Is it worth it to study a Filipino language such as Tagalog, Visaya, etc.?

[ladislav]

People from native English speaking (aka Anglo) countries usually do not learn local languages when they are in the Philippines or in India. It is seen as impractical and an unnecessary use of one´s time. English is official in the Philippines (and in India) and forms a big part of formal life.

However, these two countries practice what is called diglossia. One language is used for one thing, and another-- for another thing.

The use of English in the Philippines is kind of similar to the use of Latin in many parts of Europe in the old times. Everything legal and formal was done in Latin. It was the medium of instruction in schools. However, if you stepped out on the street, and listened in to what tongue people used to talk in daily life, you would rarely hear Latin. They would speak the local language to each other to manage their day to day affairs. Educated people knew Latin well, but the working masses knew it moderately, or in some cases, on a very basic level.

Thus, you observe the same thing in the Philippines (and in India). English is used for school, meetings at work and other work activities, documentation, street signs, printed press and announcements and as a language to speak with foreigners (or those who look like foreigners). Daily communication among citizens, or those who look like citizens, takes place in the local language.

So, should you learn it? It depends. You should decide for yourself if it is worth it for you.

Here are the advantages:

They are now written in Roman letters, so, unlike in Thailand or Cambodia, you do not need to learn the local script. It does exist but is rarely used. They are not tonal so, no need to practice letting your voice go up and down. There is a lot of literature which you can read and that will help you learn the language faster.

It opens up the great musical treasures of the country and now you can understand and sing songs in the local languages. When doing it at a karaoke the treatment you get is that is super.

You plug into the local culture on a gi-normous scale. You can now talk to the masses of tens of millions on the most friendly level which endears you to the locals tremendously.

In the Philippines, one´s ethnic identity is largely based on the language a person speaks (more so than on race or bloodline). So, people will talk about you and say, ´´ He is a Tagalog´´ and not ´´ He speaks Tagalog´´. By speaking the language, you basically become a part of that ethno-linguistic group (another Philippine term).

This is a phenomenon that is very rare in this world. If you speak Japanese, people will not say, ´´ He is Japanese´´ and if you speak English, people will not say ´´ He is an Englishman´´. However, I have heard people talk about me and say,´ That Tagalog man´ ( particularly if it was non Tagalogs speaking about me).

They no longer get angry at you as much and say ´´ Go back to your country!´´ and you can complain about a service more safely, especially if you do it the local way,´´ Please brother\ sister, turn down that music, I am going to have a heart attack, and I cannot hear what my friend is saying´´.

You no longer see the formal facial expressions which some Filipinos display when they speak English. They look way happier, smile genuinely, and start talking to you in a relaxed manner. Some of them feel tense when they are not sure of their English and are afraid to lose face. But this does not happen if you speak Tagalog or Visaya, etc. You are a lot more within the ´´ in ´´ crowd now and they warm up.

Lots and lots of daily things, such as shopping, taxi riding, repairs, house cleaning, ordering in restaurants, etc. can now be done with greater ease with the people feeling way more comfortable around you. The overcharging becomes significantly lower. You also attract fewer bad people as they now see that you are not some greenhorn who does not know the local ways.

If you are a man or a woman who is looking for a romantic partner, your local language ability will open up a gigantic multi-million pool of people who do not feel comfortable speaking in English and from which you can now get to choose the person whom you would like to fall in love with and form a beautiful relationship with. It will also make that person´s friends and family accept you a lot more. You can likewise have a huge number of friends who would now like to hang out with you.

You are also more likely to talk your way out of trouble than if you spoke in English.

Filipinos have been oppressed by foreigners for centuries, and most of these never respected their culture and their languages. They ordered them around in Spanish, English, Japanese, etc. By learning the language, you show that you are not like that and that you do not feel superior to them. This bolsters your acceptance in society on a huge scale.

I once went to a beach in Cebu where the sign said Filipinos 5 pesos, Foreigners 20 pesos. By speaking in Visaya, I made them smile and they said to me, ´´ You are a Filipino, 5 pesos!´´

But there are disadvantages, too, if you see them as disadvantages:

It will, most probably, not bring you any money. and if money is the most important thing for you, then you may want to reconsider studying the language.

These languages have hard grammar, and even though the pronunciation is relatively easy, you will still have to máster the double stresses and the glottal stops, otherwise the word will not be understood.

You cannot just pick up the language, you need to study it like any other-- with verb drills, vocabular lists, etc. Otherwise, you will be speaking pidgin and sound ridiculous. For Tagalog, many books are available, but for Visaya, you will need to get a tutor as good dictionaries and good text books are not easy to come by. All this will require na outlay of time and money. I would say that you would need a good 500 hours to get to the intermediate level and maybe a 1000 hours to be fluent. It is an undertaking that may take a good part of a year.

The languages are hard to understand when spoken at a regular speed as they speak them fast, and there are many dialects, as well as idioms and expressions which are not listed anywhere. Unless you are a professional linguist, you will really need to get someone to help you on a regular basis.

Some – not the majority- Filipinas and Filipinos are looking to meet only English-speaking foreigners for friendship and romance because they want to speak and improve their English, learn about foreign cultures, raise their status in society and possibly emigrate to another country by following their future spouse there. They also want to play host and teach you some Tagalog words and have you taste some Filipino foods.

A Tagalog or a Visayan speaking foreign person who goes, acts and eats local does not fit such goals for them. They find such a person boring and ineffectual and show less respect for him or her than if it were a formal looking English speaker who has just arrived. They actually feel that you have cheapened yourself by learning the languages.``Why don´t you just act and speak like any other Foreigner! Speak English! People are laughing at your Tagalog! When you come to our house, don´t speak Tagalog! I want to introduce you to my neighbors as a foreign guest.´´

If your face does not look like a typical Filipino face, then there is the language-face perceptional mismatch on part of some locals. This happens in many Asian countries, too. By seeing someone who looks obviously non-Filipino, the locals expect English to come out of your mouth and attune their minds to receving English words. When Tagalog comes out, they do not understand it and give you a blank look. This does not happen daily, but it does happen. It may annoy you because you may think of it as a ´´ racial´´ thing, but it is not meant to be.

This usually happens if the Filipino works in tourist or expat áreas such as Clark, some resort or hotel with lots of foreigners, where they solidify in their minds the reality that people with foreign faces speak English and people with Filipino faces speak a Philippine language. Then, you appear and it takes some time for them to finally realize that you are speaking a Philippine language. Then, a laugh may take place, hands clapping, shouts ´´Magaling! Magaling!´´( Skillful) resound.

On other occasions, they might refuse to speak the Philippine language to you and then, they just keep answering in English. Among other reasons, they may not believe that you speak it well, as they have not yet met a non-Filipino who speaks it fluently. Or, they do not feel comfortable speaking it to a non-Filipino as they always, for decades sometimes, spoke English to people with a face like yours. Or they are happy to speak in English as they, by local social rules, are usually not expected to speak English to another Filipino. You can request for them to speak to you in Tagalog, but they may not go along with it. Do not force the issue. You speak the language you want and let them speak the language they want.

This face-language mismatch phenomenon happens less among the masses and more among the better educated ones or those who are in constant contact with foreigners. Just like Americans, they have been taught that English is universal and you can speak it to any foreign person, which is actually not the case since some 80% of the world still do not speak English ( and often do not want to).

If you are a fluent local language speaker, they usually expect you to act and do things the Filipino way and will no longer give you any slack for being a foreigner. This means you will have to go local and totally accept the Filipino view of right and wrong. You will also become aware of the fact that the Philippine culture, when it is expressed in the local language, is mainly a SE Asian culture and is similar to that of Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, etc. Its values may then conflict with yours as they will no longer adjust to you and you will have to adjust to them.

Finally, you will now understand all the comments said about you, some good and some not so good.

So, you decide if it is a good investment. Because once you learn the language, you cannot unlearn it. Plus, foreigners who are Philippine language speakers are still very few and they live great lives in the Philippines, have local partners, do business and are very happy in the country.

In my view, though, it is a great skill to have and I do not regret having it.

[Yohan]

About foreign languages, this topic is coming up from time to time.
Generally I would say, to try to learn a foreign language can never be wrong.

If you have some knowledge about a foreign language and you try to make use out of it when meeting a native speaker, or while living among people who cannot talk to you in your own mother tongue can never be wrong, even not in case both of you can communicate using a third-party language like English or French despite both of you are not native speakers of these languages.

As living away from Europe since more than 40 years, I rarely use my native German language now, neither spoken nor written. I also use English mostly only for the internet, like with this forum.

[MarcosZeitola]

Living in the Northern Philippines, I benefitted quite a bit from speaking some Ilokano, especially being able to curse and joke around a little bit. It was an amazing icebreaker and I found a lot of people in the Northern parts of Luzon, whether it be Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Baguio, all the way up to Isabela, are primarily Ilokano speaking as opposed to "Tagalogs", a language many of them associate with the somewhat (in their eyes) stuck-up city dwellers. There's quite a bit of regional and cultural pride, I noticed this in particular amongst the Igorot tribe members of the Cordillera mountains. They feel largely ignored by the government and take pride in their own local culture, local rulers, locally famous people, clans and what-have-you.

So if you have a proud people, knowing a bit of their language and culture speaks volumes to your character. You're instantly liked more, less distrusted, less of an outsider. And you'll catch people talking about things, sometimes even talking about you, when around strangers. In a million ways, its beneficial to your integration, and useful in making friends, dating or doing business. I can recommend anyone in the Philippines to learn some basic Filipino (Tagalog) or, if you stay long-term in Luzon or Cebu or down the Deep South, to learn whatever local language is spoken most. It'll do wonders for the way you're perceived and your social life will benefit spectacularly. It all becomes so much more fun, too.

[publicduende]

Living in the Northern Philippines, I benefitted quite a bit from speaking some Ilokano, especially being able to curse and joke around a little bit. It was an amazing icebreaker and I found a lot of people in the Northern parts of Luzon, whether it be Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Baguio, all the way up to Isabela, are primarily Ilokano speaking as opposed to "Tagalogs", a language many of them associate with the somewhat (in their eyes) stuck-up city dwellers. There's quite a bit of regional and cultural pride, I noticed this in particular amongst the Igorot tribe members of the Cordillera mountains. They feel largely ignored by the government and take pride in their own local culture, local rulers, locally famous people, clans and what-have-you.

So if you have a proud people, knowing a bit of their language and culture speaks volumes to your character. You're instantly liked more, less distrusted, less of an outsider. And you'll catch people talking about things, sometimes even talking about you, when around strangers. In a million ways, its beneficial to your integration, and useful in making friends, dating or doing business. I can recommend anyone in the Philippines to learn some basic Filipino (Tagalog) or, if you stay long-term in Luzon or Cebu or down the Deep South, to learn whatever local language is spoken most. It'll do wonders for the way you're perceived and your social life will benefit spectacularly. It all becomes so much more fun, too.

As far as I know the Philippine culture, you had the luck of finding yourself in one of the most proudly "identitarian" communities in the country. I mean, as even your screen name implies, Ilokanos still venerate Marcos Sr to this day. To be fair, they do have something going on with them: coming from a "work hard, together, or succumb" mountainside rice farming culture, they have grown to be more resourceful and hard-working (if hard-headed) than most of the rest of their fellow countrymen.

Learning Ilokano, in this context, would probably make you feel more proudly closer to them, and them to you, than learning Tagalog to work in an ultra-modern business district of Manila, where being "conyo" (stiff-upper-lip urban) is the rule and everybody speaks perfect English even to their grannies.

[MarcosZeitola]

As far as I know the Philippine culture, you had the luck of finding yourself in one of the most proudly "identitarian" communities in the country. I mean, as even your screen name implies, Ilokanos still venerate Marcos Sr to this day. To be fair, they do have something going on with them: coming from a "work hard, together, or succumb" mountainside rice farming culture, they have grown to be more resourceful and hard-working (if hard-headed) than most of the rest of their fellow countrymen.

Learning Ilokano, in this context, would probably make you feel more proudly closer to them, and them to you, than learning Tagalog to work in an ultra-modern business district of Manila, where being "conyo" (stiff-upper-lip urban) is the rule and everybody speaks perfect English even to their grannies.

True... the level of English in those upper classes will never fail to amaze me. Went to Boracay with some Manila based friends, rich couple, girl went to Ateneo. She apologized for her "not-so-perfect English" which I pointed out was utterly laughable as it was about the most fluent English I've ever heard any non-Anglo speak, far better than my own spoken English, and utterly free of accent.

The Ilokanos do indeed love them some Marcos, although among some of the younger, more educated city-based Ilokanos, there's a trend of shit-talking Marcos rather than idolizing him. This translates into silly little things like... how the "politician crush" of a city-dwelling Ilokana may be Vico Sotto whereas a provincial Ilokana will typically prefer Sandro Marcos instead lol. I've given up on trying to blend in with the rich and well-educated crowd too much; a more "simple" Ilokana with the facial features of her Spanish ancestor clearly visible on her face and skin really "did it" for me. But for sure, no one ever suffered from learning a bit of the local lingo. It's always a plus.

[publicduende]

The Ilokanos do indeed love them some Marcos, although among some of the younger, more educated city-based Ilokanos, there's a trend of shit-talking Marcos rather than idolizing him. This translates into silly little things like... how the "politician crush" of a city-dwelling Ilokana may be Vico Sotto whereas a provincial Ilokana will typically prefer Sandro Marcos instead lol. I've given up on trying to blend in with the rich and well-educated crowd too much; a more "simple" Ilokana with the facial features of her Spanish ancestor clearly visible on her face and skin really "did it" for me. But for sure, no one ever suffered from learning a bit of the local lingo. It's always a plus.

Haha, that's something quite hilarious I only found here in the Philippines. Political allegiance predicated on how "pogi" or "gwapa" a politician is. Lately, as you say, this preference has been extended to their son and even grandson. Vico Sotto ("our" Mayor in Pasig) is obviously a prime example of a showbiz family "lent" to politics.

I remember, when Duterte was running for Prez, they would relentlessly use the image of his two (relatively) better-looking kids, Baste "the weed-smoking rebel" and even Kitty, who at that time was just a child.

Sandro Marcos is another heartthrob kind of guy, more known for his DJing and romance than for his political career. But, then, who cares. When you're a Marcos and you're adored by one half of the female voting age population (the other half sees you as an ugly "tomboy"), your political life is pretty much on the fast lane.