Filipino Languages FAQ

Here are some common questions regarding the Filipino languages:


Q: What is Filipino?
A: According to Article XIV Section 6-7 of the New Philippine Constitution, Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. It was once spelled as Pilipino. The change from |P| to |F| is due to socio-political-cultural reasons and not from the linguistic perspective. The change was once believed due to the linguistic view that the language is not pure and has foreign influences.

Filipino is also the term used to the people with Philippine heritage and citizenship.

Q: How did the Filipino language evolved?
A: Filipino has a great foundation from the Malayo-Polynesian languages. This is mainly due to the proximity of the Philippine islands to neighboring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Early Filipinos also have traded with the Chinese thus some Filipino words have its origins in the Chinese languages. The incorporation of the Chinese languages to Filipino might also be due to migration of Chinese families in Philippine shores and to interracial marriages.

The colonization of Spain for 333 years has also greatly influenced the Filipino language thus one might encounter Filipino words with Spanish origins but is spelled differently. Another foreign influence is the English language introduced by the Americans.

Q: What are examples of Filipino words with foreign influences?
A: Written below are some Filipino words with Filipino influences: Please take note that the ones enclosed in parentheses are the foreign words.

birhen (virgin), boses (voces), huwes (juez), kalesa (calesa), kape (café), karera (carrera), kusina (cocina), makina (maquina), panyolito (pañolito), petsa (fecha), relihiyon (religion), sabon (jabon), sapatos (zapatos), sipilyo (cepillo), takilya (taquilla), taksi (taxi), tsa (cha), yano (llano)

Q: Is Filipino the only language used in Philippines?
A: No. Filipino and English are the official languages of the country and are greatly used in most institutions, media, government, businesses and others. The Philippine education system uses both Filipino and English as the medium for instruction. In some cases, the vernacular or the regional languages are used to better communicate.

Q: What are the native languages used in the Philippines?
A: There are over 170 languages used in the Philippines and there are at least 10 native languages with over one million native speakers. These are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Kapampangan, Bikolano, Pangasinense, Maranao, Maguindanao, Kinaray-a, and Tausug, and more than 90% of the population can speak one or more of these languages.

Majority of the native languages are based from the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family with the exception of English, Spanish, Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Chavacano.

Q: What is the difference between Filipino and Tagalog?
A: Tagalog stayed true to its original form without adaptations whereas Filipino language has evolved from different languages namely Tagalog, English, Spanish, Cebuano, Ilocano and other local languages. Some accepted Filipino words now can not be understood by a Tagalog (someone who grew up in the Tagalog region) like "kawatan" or thief.

Q: Who will be teaching the Filipino languages in these forums?
A: The thread makers under the Filipino languages section will be the likely ones to facilitate the learning process under the topic that they have created. As of date (June 27, 2008), the thread makers are 4jpz, moonriche, Pau23, topaz_girl, trustno1_2328 and Vieran. The lessons they have created will be accessed through here.

In the likely event that these thread makers are not around to facilitate the learning process, the moderators with Filipino descent will be helping around. The moderators are 4jpz, Krazoom, and Rondillo.

Q: Is learning the Filipino language difficult?
A: It depends on your learning scenario. It would be best to learn the language with a Filipino speaker, not necessarily with Filipino descent, but someone who is fluent with the language. This way you can learn the proper pronunciation and sentence construction. Listening to music and watching movies/series will also facilitate a faster learning process. Reading Filipino comics and literature might also be of help.

Q: Is Filipino the only language to be taught?
A: Different Asian languages will be taught like Mandarin, Japanese and Korean. In the case of the Filipino languages section, majority of the lessons will be in Filipino but in some cases other Filipino languages (i.e. Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano) is incorporated in the lesson.

Filipinos at large might be polyglots but please take into account that the teachers/thread makers might not be well-versed with the requested language so therefore unable to give proper answers. In such cases, we encourage members to participate in the learning process thus each one of us will be learning from one another.

Q: What shall I do if I want to learn something but is not listed in the lessons?
A: Do not hesitate to make a shoutout of topics you want to be discussed. You may reply in this thread or PM a moderator. But AmpedAsia can not guarantee an instant action upon request because the making of lessons depend on availability of time and knowledge of the thread maker(s) regarding the topic to be discussed so it might take a while for the research work and encoding to get done.

Q: Can I request for translations?
A: Yes, you can. Random Filipino words needing translations are discussed in the Filipino Translations 101 but keep in mind that this is just random stuff and does not include translations of major texts or subbing for movies/series. If you are looking for teams who do translations or subbing for Filipino movies/series, you can access Halo Halo Fansubs at d-addicts, NoyPi Fansubs at d-addicts and Tatak Pinoy at d-addicts.

Post away... We are looking forward to teaching you and learning from you!!!

Have fun learning Filipino languages!!!

hehe, funny... the first word thats listed as an example of filipino words with foreign influences is birhen(virgin)...

tweLve Wrote:hehe, funny... the first word thats listed as an example of filipino words with foreign influences is birhen(virgin)...

rofl... you noticed that?!? I wasn't aware of listing it that way coz I was just alphabetizing the list

well unfortunately yup! no big deal really, jz found it funny...

cool thanks to you i'm learning alot today

nice can be use as a reprt at school...hehe

I don't know if I missed it, but is Visayan also a language in the Philippines? My mother speaks it and I can't understand it except for a couple of similar words in Tagalog. Does Visayan have a different name or something?

1stLadyENT Wrote:I don't know if I missed it, but is Visayan also a language in the Philippines? My mother speaks it and I can't understand it except for a couple of similar words in Tagalog. Does Visayan have a different name or something?

Visayas is a group of islands in the Philippines... the people inhabiting in these islands are called Visayans or Bisaya but they have different ethnic groups like Cebuano, Ilonggo, Waray, etc... So the term Bisaya is just a generic term for these tribes, but sometimes it just pertains to the Cebuanos... I hope my answer give you some light

Thanks for the information! I learned something new today! I wouldn't have known that.

i just wanna add a lil to this. ive heard a lot about the different influences on the filipino language like, specially the spanish influence. but ive never seen anyone talk about arabic influence.

ive read somewhere before that some arabs immigrated to the philippines before the spaniards and the chinesse (i cant remember the exact article). but it said that they are the ancestors to the bisayans, or one of them. i was a lil skeptic about this untill i started studying the arabic language. and i do see a lil influence by the arabs. its not alot but if proves some facts that the arabs where there.

im bisayan myself and i come from mindanao. and if you know a lil about the problems of terrorist in the philippines, youll know that they are muslims, not arab, but filipinos who worship islam. and they are quite the radicals, their name is abu sayyap (it means father of the sword in arabic)

anyways since studying arabic ive notice some word that are the same in bisayan (or cebuanu) and tagalog

its not much but here:

salamat (thank you) - سلم - from the root verb sa-la-ma meaning to learn
sallah (living room)- صالة - a place to keep your guess, guest room
asukar (sugar)- السكر - from the root verb sa-ka-ra meaning to get drunk
sabon (soap)- صابون - from the root verb saw-ba-na meaning to rub with soap
alam (know[alam mo ba?=do you know?])- علم - from the root verb ah-la-ma meanig to learn

thats all i can remember for now

if you think that one or to of these words are from spanish then jus know that the arabs conquered spain and stayed there for over 200 years. so spanish has some borrowed words from arabic

well thats all, please feel free to correct me if i am wrong