watching.
When I was chatting daily with Filipinos to practice my Tagalog, one thing I learned early on was, “Smile lang!” (Just smile!).
That really sums up a lot of what I experience from Filipinos.
One of the videos by Lilly is entitled, “Ngiti lang kahit pagod“. That means “Just smile even if tired.”
Bokabolaryo (Vocabulary)
- ngiti: smile
- lang: just, only
- kahit: even if
- pagod: tired
If you share your life with a Filipino they might enjoy watching the videos too. Perhaps your friend can help you understand some of the Tagalog too.
Also, I suggest you try to pickup what she is talking about from the context of the video. It is also fun to read the comments because a lot of that is also in Tagalog.
I should mention that even though she is speaking Tagalog, she speaks it with a Cebuano accent. I currently live in Cebu province and hear Cebuano everyday, all day.
Cebuano is spoken quickly and the words and sentences are often cut short.
Overall, I think her channel can be an interesting and entertaining way to practice listening to Tagalog.
I find that many foreigners are not aware that Tagalog is not spoken everywhere in the Philippines.
I remember one language enthusiast that wanted to learn Tagalog. He wanted to be immersed in the language so he moved to the Philippines for a 3 month immersion experience.
Where did he go? To Cebu City!
I live in Cebu province and have been to Cebu City many, many times. They don’t speak Tagalog there as the man soon learned.
He moved to another area in the Philippines where Tagalog IS spoken everyday. You can read more about his Tagalog learning adventures here.
Not only is Tagalog not spoken daily in every part of the Philippines, where it is spoken daily, there are differences. I write about those differences a little bit in this post.
In that post, near the bottom I also provide a YouTube video about the top 10 languages spoken in the Philippines and examples of each.
Enjoy!
