Learning Waray: Waray-English and English-Waray Dictionary Vol. 2

More than 112 million of the 7,641-island Philippines speak about 187 native languages and dialects. Waray (wah-râi) is the fifth most widely spoken after Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Cebuano, and Tagalog. Standardized Tagalog, dubbed Pilipino, and English are the official languages. Efforts to integrate the indigenous languages into a unified Filipino lingua franca could eventually absorb and render less spoken dialects extinct. The author feels obliged to write his mother tongue for his grandchildren and share this well-studied and fascinating language to learn with the present Waray-speaking generation and the rest of the world. Learning Waray is a two-volume reference book. The first volume is a friendly introduction to the language's Austronesian origins and Spanish and English speakers' influences, whose words became part of the lingua franca. The second volume, a Waray-English and English-Waray Dictionary (Purulungan), supplements the essential know-how by providing common words to practice speaking and writing the language.