About this project

I grew up speaking Siargaonon. I built this because nobody had written it down.

Who I am

I am a native Siargaonon speaker from Siargao Island, in Surigao del Norte, Philippines. Siargaonon is the language I was raised in — the language of my family, my neighbours, and the people I grew up around. I am not a linguist, and this is not an academic project. Everything here is the language as I actually speak it and hear it spoken.

Why this exists

A few years ago I went looking for Siargaonon on the internet — a dictionary, a phrasebook, anything — and found essentially nothing. A handful of scattered word lists. No grammar. No audio. Meanwhile Siargao filled with visitors, and children on the island started answering their grandparents in English.

A language that is never written down does not fade gracefully. It vanishes, and takes everything encoded in it with it. So I started writing.

How it is made

Every word, phrase, grammar rule and pronunciation note on this site has been written or checked by me, personally. Where I was uncertain, I left it out. Where I was wrong — and I have been — I corrected it and said so.

The app that accompanies this site is free. Level 1 requires no account at all. Later levels can be unlocked by learning, or bought outright by anyone who would rather not wait; that money keeps the project running. Nothing about the reference material on this site is behind a paywall, and it never will be — the dictionary, the grammar and the pronunciation guide are free, complete, and open to anyone.

This record is not finished

It cannot be. A language belongs to everyone who speaks it, and no one person holds all of it. There are words in your family that are not in mine. There are villages on Siargao that would phrase things differently to how I have.

If you speak Siargaonon and something here is wrong, or missing, tell me. I read every message. Corrections are published with credit to the person who sent them.