Davao Cebuano · Not Tagalog · Not Generic Bisaya

Learn the Bisaya she actually speaks.

A real 18-month course in Davao Cebuano — the specific dialect spoken by your wife, your in-laws, the woman at the karinderya across the street. Built by a Davao-native speaker. Studied 10 minutes a day.

592 phrases across 42 units Native Davao audio One-time payment
A line you'll mean
Maayong gabii, mahal.
ma-AH-yong ga-BEE-ee, ma-HAL
Good evening, my love.
Unit 2 · the second week of your course
Built by a native speaker
·
$149 once, lifetime access
·
30-day refund, no questions
Why this exists

Every other Cebuano app teaches you to sound like a textbook.

We teach you to sound like family. The vocabulary, the rhythm, the small words that signal you're not just visiting — you belong.

i.

Specifically Davao

Bisaya isn't one language — Cebuano spoken in Cebu City sounds different from Cebuano in Davao. Every phrase here is vetted by a Davao-born speaker for the words and phrasing locals actually use. No corporate translations.

ii.

Built around your life

Talking to in-laws. Ordering at a karinderya. Going through immigration at Davao Airport. The course is structured around the real situations a foreign partner walks into, not classroom drills about going to the library.

iii.

Built to be finished

18 months, ten minutes a day. No app gamification. No streaks designed to make you panic. Honest progress through a real curriculum, with spaced repetition so you remember what you learn.

Listen for yourself

This is what your wife sounds like when she's not translating for you.

Three samples from the course, recorded by Perlyn, my partner and the voice of every phrase. If you're learning for a Davao native, ask her to listen and confirm it's right.

Unit 1 · Greetings
Maayong buntag!
ma-AH-yong BOON-tag
Good morning
Unit 5 · At the Market
Pwede hangyo?
PWEH-deh HANG-yo
Can you lower the price?
Unit 29 · Family
Nakakaon na ka?
na-ka-KA-on na ka
Have you eaten? (a way of saying "I care about you")
An honest note: audio is rolling out unit by unit. Perlyn is recording Unit 1 now, and new units are added as she finishes them. Early buyers get every unit as it ships — no extra cost.
Lesson 23 · Month 2
Maayong adlaw!
Unit 5: At the Market
12
Streak
84
Learned
6
Due
Start today's lesson →
Practice & Skills
💬
Pronunciation Guide
How every word is read
🧩
Sentence Builder
Construct, don't just recall
💬
Conversation Simulator
Hold a real exchange
What's in your hand

A real app, not a glorified flashcard deck.

Install it on your phone home screen. Use it on a plane. Use it offline at your in-laws' house in Marilog. It's yours.

Works offline, after first load

No internet? No problem. The whole course lives on your device once you've opened it once.

Spaced repetition that actually works

The app schedules each phrase for review based on how well you remembered it last time. You learn faster, forget less.

Share progress with your partner

Send your wife a weekly recap of what you've learned. She sees the words to use with you, and your next conversation in Bisaya actually happens.

Your progress, your data

Export a backup any time. Switch phones, reinstall, hand it to a developer — your study history is portable JSON, not locked in our servers.

James & Perlyn
A Black/Filipino military family — together since Japan
Our story

We met in Japan. We built this in Belgium. It's for Davao.

I'm James — a US Army soldier. I met Perlyn while I was assigned to Japan. She was a preschool teacher. We went on one date and we've been together ever since.

Years later, every Cebuano app I tried was wrong for her dialect. Duolingo's Tagalog was the wrong language. Textbooks taught stiff vocabulary nobody actually says. Generic "Bisaya" apps mixed dialects so badly that Perlyn's family laughed when I tried what I'd learned.

So Perlyn and I built this ourselves. She wrote the curriculum from her ear — what people in her Davao neighborhood actually say, not what a textbook says. She reviewed every phrase. She's the voice you hear. I built the app around her work.

We're preparing to move back to Davao after I retire. We built this for couples like us — the foreign partner who wants to actually be heard at the dinner table.

— James & Perlyn, between Belgium and Davao
What's inside

The honest specifications.

We deliberately don't say "thousands of phrases." We say what's actually in there. You'll know exactly what you're buying.

42

Curriculum units

Organized by life situation — greetings, family, market, food, health, the airport, the in-laws' house, the karinderya, immigration. Real places you'll be.

592

Vocabulary phrases

Hand-picked and reviewed by a native Davao speaker. Includes phonetic pronunciation for every entry, plus notes on usage and context.

24

Grammar patterns

Not endless conjugation tables — just the actual patterns that produce most of conversational Bisaya. Mokaon, nakakaon, mukaon: you'll understand the difference.

6

Conversation simulations

Meeting the in-laws. Buying mangoes. Ordering at the karinderya. Going through immigration. Running into a friend. Picking the right reply, not just translating.

120+

Sentence-builder drills

Arrange tiles to construct sentences. Trains the muscle of actually producing Bisaya, not just recognizing it.

Custom words

Heard a word from your in-laws that's not in the course? Add it. It joins your personal review queue and you'll remember it forever.

Try before you commit

Get the first unit free. No card. No email.

Sixteen phrases. About 35 minutes of study. Enough to know if our approach works for you — and enough that if you stop here, you've still picked up genuinely useful Davao Cebuano.

In Unit 1, you'll learn

The greetings that matter most

  • How to greet someone morning, afternoon, and night
  • The version of "How are you?" people actually say
  • How to say yes, no, please, thank you — with the right rhythm
  • The phrase that opens nearly every Davao conversation
One simple price

No tiers, no subscriptions.

Pay once. Get the whole course. Keep the app forever, including future units and audio as Perlyn records them.

Bisaya Daily — Lifetime
The full 18-month course, all features, all future updates.
$ 149 .00
One-time. Not per month. Not per year.
  • All 42 units, 592 phrases Plus grammar patterns, conversation simulations, and sentence drills.
  • Native Davao audio as it ships You get every audio update as Perlyn records them. No extra charge.
  • Works on up to 3 devices Phone, tablet, laptop. Need more? Just email us.
  • Backup & restore your progress Your data is yours. Export it any time, take it anywhere.
  • Share-with-partner feature included Send a weekly recap to your Bisaya-speaking partner. They get conversation prompts for your next call.
Audio recording in progress
Opening soon — reserve your spot
Perlyn is recording the native Davao audio right now. The course is built, the curriculum is reviewed, the app is ready. We open as soon as the audio is in place.
We'll email you when Bisaya Daily opens. No spam, never sold. Founding 100 buyers get a 30-min welcome call with James & Perlyn.
30-day refund at launch — no questions, no forms, just reply to your receipt.

Real reviews from real students will go here as Bisaya Daily reaches its first hundred users. We won't fake them.