Should Foreigners Spend Time Learning Philippine Languages?

Americans set up the first public schools and taught English in them, so speaking English has been respected ever since.  I find it to my advantage to not understand Tagalog or Ilocano, exempting me from many useless and pointless conversations.  It is also a great excuse to not watch TFC on cable tv.

Hi,

Your question actually depends on how you look at the Philippines. In my own opinion, if you think that you wouldnt want to live here forever then why waste your time learning tagalog, instead use your time in enjoying the low cost of living here. On the other hand if you think that you'd stay here for good then take it to your advantage learning the language. Simply not to be taken advantage of what we call Pros here. I also will encourage you to study the our attitude in that way, you will be able to get along with different kinds of people.

I can be of any help and i can give advices just send me a private message and id love to be answering them. Take care and Enjoy!!


Mike

To know a certain local language of a country is an advantage so you will not get lost and you know what are they talking about.

It's a friendly advice

Thanks for the friendly advice.  Glad to have you at my service.

The quick answer to this question is of course you should! I have found it has opened so many doors for me.

Yes it is best to learn it,as i found out when i was there,that there are so many chitter chatters.And they will not tell you what is going on.So you are left in the dark!

THIS CAN BE GOOD!!  No one expects you to remember what was said if you did not understand.  My wife tells me what I need to know and I ignore the rest.

well I find it much better not to speak it, that way one does not get into the yabayaba that goes on so much
Pete

Well, you can try to learn it and not tell anyone about it. That way you know what they are talking about One Irish guy I know was tickled pink because a group of girls was talking about how cute he is in Tagalog. They didn't know he was fluent. it was so funny, haha.

But seriously, English is widely spoken in the Philippines but to know Filipino/Tagalog will endear you more to us

I have a problem...I would have to learn 3 dialects, Tagalog, Illacano, Igorot, because my wife's family don't speak Tagalog or English very well...and even the later two dialects are much different than the other...How in the world would an over 60 year old man ever going to accomplish that when English in itself is extremely difficult to master..LOL

If you are in the Philippines, you are free, you want to learn the dialect or not, it's up to you, as long as you do the right thing, and close to the people you love. you are always welcome here. just learn, love, and respect.

tambok17 wrote:

And if foreigners do study the local languages, most locals will just reply in English. Sometimes, the locals will say-"For God's sake, speak English, you sound pathetic in Tagalog! Your Tagalog is painful to hear!" Some will even laugh if you speak Visaya or Tagalog.

People who want to understand you, will understand you. People who are afraid or hostile toward foreigners won't try to understand you. If they laugh at you, maybe it's because they're just nervous or shy or afraid of foreigners. By the way, macho/bigoted is just a cover for shyness and fear, misbegotten bravado.

I have found that people usually are happy to hear me try and speak to them in their own language. If you think they don't like your trying to communicate with them in this way, maybe you should ask yourself if you are the one who is nervous, shy or hostile toward them, and misinterpreting their tendency to smile and laugh all the time. I once told a couple guys I'd just witnessed a street killing and they laughed. Filipinos laugh for reasons that foreigners wouldn't understand and can't seem to appreciate. In America, if someone laughed at me, I knew I was being insulted. In the Philippines, if someone laughs at me, either they're just nervous and don't know what to say, or else they just like to laugh and think I'm weird. They laugh at each other too, and it's not necessary insulting for them to laugh at you.

Filipinos don't particularly appreciate individuality, they think everybody should behave the same way to a certain extent, so if you surprise them by acting like what you are (a foreigner), they might laugh at you. They laugh at me all the time. I try to shrug it off or better yet, laugh with them, which often gets a good response, establishes rapport, and sends the message that I don't feel superior to them. And helps me relax too which is the most important part. As easily insulted as they are, and because they think all white people are rich, it isn't always easy to convey to them that you are not to be feared and don't feel superior to them.

All very good cultural points. The cultural differences are certainly greater than what most people think.
Having said that, I also do not want to be accused of being angry at them or feeling something negative towards them- and that's why they speak back in English and laugh. No, that is not the reason.  And it is usually the way Western liberals explain things: it is always the white man's fault, the locals re above reproach. As long as they are non white. I disagree.

I think it usually happens in large tourist or international areas where they are used to a certain order of things. White people speak English, brown people speak Tagalog. If you are white and speak Tagalog, you are weird. If you are brown and speak English to another brown person, it is also inappropriate as you are trying to be white.

tambok17 wrote:

I also do not want to be accused of being angry at them or feeling something negative towards them- and that's why they speak back in English and laugh. No, that is not the reason.  And it is usually the way Western liberals explain things: it is always the white man's fault, the locals re above reproach. As long as they are non white. I disagree.

Not accusing, that is how I question myself. I don't even particularly like to smile, so from time to time I have to ask myself if I am just obviously to them a fish out of water and just asking to be ridiculed. When I go to town I have to remind myself to not judge people for having no appreciation that time is worth money, standing in lines for no reason is avoidable, never complaining ensures that you will be treated like herd animals, stuff like that. It's a constant with me, forcing myself to not be overcritical of the locals. They don't have to be right, it's their world and I'm a guest so I should try to be a congenial guest even if by some chance they're as nutballs as Americans.

I live in a rural area, not an international tourist area. I agree with what you said about liberals who assume brown people are always right and white people are always wrong. I have some plastic teeth to prove that brown people don't always respond appropriately to white people who don't agree with them. Ever since I was assaulted twice by the same brother-in-law over a petty issue (long ago), I have to fight hostility in myself, I am not accusing you of anything. Filipinos rub me the wrong way a lot but I have to ask myself: before I came here, didn't my fellow white man rub me the wrong way too? Ultimately if there is a problem it has to be solved within. I can't change the way people are here anymore than I could change the wackos I left behind in America.

Thank you for not being a lib and your informative stories. The expat world is full of whining lib " bwanas". Some time ago they made a video about Angeles City showing mixed kids that white men had left behind.

They did not show the ones that the black man had left behind, or the brown man or the yellow man. Those can do it I guess. Carte blanche! The Western lib is not going to criticize Koreans for turning AC into their sensual play-land. That would be so racist! And God forbid showing half black kids there. Black people are above reproach.

As far as them not replying back in own language, these are the mechanics that I have noticed. It is not 100% that reply back in English,but the %% of such people changes with class and location. It gets higher as you move towards resort areas or areas at/ around some foreign companies, or places where Filipinos work in int'l environment. Or at airports, Or say,  inside of Clark. They have it firmly imprinted on their minds that you speak English to white people but speak Tagalog to brown people.

As you go inland, among more rural population, the answer-back-in-English-to-the-white-man- phenomenon %% gets lower. It can still happen but not with such totality. However, the laughing part increases as you go more rural, poorer, more provincial.

I have found party politics, regardless of which bit of the political spectrum you favour, is a complete waste of time that tends to cause arguments, broken teeth and, now and again, people getting shot for their political ideals.

Perhaps we could leave US politics out of this, please, because it has nothing to do with language learning and a lot to do with pointless bunfights.