Code-Switching

Chinglish/Singlish

N: Where is V?
L: She's not joining us for lunch. She's just going to buy food and eat in the office.
N: Oh okay, how about C?
L: She's so busy she can't join us.
N: Ta pao, too?
(after a moment of confusion, L laughed and imitated me)
L: Ta pao, too? Haha!
N: Sorry. Is it okay to combine English and Chinese?
L laughed and told me it's okay, for now, because I don't know how to converse in fluent Mandarin.

* Ta pao means take-away/take out


Singlish and Taglish

E: I watched Tayong Dalawa last night.
N: Really? How was it?
E: It's okay. The two boys have the same name right? Jay-Ar (rolling r) and wait, what's the name of the other one?
N: David.
E: Ah yes, Dave! That Audrey, Kim Chiu. She's pretty. I think we should call C Audrey and P as Jay-Ar. And we can call A Dave, even though he's not here anymore.
N: I've met Jay-Ar (without the rolling r) before. We had a shoot for a magazine. He's a bit shy.
E: Oh, he's like Kampong Chicken!
N and W: What?
E: Kampong chickens are shy. They just roam around and afraid of people, as opposed to those chickens in farms.
N and W: Ooookay.
(P, A and C are the other Filipinos in the office, A already left the company)

(after a week)
E: Hey Nelly, I wasn't able to watch Tayong Dalawa last night. I wasn't able to see Ser Ramon and Alessandra, what's her surname?
N: De Rossi.
E: Ah yes, Alessandra de Rossi.
N: So you're a fan of the show now? Haha. I think it's scheduled on Tuesdays so you can watch it later. Switch the language to Tagalog so it's better.
E: Yes, the English dubbers sound weird.
W to E: You're watching a Tagalog show now?
N: Yes, he is. He's a fan now!
W: He understands Tagalog?
N: Only a few words, I guess.
W: (turning to E) What's the first Tagalog word you've learned?
E: Bakla.
W: What does Bakla means?
N to W: Bakla is gay in English.
N to E: Did your Philipi-nese (he calls his Filipino-Chinese friends Philipi-nese) friend teach you that?
E: No, I learned it from Maritess.
N: Maritess vs the Superfriends?
E: Yes!
N: Batman, I think he is bakla.
E: And Robin, he's always riding the Batmobile.
W: What are you talking about?
And we asked A to watch Maritess vs the Superfriends.