English and Spanish in Philippines

Guest User   Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:30 am GMT
I would like to know the number of real speakers of English and Spanish in the Philippines.

English, according to some webpages is spoken by some 50% of the population. Is that true?

Spanish is spoken by some 3 million speakers. Tagalog (Filipino) is spoken as first or second language by a lot of people there. Tagalog is almost a Spanish creole (half of the vocabulary is Spanish). So, is it true that a Tagalog speaker can study Spanish in only one year?
idiot   Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:21 am GMT
<,Tagalog is almost a Spanish creole (half of the vocabulary is Spanish).>>

If Tagalog is a Spanish creole then English is a French creole...
Guest   Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:29 am GMT
French is a Latin-Germanic creole.
Tomas Pinpin   Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:18 pm GMT
Hay aproximadamente 8.000 raíces españolas en tagalo, y alrededor de 6.000 raíces españolas en bisayo y otros dialectos filipinos. El sistema numérico en español, el calendario, el tiempo, etc. siguen siendo usados con leves modificaciones.

Algunas palabras arcaicas españolas se han preservado en tagalo y otras lenguas locales, tales como:

bapor (‘vapor’, barco),
kastila se utilizaba para referirse a los españoles (castellanos) y a su idioma.
kwarta (‘cuarta’),
pera (‘perra’ o ‘monedas’),
relos (‘reloj’, originalmente con el sonido francés de la j),
sabón, ‘jabón’ (la j se pronunciaba como el francés je),
baraha (‘baraja’, baraja de naipes),
lamesa/mesa (‘mesa’),
kaldereta (‘caldereta’, guiso de carne),
tinidor (‘tenedor’),
silya (‘silla’),
baso (‘vaso’),
bankito (‘banqueta’ silla pequeña),
Tala   Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:32 pm GMT
Spanish is just a testimonial language in Philippines. They now prefer speak English. So the 50% figure is likely to grow in the future while Spanish is fading away.

<<So, is it true that a Tagalog speaker can study Spanish in only one year? >>
This is something i would like to know as well.
Guest   Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:53 pm GMT
Spanish is just a testimonial language in Philippines. They now prefer speak English. So the 50% figure is likely to grow in the future while Spanish is fading away.


President of Philippines is trying to re-introduce Spanish in schools. Perhaps not everything is lost for Spanish in Philipines.
Tala   Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:13 pm GMT
<<So, is it true that a Tagalog speaker can study Spanish in only one year? >>
I've been searching on youtube and i've found that Chabacano is closer to Spanish than Tagalog.
Two Examples:
PORQUE by Maldita
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2rgrYEMRQg

and a song with more Spanish:
Chavacano MTV - Major Chords
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LQrA7zcAi4

There are about 600,000 Chabacano speakers.
English   Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:32 pm GMT
Who cares about the Philippines anyway? It's an insignificant garbage hole. I feel ashamed to have them in my language sphere rather than proud.
Guest   Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:50 pm GMT
If it's a garbage hole then why did USA invade the Philippines?. I always wondered that. Was USA envious of a decadent empire like the Spanish one so they stole from them one of their last territories? Now USA has a lot of Filipinos speaking English and migrating to their country.
encore   Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:49 am GMT
Chavacano,Spanish based creole language has 607,000 speakers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chavacano_language
Español   Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:00 pm GMT
Spanish in the Philippines is simply overrated.
Visitor   Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:52 pm GMT
Spanish is the language of the elites in Philippines
Español   Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:27 pm GMT
Sabemos todos que el idioma de las elites filipina es inglés.

We all know that the language of the elites in the Philippines is English.
Visitor   Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:01 pm GMT
English is a mainstream language in Philippines but Spanish is spoken only by very rich people in Philippines like the President herself for example.
encore   Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:32 pm GMT
<<English is a mainstream language in Philippines but Spanish is spoken only by very rich people in Philippines like the President herself for example. >>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-u3RQheRSc&feature=related