Filipino (Tagalog): A Deeper Look

 

Peppered with Spanish, Malaysian, Chinese, English, and Arabic influences, Tagalog is an interesting Asian language spoken by 90 million Filipinos all over the world. The wide Filipino diaspora ensures that you will find a Filipino community virtually anywhere in the world.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Usefulness: Learning Tagalog is mostly driven by love than dire need. Students are usually foreign born Filipinos  gs/en.js?1253891729" type="text/javascript"> or foreigners with a Filipino significant other. A good majority of Filipinos possess a good working knowledge of English, so a knowledge of Tagalog is not as useful. Filipino students possessing a college degree surely possess skills between the Upper Intermediate to Advanced knowledge of English (especially in reading and writing). However, most Filipinos are apprehensive/embarrassed to speak English unless absolutely necessary. *English is also recognized as an official language in the Philippines.*

 

Chic Factor: Filipinos do not expect foreigners to speak Tagalog, so everyone will love you even if you speak even a tiny bit of the language. Mistakes are forgiven so very easily and Filipinos are actually very eager to teach Tagalog to anyone who asks. Tagalog does not enjoy the same level of chic that comes with other Asian languages, but you will still be respected in most circles for learning such an uncommon and somehow difficult language.

 

Countries: One. Tagalog (officially called Filipino) is the national language of the Philippines. There is a significant number of expatriate Filipino communities in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, etc. which makes Tagalog a recognized minority language. Tagalog is also an official language in Semporna.

 

Speakers: About 90-95 million speakers. 22 million speakers are native speakers (Tagalogs) and as a second language by the rest of the Filipino citizens who speak a dialect or another Philippine language (due to the fact that Tagalog is officially used in all Filipino schools for instruction).

 

Economic Importance: Historically a prosperous country, the Philippines has experienced a steady and swift decline economically for the last 80 years due to government corruption and bad business practices. However, business and investment opportunities are still booming especially in the areas of tourism, customer service call centers, and real estate (marketed to Filipino expatriates and foreigners). 

 

As a foreigner in the Filipino business world, a  knowledge of Tagalog would give the impression that you're not a dumb and naive foreigner, and will decrease the chance of workers and colleagues taking advantage of your "ignorance."

 

Travel: The Philippines is famous for its beautiful white sand beaches (Boracay!) and unusual tourist spots such as the Bocaue Rice Terraces, Mayon Volcano, Camiguin, Palawan, and Baguio. Many tourists consider the Philippines as an "off-beaten path" and is immensely enjoyable (and cheap!) if you know where to look. Almost everything is written in English, so you won't have to worry having to do a million signs just to find a restroom.

 

Knowledge of Tagalog would endear you to Filipinos and would more likely than not, score you free food and an adoring crowd of fans. Filipinos are known for their hospitality and (sometimes annoying) open curiosity for foreigners.

 

Variations: Virtually none as most Filipinos speak standard Tagalog. There are Tagalog dialects, but are confined to small towns where the standard form is still very much understood. The differences are mostly spotted in the affixes attached to verbs--but these are negligible.

 

The Philippines do boast a plethora of secondary languages such as Cebuano, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Ilonggo, Bikolano, etc. With 7,107 islands, the country was bound to have these different languages!

 

*Tag-lish is a way of speaking Tagalog and English together. It is spoken mostly by the younger generation and is usually used either for humor or to express a thought that is not easily said in Tagalog.

 

Culture: Filipino culture is one of the richest (yet often overlooked) and most interesting in the world! With the first settlers being Malays, Indos, and Negritos; conquerors from Spain, Japan, and America; and neighborhood influences such as the Chinese and the Arabs, Filipino culture is the epitome of a melting pot of world cultures. A true East meets West!

 

Filipino food is a good reflection of its culture. You can sample a paella, traditionally a Spanish cuisine, and you will find hints of an Asian twist with the use of local ingredients. There's also the swarm of street foods such as balut and pancit (Chinese influenced), shawarma (Arabic), isaw, sorbetes, and more!

 

Literature such as Ibong Adarna, Noli Me Tangere, and Florante at Laura guarantees a very satisfying literary journey.

 

Tagalog movies and television shows are readily available on the internet, and some even come with subtitles. Filipinos are big fans of soap operas. Streaming radio stations are also within reach. Newspapers are also available, but are usually in English. If you want to practice your Tagalog reading skills, a good source would be Filipino tabloids.

 

Being music lovers, Filipinos offer a wide range of musical genres from pop rock to ethnic music. The more mainstream bands are the Eraserheads, Parokya ni Edgar, and Side A. Ethnic music is performed by the more popular Grace Nono. World class singers such as the Tony award winner Lea Salonga gives you a peek of the Filipino singing talent in both English and Tagalog.

 

DIFFICULTIES

 

Difficulty: I rate this language as [four out of five] for English speakers, a little easier if you speak Spanish as you can recognize about 20-30 percent of Tagalog vocabulary. Orthography is straightforward and follows the American method of punctuations, etc. Filipinos are very forgiving of mistakes, so just talk away!

 

Pronunciation: Tagalog is phonetic so everything is very straightforward. Except, perhaps, for the mild rolling r's and the "ng" sound, Tagalog pronunciation is dead easy.

 

Grammar: Tagalog grammar can be a bit difficult as the word order can dictate whether you are being formal or casual. There are two orders. "I am happy" can be said as "Ako ay masaya" or "Masaya ako," the former being more formal sounding and has the feel of a sentence being too complete. [Ako = I; Ay = Am; Masaya = Happy] Sentences where the subject is placed at the end is the more common form and the most natural sounding ("Masaya ako" sounds more natural/flowing than "Ako ay masaya"). Articles run amok in sentences.

 

Affixes are very important in this language--giving it a slight agglutinative characteristic. Nag, Mag, Pa, Na, and Naki, are some examples of these affixes.

 

Verbs are 95 percent of the time regular, and are conjugated by the use of affixes or some slight, yet regular, modifications in the words. For example, the infinitive [to eat], "kain," can be turned into past tense simply by inserting "um" between the first two letters: "kUMain." Same for the infinitive to run, "takbo," which becomes "tUMakbo." The same rules apply to numerous Tagalog verbs. A more thorough explanation can be found HERE. 

 

Tagalog is also riddled by homonyms where the emphasis/stress would determine its meaning. For example, saya could mean happiness or skirt; suka - vinegar or vomit; mahal - love or expensive; puno - tree or full; baka - maybe or cow; basa - read or wet; and more.

 

Vocabulary: Tagalog vocabulary is a mix mainly of indigenous Tagalog and Spanish words. Being an Austronesian language, Filipino shares similiraties with Malaysian, Thai, Javanese, and Fijian. Though most words sound foreign to Westerners, Tagalog words are definitely easier to catch compared to the tones of Chinese, the long agglutinative words of Japanese, or the ambiguous 

sounds of Korean.

 

Transparency: Though there are close similarities with Malaysian and Indonesian, you'll be better off if you know Spanish--Filipinos count money and tell time in Spanish!

 

Spelling/Orthograph: Tagalog spelling is dead on: you write what you hear. No fancy spellings here. Very simple and straighforward. Though Filipinos use the Latin alphabet now, they originally used a writing system called "Baybayin" or "Alibata."

 

Time Needed: If you spend about an hour a day studying Tagalog, you should be able to speak very well in 12 months. Reading and writing should come easily as well.

 

RESOURCES

 

Websites:  There are many websites offering free Tagalog lessons such as:

Edufire

 

Books:

Amazon

Amazon

 

Tapes/Software: 

Pimsleur

Rosetta Stone