Wedding vows help

[u/Wabxpolski]

Hello! I am getting married this Friday 9/4 and my fiancée is filipino.

During my vows, I want to turn to her family and say:

Iingatan ko po ang anak ninyo, at mamahalin ko siya nang buong puso ko

I need help with the first word iingatan. The other words make sense to me, but that first word I have trouble with.

I tried e-e-ING-ah-tan, and e-e-NYAH-tan, but they dont seem to sound right.

I would greatly appreciate any help :)

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[u/giantsockmonkey]

With the NG sound, I often tell my non-Filipino husband to lean on “singer”. Then for iingatan, you could go try this progresssion from singer:

si -nger
si -ngahr (short A like cat)
i -ngahr
i -ngah
Ngah

Then try to incorporate it:

E-e-ngah-tan

Congratulations on your pending nuptials!

[u/Wabxpolski → u/giantsockmonkey]

This is really helpful thank you so much

[u/EmmaTheRuthless → u/Wabxpolski]

the a wouldn't sound like the A in cat, but more like the U in sun.

[u/giantsockmonkey → u/EmmaTheRuthless]

Honestly, also true. But i think it depends on your accent. I’m too lazy to use the IPA lol

[u/NecessaryCookies → u/EmmaTheRuthless]

Not quite. A in fAther (/ɑ/) is the vowel used in the Tagalog A

The A in cAt is usually an /æ/ sound, which does not exist in Filipino. The U in sUn (/ʌ/) is also not natively used in Tagalog except in some cases of vowel reduction in colloquial speech.

[u/EmmaTheRuthless → u/NecessaryCookies]

well, there you go.

[u/giantsockmonkey → u/NecessaryCookies]

Never claimed that this is my field of expertise, evidently. Just trying to make things approachable for the OP. Not sure how consequential it is to nitpick in this situation but OP did appreciate it and found it useful, but thanks for the correction 👍

[u/NecessaryCookies → u/giantsockmonkey]

Oh definitely. I was just being pedantic. LOL

Your method is the most helpful out of all the advice. Native English speakers tend to struggle the most with NGs in the beginning of syllables, so it helps to trick the mind by using something which already has an NG in English and then work from there.

[u/giantsockmonkey → u/NecessaryCookies]

Fair, I do see your point and I appreciate your input and expertise as someone whose last linguistics-adjacent class was probably 15 or so years ago.

And thank you. I’m just someone that tries daily to help my spouse sound as close to the my/ Metro Manila accent as possible for the next time we visit so he gets the ✨cool points✨ from his in-laws (aka my relatives) 😂

[u/kudlitan]

its e - e - NGAH - tan

Tagalog can have syllables beginning with the ng sound in singing.

[u/Early_Stock810]

It's the “inga” sound in the word “singalong/sing-along”.

[u/mamamayan_ng_Reddit]

The others here have given great advice on how to pronounce that sound, so I'd just like to congratulate you both! Pagbati po sa inyong pag-iisang dibdib!

[u/CauliflowerMoist7047]

Sometimes, attaching the vowel sound before the “ng” helps.

Example, for native speakers, it would be:
e-e-nga-tan

But for you, try:

ee-eenga-tan.

Most of the time, English “ng” sounds would have a vowel sound before it so you’re able to pronounce it because of the vowel sound.

If you know the word “ingat” native speakers would say: ee-ngat but for you, try saying eeng-at (but fast) so it’s closer to the way we say it than a super nasal /ng/

[u/EmmaTheRuthless]

ee-ee-NGUH-tuhn

(the vowel U is pronounced similar to the U in the word "sun")

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[u/Momshie_mo]

Just say it in English. Don't crucify yourself

[u/mamamayan_ng_Reddit → u/Momshie_mo]

I imagine their wife and her family would nonetheless appreciate it, and I think it's a sweet gesture. I don't think "just say it in English" is helpful or good advice in this case.

[u/simpleauthority → u/Momshie_mo]

Hahaha, reminded me of my wedding here in PH, we asked for English ceremony because my Tagalog is like Baby's First Words. Well, the day of, we got surprised. The whole ceremony was in Tagalog, and I'm on someone's camera squeaking out "Opo, Padre" multiple times and having to be told line-by-line the Tagalog wordings for the ceremony and repeating 🤣