language barrier

some of my friends decided to get a massage and they altogether went to a spa last friday.

the reason: one particular friend, let's call her "chinita", was kinda depressed because she wasn't able to watch the cinderella musical play a day prior because of the sudden flood in their area which was due to heavy rains.. their tickets, worth 1,000 pesos each, were forfeited and they decided to just reschedule the said plan. and so chinita wasn't quite herself the whole day. she did not feel like doin anythin... until we suggested that she get a massage. somehow, she became excited. and off they went.

during the massage, chinita kept on laughing and making some noises. the massage was a bit hard for her low pain threshold. meanwhile, another friend-lets call him kulet, found the massage too light for him, so they switched masseuses.. after a few minutes, chinita refrained from making noises and so everyone taught that she's already enjoying or has even fallen asleep.. from time to time, they hear the masseuses murmuring and speaking in a different dialect, chatting. my friends just let them be. after the massage, kulet asked the masseuses from what provinces they were., they said that they are from cebu, then kulet called chinita and asked, "aren't you from davao?"

the masseuses were surprised and hurriedly greeted them farewell, bumping walls and hitting baskets as they had gone out. it was kind of funny.

cebuanos, as well as most residents of davao speak a different dialect, we, from Luzon, refer to as bisaya . both chinita and kulet had understood them all along. they said that chinita was lampa or that she was too soft and easily get hurt. IMO, what they said wasn't all that bad. even chinita said that she wasn't offended. we just thought it to be improper that they chatted during the massage. what made the matter even more rude is that they talked in a different dialect. who could have known what they were saying if chinita and kulet were not able to understand bisaya, right?

the same thing goes for all of us, we should never take advantage of the language barrier because it is rude. it's bad to talk about someone behind his back but it is more impolite to speak about that person in front of him in a language that he or she is not familiar with, right?

stolen photo from a forum(http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t53057-300.html)

i have nothing against people who speak bisaya ok?? i have close friends from the visayas and mindanao. really cool people! mabuhay kayo! :) i just found the picture funny and somewhat related to my post.