Is anyone knows how to speak Filipino?

guest a   Tue May 25, 2010 9:01 am GMT
alibata and baybayin is the same, but when you read filipino government textbook,it is called alibata. But baybayin is also accepted. It is the same as when you ask a filipino, what is his/her native language, he/she may answer: tagalog or filipino.
arggghhh..   Tue May 25, 2010 9:06 am GMT
because tagalog and filipino is related to one another, it just that filipino is the most standardized tagalog, and accepts all the loanwords from many dialects and languages around the globe.
It is also the reason why filipino language is very easy to learn. Native filipino accepts all the changes and additions for a better and flexible language in the world.
Semanario de Filipinas   Tue May 25, 2010 9:23 am GMT
I suspect he's talking talking perhaps about the Abakada, the indigenous Latin alphabet of most Philippine languages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abakada

Before the arrival of the Spanish, most Philippine languages were written using writing systems such as Old Kawi, Baybayin, Buhid, Hanunó'o, and other Indic scripts.

So, it wasn't their "own alphabet" in the strict sense of the word, but rather imported, in the same way the Latin alphabet was.
Nothing wrong with that, by the way.

The earliest known written document found in the Philippines is the Laguna Copperplate inscription, that contains numerous loanwords from Sanskrit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription

That's very representative of one of the beauties of the Philippines, the rich diversity and mixture of races and cultures.
guest a   Wed May 26, 2010 1:35 am GMT
@semanario de filipinas: are you a filipino?
Semanario de Filipinas   Wed May 26, 2010 3:24 am GMT
I'm from Spain but living in the Philippines.

Most of my family and friends today are Filipino.
im a fil   Wed May 26, 2010 6:15 am GMT
@semanario: Are you a pure-blooded spanish? How many years do you live here in the philippines? Do you know how to speak tagalog already?
Carlos I de España   Wed May 26, 2010 8:37 am GMT
There is no such thing as "a pure-blooded Spanish",
Spanish, like Filipinos are a mix of races and cultures.

After one year here I can't understand and speak some Tagalog, I prefer Bisaya though.
Tagalog is probably 15% Spanish and Bisaya probably around 30%.
im a fil   Wed May 26, 2010 12:51 pm GMT
@carlos: it seems like you are very technical person!
By the way, you should learn to speak tagalog/filipino because it is the lingua franca of the philippines, bisaya is not usable when you go to region1 up to region 6 and region 8, because visayan languages are primarily spoken in visayas and some parts of mindanao. Also, visayan languages has many dialects,so if you only knew only 1 dialect,for example,cebuano, You cannot use that dialect when you go to Samar or leyte because they speak the visayan dialect,called waray or when you go to Aklan, they speak the dialect called aklanon.

So, i think you should learn tagalog/filipino, so when you travel around the philippines,you will have no hard time to communicate to all people,because tagalog is the language being taught to all public schools, and tagalog has the highest number of native speakers , and the highest number of people who speak it as a 2nd language in the philippines. Philippine media and programs uses tagalog in reaching and delivering the news to all filipinos.

Magandang gabi sayo!
(Maayong gab-i sa imu)

Im also a visayan,but they raised me here in pangasinan, but my mother tongue is tagalog, but i also know how to speak,pangasinan dialect, and a bit of visaya.
im a fil   Wed May 26, 2010 12:54 pm GMT
@carlos: it seems like you are very technical person!
By the way, you should learn to speak tagalog/filipino because it is the lingua franca of the philippines, bisaya is not usable when you go to region1 up to region 6 and region 8, because visayan languages are primarily spoken in visayas and some parts of mindanao. Also, visayan languages has many dialects,so if you only knew only 1 dialect,for example,cebuano, You cannot use that dialect when you go to Samar or leyte because they speak the visayan dialect,called waray or when you go to Aklan, they speak the dialect called aklanon.

So, i think you should learn tagalog/filipino, so when you travel around the philippines,you will have no hard time to communicate to all people,because tagalog is the language being taught to all public schools, and tagalog has the highest number of native speakers , and the highest number of people who speak it as a 2nd language in the philippines. Philippine media and programs uses tagalog in reaching and delivering the news to all filipinos.

Magandang gabi sayo!
(Maayong gab-i sa imu)

Im also a visayan,but they raised me here in pangasinan, but my mother tongue is tagalog, but i also know how to speak,pangasinan dialect, and a bit of visaya.
Carlos I de España   Thu May 27, 2010 1:08 am GMT
Are you sure that Tagalog has the highest number of native speakers?
Bisaya is spoken by more than 35 million.

Anyway, yes, I'll end up learning it because of TV, newspapers, etc. but to be honest Bisaya sounds nicer to my ear, but it must be just me.

I can also speak some Malay, so I have the basis for the three main languages that compose most Filipino languages, Malay, Spanish and English.

I just read at Wikipedia now that:
"Spanish is the language that has bequeathed the most loan words to Tagalog. According to linguists, Spanish (5,000) has even surpassed Malayo–Indonesian (3,500) in terms of loan words borrowed. About 40% of everyday (informal) Tagalog conversation is practically made up of Spanish loanwords.
An example is the sentence below:

"Puwede ba akong umupo sa silya sa tabi ng bintana habang nasa biyahe tayo sa eroplano?" ("Can I sit in the chair nearest the window in the duration of our voyage in the airplane?")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tagalog_loanwords#Spanish

In Spanish it could be literally translated as:
"Puedo sentarme en la silla (asiento) junto a la ventana durante la duración del viaje en aeroplano (avión)?"
Pinoy   Thu May 27, 2010 1:48 am GMT
That's a big lie.

25% of the people of the Philippines speak Tagalog as their native language.

Just 21% speak Cebuano (including Boholanon, Surigaonon, and Bukidnon speakers)) 10% speak Hiligaynon or Ilonggo (including Kinaray-a, Aklanon, and Antiqueño speakers) and 4 % speak Samareño/Waray. Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Samareño are collectively known as Visayan group of languages.
im a fil   Thu May 27, 2010 2:50 am GMT
@ carlos: Yes, i am very sure that Tagalog has the highest number of speaker. That 35 million native speaker of bisaya is the number of native speakers who speaks the visayan group of language,but visayan languages are not mutually intelligible to one another.
This is an estimated number of visayan languages group of speakers:
Cebuano/surigaonon/kana- 15 million
Ilonggo/hiligaynon/karay-a - 12 million
Waray/samarnon/leytehanon- 5 million
other dialects-3 million
total: 35 million visayan group of language native speakers

and these dialects are not m.i. to one another, so they will end up using tagalog for easier communication.

tagalog dialects only differs in accent and pronounciation, but the vocabulary and grammar doesnt change.

Tagalog use the 5 vowels: a,e,i,o,u
unlike visayan, which only uses: a,i,u for most of their words (except loanwords which comprises all the vowels)
And tagalogs can easily mimic the accents of visayan, but visayan will have a hard time to copy the accent of tagalog, because of their limited vowels, or mispronounce the words,for example, the tagalog word:
tulong- visayan will surely pronounce it as TOLONG or tol-ong.

But for me Visayan language is one of the beautiful language in the philippines! And visayan people are the first filipinos who embraces the gift of christianity, and im proud to be a visayan! :)
fund   Thu May 27, 2010 2:56 am GMT
you should always be proud because visayan is know to be 'tough' and lapu-lapu is the proof.! Hahaha
Carlos I de España   Thu May 27, 2010 4:10 am GMT
My wife is from Zamboanga del Sur and she understand Cebuano 100%, no problem at all.
There are some differences, because Cebuanos tend to shorten words, as in Walah, which is just wah here, but is pretty much the same.

One thing I noticed is that if I speak Spanish here, people understand the general meaning of what I'm saying. That didn't happen in Manila.
Antonio Pigafetta   Thu May 27, 2010 4:16 am GMT
Lapu-Lapu?
You mean the Muslim chieftain that led 1,500 Mactan Muslim warriors in a battle against 49 European Christian soldiers led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan?

1,500 Muslim warriors against 49 European Christian soldiers.
What's so tough about that?