A video of Miss Universe Spain 2022 Alicia Faubel speaking conversational Filipino resurfaced on social media on the day of the 71st Miss Universe‘s grand coronation.
Twitter user @Rrrraaay on Sunday reposted a clip of the beauty queen answering a question in which she was asked to gauge her fluency in Filipino.
“In 1-10 and 10 being the highest, how fluent are [you] in Filipino language?” the question reads.
Alicia ranked her skills in the “5 to 6” range and then expounded her answer.
“Feeling ko, ngayon, mga 5,6. Dati, mas fluent. Ngayon, medyo mahirap kasi wala pang practice. Dati nakatira sa Manila so, maraming practice. Kasi maraming Filipino, ‘di ba? Ngayon, medyo mahirap pero, kaya pa,” she said.
The video was uploaded by pageant website Missosology on Facebook in October last year.
“TAGALOG 101 with Miss Universe Spain 2022, Alicia Faubel,” it said in its caption before.
The Spanish beauty also answered a question about her “favorite Filipino dish,” saying that she’s fond of leche flan, ube, halo-halo, kare-kare and adobo.
The first part of the video about Alicia ranking her fluency was reshared by Twitter user @Rrrraaay on January 15, the day the Miss Universe 2022 held its grand coronation.
“Fun fact: Miss Spain speaks Tagalog more fluently than the actual Miss Philippines! Spain lived and worked in Manila for 3 years and Miss PH [Philippines] was raised in Italy and moved to her adopted homeland at 18,” he wrote.
“And this year’s Miss USA is half Pinoy! We are representing! #MissUniverse,” the Twitter user added.
This post has earned a whopping number of almost 400,000 views, 24,400 likes and over 1,8500 retweets so far.
Several Pinoys expressed their amazement over Alicia’s Filipino-speaking skills in the quote tweets, with some noting how conversational it is.
“She really had me at ‘Feeling ko.’ Gurl, that’s not just Tagalog, it’s the street Tagalog she learned,” a Pinoy commented.
“Oh, this is like conversational Tagalog, like, CASUAL Tagalog, not the textbook academic ones like how ACTUAL FILIPINOS SPEAK TAGALOG,” another Twiter user observed.
“And ‘yung expression ‘di ba?’ Very street Tagalog hahaha,” a different Filipino said.
“SHE HAD MY HEART AT ‘FEELING KO,’ THAT’S A PINOY TRADEMARK ASDFGHJKL,” another Pinoy exclaimed.
“dhdjdjjf super aliw with the way she speaks so colloquially,” observed a different Twitter user.
It’s not the first time Alicia has shown her Filipino-speaking skills.
Last October, she shared an Instagram video of her talking to a kid while buying kwek-kwek. She was also able to ride a tricycle.
“Mabait at sobrang sweet si Kuya Patrick! Sa susunod, mag-mukbang tayo ng toknene #orangewaffles,” the Spanish beauty wrote.
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Alicia was also spotted speaking Filipino when she attended a gala dinner with other Miss Universe 2022 delegates and Miss Universe Organization owner Anne Jakrajutatip.
A video of this was uploaded by ABS-CBN correspondent Dyan Castillejo on January 10.
Alicia spent three years living in the Philippines, studying acting and working as a model.
A report said she was just 17 years old when she arrived in the Southeast Asian country.
Alicia shared that she was able to adapt to the ways of the Filipino people, including their language, during those years.
“I felt very close in the Philippines and I learned so much living in the Philippines, especially being Spanish. The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish [for] over three hundred years, then the Japanese came over and then the Americans came over,” she said before.
“Living in the Philippines for three years definitely made a lot in my personality because Filipinos are well known for their hospitality and being appreciative and bubbly personalities, and I‘m very grateful that I got inspired and I absorbed the best out of it. And I’m actually looking forward to go there representing Miss Universe Spain 2022,” Alicia added.
Miss Universe Spain give us a cultural lesson about Spain 🇪🇸 and the Philippines🇵🇭 pic.twitter.com/sbVccNe5iD
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) September 20, 2022
Alicia finished in the Top 16 of Miss Universe 2022.
She and 83 other delegates were bested by Filipina-American R’Bonney Gabriel of the United States.
