What is Recovering Ilocano?
A Baguio Girl who settled in California claims her genuine Ilocano identity.
At Baguio City’s Burnham Park, when I was about six years old
This project is inspired by Recovering Filipino, a podcast by Jim Agapito, a Filipino-Canadian whose Lola called him a bad Filipino because he could not speak Tagalog. I enjoyed his podcast, which covered karaoke, basketball, boxing, and rites of passage such as debutante balls and circumcision.
In many ways, I’m also a bad Filipino. I cannot speak Tagalog with the proper accent. My Ilocano is passable, according to my relatives in Ilocos, my parents’ home province in the northern Philippines.
Ilocano is the third most common language, after Tagalog (central Philippines) and Cebuano (southern Philippines). In the diaspora, it is spoken by a large population in Hawaii, California, Washington, and Alaska. These are the states that Ilocanos migrated to in the early 1900s as sakadas (sugarcane and pineapple plantation workers), Manongs (migrant farm workers in California and Washington), and Alaskeros (cannery workers).
I was born and raised in Baguio City and immigrated to southern California in 1989. I learned English, Tagalog, and Ilocano simultaneously. I took Spanish language classes later in high school and college, although we use many words in everyday speech. Ilocano shares many with Spanish. As a result, we grew up code-switching beyond Taglish (a mix of Tagalog and English) that most Filipinos use.
My father, born in Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, wrote for the Ilocano magazine Bannawag. His speech was deeper, nauneg nga Ilocano. I am attempting to translate his works, using three dictionaries, and relatives and friends who are native speakers.
My DNA shows my roots as 99% Northern Philippines and 1% Chinese. I cannot claim to be a Full-Blooded Ilocano (F.B.I.) Yet, in launching this project, I aim to be a Genuine Ilocano (G.I.)
I am excited to share the many stories I have been writing since childhood. They are based on oral history, letters, anecdotes, journal entries, and history (both real and made-up).
If you ever wondered who you are, and what your place in the world is, join me on my journey.
These are my works in progress:
Born There: An Ilocano Family’s Migration Story
Baguio Girl: I Made the Journey a Thousand Times
Recommended listening:
Listen to Jim Agapito's Recovering Filipino Podcast
What other languages do you speak? Do you find yourself code-switching?
Glad to see your account up and running :)