Marina Hamoy

Marina P. Hamoy on "Alisya sa Katingalahang Yuta"

A Visayan adaptation of Alice in Wonderland

August 20, 2012

Meet Marina P. Hamoy and her first ever Cebuano translation of Lewis Carroll’s classic masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland. The book incites discussions and arouse international fascination. Lewis Carroll’s brilliance appeals to both children and adults. Young readers enjoy Alice’s adventures underground, and yet adult readers revel in several linguistic jokes, wordplay and burlesque depictions.

Marina P. Hamoy debuts many firsts in the Cebuano Alisya - It is the first translation of this popular English novel into a major Philippine language that engages the readers; It is the first to adapt elements of the Filipino culture into the witty Carrollian style and tone; It is the first text that uses phonetic spelling in Cebuano not just for reading fluency but also to encourage discussions in Cebuano spelling & language standards; It is the first Cebuano book to satirize public controversies and mock common practices of our 21st century in the Philippines.

In retrospect, Cebuano belongs to the Austronesian language family. After decades of prohibition and repression in education, Cebuano is now officially recognized as a distinct language – neither a dialect nor secondary - spoken by at least 20 million native speakers on many islands in the Visayas and several provinces in Mindanao in the Philippines. For the very first time in the country’s history, elementary school-age children will be able to learn to read and write Cebuano beginning in 2012! Onwards to recognizing our linguistic diversity!

About the Author

Marina P. Hamoy was born to a large family in Cebu City. Every summer while growing up, she explored the countryside of Cebu and northern Mindanao. After her son, Zubin was born in Thailand, her family settled in different countries in Guatemala, Honduras, and Canada. Thereafter in 2000, she raised Zubin in Rockville, MD.

Marina has a Business degree from Saint Theresa’s College. She holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs in Southeast Asian Studies and Linguistics from Ohio University and also a Master of Education focusing on ESL/Bilingual and Foreign Language/Spanish from George Washington University. She taught English in a variety of settings (elementary, secondary, university, intensive programs, US government, faculty development) since 1980. Her interest in languages began as a US Peace Corps instructor, simultaneously learning and teaching Cebuano to the volunteers at trainings in Nueva Ecija and Cebu.

As a teacher and literacy specialist, she advocates for developing early reading and writing skills in the natural language - as being critical to identity and the key to acquiring and becoming proficient in other languages. Having missed out on studying her native language formally, her wish is to bring an awareness of the serious lack of relevant educational materials for elementary students in Cebuano, other Philippine languages, and even in English - especially in the context of the current major educational reforms for the 21st century. The languages she learned growing up in the Philippines have supported her translations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Marina enjoys off-the-beaten-tracks’ exposure from snorkeling along kilometers of Moalboal drop-off, to spelunking in Sagada, climbing up to the cone of Mt. Mayon in Albay and one of the Annapurna peaks of the Himalayas in Nepal, gliding on the Mekong to the Golden Triangle, riding up the Karakoram and trekking Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan valleys, visiting refugees and hilltribes along and beyond the Thai borders, exploring the Mayan ruins in Central America, and visiting Indian towns traveling the northwest and northeast routes to Amritsar and Gorakhpur in India.

Si Alisya sa Kataká-takáng Lupà in Tagalog will be coming next!

Copies of this book can be found at the National Library of the Philippines, Cebu City Public Library, Montgomery County Public

Library, USC Cebuano Studies Center, Casa Gorordo Museum Bookshop, ALBASA Inc.