Lesson 001

Lesson #1:
The Bad and the Good

Bad News: 

Not all Filipinos know Tagalog. Worse, some know Tagalog but will not speak it. Even worse, many native speakers who look confused or who just smile back or do not respond to you in English when you talk to them in English, do so because they did not understand you, some just aren't confident enough to respond in English, locally known as "nose bleed", of course the rest

did not really understand or only half understand, the problem is you will probably never know who's who without some help.

Until recently, most educated Tagalog speakers are really confident and can communicate in English. Of late, even being a college graduate do not generally translate to being a fluent English speaker.

The Good News:

(1) Filipinos do and can understand a lot of English words and phrases. Filipinos are very familiar with most English songs, English (American) TV shows and English movies.

Native Tagalog speakers cannot and do not speak straight Tagalog. Mostly they speak a combination of Tagalog and English. Well many English words do not have a Tagalog equivalent, or if they do, no local will use those seldom used terms anyway. For example, 'good morning' in Tagalog is "magandang umaga'. 'Happy birthday' is 'maligayang bati' or 'maligayang bati sa iyong kaarawan' or 'maligayang kaarawan'.

So while being able to say 'magandang bati sa iyong kaarawan' ' will indeed get you "pogi" points (brownie points), 'happy birthday' is universally understood and widely used all over the country.

(2) Throughout the years, many Foreign words have become Tagalog words. Tagalog has borrowed Spanish, Chinese, Indian, Malay and many other Asian words. So Tagalog speakers can understand Spanish words such as mesa and chuchara, and numbers and ordinals - uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, primera, segunda, tercera, cuarta (yes femine). Be aware that sometimes the borrowed Spanish word may mean something else in Tagalog. Like 'puto' is not a bad Tagalog word. Now the femine form may get you a slap in the face.

(3) If you really want to learn Tagalog, you can, and we can help you.

Tagalog speakers can also learn a thing or two, when they come visit and sit in the classes here.

Ready? Ok, class is in session.

Free Tip #1:

There was a popular Tagalog sitcom in the 70s and 80s, it was called "Iskul Bukol", literally (Head) Lump School -- iskul is the Tagalized word for School.

It featured students and teachers in a fictional school named Wanbol University.

Mahjong (ball) tiles

Wanbol is, you might have already guessed it,  the Tagalized word for One ball (referring to a tile used in the Chinese gambling game of mahjong).

The tip for today is that Filipinos are fun loving people, they are rhyme makers (i.e. Iskul Bukol) and they use rhyming words to make jokes or for fun. Many are gamblers and they love sitcoms, romcoms, telenovelas and action films.

"Walang anuman" (Tagalog for 'you're welcome', but can also mean several other things depending on how it is used).

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