There are three languages that I speak: Tagalog, English, and Bisaya. In that order.
Filipino or Tagalog, my mother tongue; English, because we’ve been taught how to read and write in English since kids, and; Visaya or Bisaya, the native language, or dialect if you prefer, of major parts of central and southern Philippines.
I started learning how to speak Bisaya when I was in high school. It is my 3rd language. Because although I was born and raised in a city in the southern part of the country, our local dialect is Tagalog. My mom, who is from Batangas, far up north in Luzon, and my dad, who is half-Chinese, both speak Tagalog. Ironically, my dad doesn’t speak a word in Mandarin nor Hokkien. He does speak Hiligaynon, more commonly known as Ilonggo, and Maguindanaon, the language of Muslim people. So it is natural for us to be speaking Tagalog at home.
When I moved to Iligan City, in the northern region of Mindanao, that’s when I was fully-immersed in the Visayan language. My classmates, my professors, the store attendants in the canteen, the campus security guard, the jeepney driver…everyone spoke Bisaya.
Learning a new language was probably one of the coolest and most wonderful experiences I had when I was in college. It was like learning how to walk again. It was an amazing feeling each time I discovered a new word and learned how to use it.
I learned how to cuss in Bisaya. I learned how to beg in Bisaya. I learned how to say words of endearment in Bisaya, like “gwapa” (beautiful), “langga” (my love), and “gimingaw ko nimo” (I miss you).
But one of the most beautiful words that I have learned was this: “Puhon“.
“Puhon“, in its literal English translation, means “someday”. You usually add it at the end of a sentence when you want something to happen in the future.
“Mu-gwapo ko puhon.” I will be handsome someday.
Or at the beginning, and the effect and meaning stays the same.
“Puhon ikaw pud.” Someday you will, too.
But saying “puhon” is more than just hoping for something to happen someday. For me, it is believing that something is really going to happen and with the confidence that God, or Allah, or Buddha, or The Universe or whatever you believe in, WILL make it happen. It is more than just wishful thinking. But rather, it is looking forward to the day that that something eventually happens.
It is an affirmation that what you are wishing for already happened in the future, you just haven’t arrived there yet.
“Puhon mag-uban ra ta.” Someday we will be together.
Puhon.
🙂