Savi Davison is steadily learning Tagalog through daily interactions with teammates and locals, seeing it as a meaningful way to connect with her roots and her mother.
Savi Davison has always heard Tagalog—it’s the language that colored family gatherings, conversations with relatives, and moments with her mom. But for most of her life, it was a language she never spoke back.
That’s starting to change.
Now with the PLDT High Speed Hitters and spending more time in the Philippines, the Fil-Canadian spiker has been making a conscious effort to learn, asking questions in everyday conversations and embracing corrections from those around her.
“I grew up hearing it, but I was never able to speak it back,” Davison told One Sports. “So through conversations and stuff, I've just asked a lot of questions and, you know, I've been corrected quite a bit, but it's healthy growth, I like to call it.”
[ALSO READ: PLDT’s Savi Davison celebrates one full year in the Philippines, connects more with Filipino family]
Her biggest help has come from inside the team. Fellow High Speed Hitter Jessey De Leon, known for her animated storytelling, often blends languages in a single thought.
“Probably Jessey because she'll go on a rant in Tagalog, and then she'll go on a rant in English,” Davison said with a smile. “So she'll sabay-sabay the sentence—English and then Tagalog, or Tagalog and then English—and then I'll be able to differentiate.”
The lessons don’t stop on the court. Sometimes they come from the most ordinary moments, like hopping on a motorcycle taxi.
“Only on the Angkas,” she laughed. “I have to learn that. Sometimes I don't understand them, so I'm like, sige kuya.”
For Davison, these small wins mean more than just expanding her vocabulary—they’re about strengthening a connection that feels deeply personal.
“I mean, I say this all the time, but it's a very full circle moment,” she said. “To be in public with my mom and understand her and then speak back to her when I go back home is a gift. And I know a lot of people nowadays don't speak their first language, especially from their parents and their grandparents. But for me, as I've been here more, it's something to definitely hang on to.”
[ALSO READ: Savi Davison takes pride in win streak vs Creamline as PLDT heads to PVL on Tour Finals]
Just in time for Buwan ng Wika, every phrase learned, every sentence understood, brings Davison closer to the language that’s been part of her life since childhood.