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Travel guide

Learn Hiligaynon for your trip

For Iloilo, Bacolod and Guimaras, where English only gets you so far.

  • 10 modules
  • 4 missions
  • 165 phrases to search, hear and save
  • 2 games
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Try it free for 14 days.

Photo credit

Photo by Jarno Colijn (opens in a new tab) on Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License (opens in a new tab).

A travel guide with First Steps and an Island travel track, and four missions: eating chicken inasal at a local restaurant, riding a jeepney or tricycle, shopping at a market, and taking a boat or island-hopping trip.

What you will be able to do

Real situations, one at a time.

4 missions, each a situation you will meet on a trip. You practise the key language, then the conversation.

Missions

  • Eat chicken inasal at a local restaurant

    Order, enjoy and pay for a chicken inasal dinner in Hiligaynon, and leave the server smiling.

  • Ride a jeepney or tricycle

    Get from A to B by jeepney or tricycle like a local, and get off where you meant to.

  • Shop at a market

    Buy fruit and pasalubong at a market in Hiligaynon, with a friendly bargain where it fits.

  • Take a boat or island-hopping trip

    Arrange a day on the water, price, times, safety and the rain plan, in Hiligaynon.

What is in the course

The Hiligaynon you learn, in order.

It starts with First Steps, the survival language for your first hour, then a travel track for the places you will go.

  1. 1First StepsMaayong aga, palihog, salamat gid, and how to get what you need.
  2. 2Island travelJeepneys, markets, boats and the people you'll meet on the way.
10
modules, each in short lessons
110
words and expressions
15
sentence patterns
165
phrases in the phrasebook

First phrases

Hiligaynon you can use on day one.

These are from the first lessons. In the app each has audio, a note on when to use it, and a way to save it.

  • Maayong hapon, Sir.

    Good afternoon, sir.

  • Salamat gid!

    Thank you very much!

  • Tagpila ini?

    How much is this?

  • Palihog, liwata.

    Could you say that again, please?

  • Ang bill, palihog.

    The bill, please.

  • Gusto ko sang kape.

    I'd like a coffee.

  • Indi ko maintindihan.

    I don't understand.

  • Bulig!

    Help!

Good to know

Three things about Hiligaynon for a traveller.

Where Hiligaynon is spoken

It is the language of Iloilo City, Bacolod and the sugar coast of Negros, Guimaras and nearby. Capiznon and Aklanon are close relatives, and Hiligaynon is widely understood there.

Food missions

Chicken inasal is its own mission, covering how to order and what to ask for with it.

Few courses exist

Hiligaynon is hard to find in language apps. This guide is for people who are going and want to say more than thank you.

Where you will use it

Places the course has notes on.

Each note is a habit of that place, so you know what to expect where you are going.

  • Bacolod & Negros Occidental

    Bacolod, Silay, the sugar coast

  • Iloilo

    Iloilo City, Miag-ao, Islas de Gigantes

  • Guimaras

    Mango island off Iloilo

  • Capiz

    Roxas City. Capiznon, close to Hiligaynon

  • Boracay & Aklan

    Aklanon locally; Hiligaynon widely understood

More than the lessons

The same app plans the trip you are learning Hiligaynon for.

Takes your phrases offline

Download the travel guide on Wi-Fi. The phrasebook, survival and travel packs, local notes and audio then work with no signal.

Plans the trip too

Put places on days, save the TikToks and reels that gave you ideas, see the stops on a map and share the plan.

Keeps your travel map

Colour in the countries you have been to and the ones you want to go to.

How to prepare for your trip to the Philippines See the trip planner Games: Supermarket Dash, Waiter's Memory

Questions

About learning Hiligaynon.

Can I get by with Tagalog or English?

English works in many places. Tagalog is understood by many but is not the local language in Iloilo and Bacolod, where a few Hiligaynon phrases get a warm reaction.

Does it cover Bacolod and Iloilo?

Yes, including Silay, Miag-ao and the Islas de Gigantes, and Guimaras.

Is the audio from native speakers?

No. The audio is generated, and because Hiligaynon is not a language the voice tools support, it is read with a closely related Visayan voice. The pronunciation is close and not exact. Any lesson has a Report a mistake link.

More languages

Going somewhere else?

Say your first Hiligaynon phrase in a few minutes.

Create a free account, pick Hiligaynon, and start with the phrases for your first hour.

Create your free accountI already have an account

Try it free for 14 days.