I visit the country a lot, and wonder if I should invest in the Rosetta Stone software. or is it a waste of time.
Home | Investing | Blog article: WhWould it be worthwile to learn Tagalog, since most people speak English in the Philippines?
STL Biker 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
Waste of time to learn Tagalog.
If your gonna learn a new language learn Spanish, Arabic, or Russian because they are valuable languages to konw and you can use them to gain employment.
Johny 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
Yeah it is in my opinion. So you know what they are saying about you. Can work to your advantage in many ways if you say you can’t speak or understand when you actually can. I always like to hear what people honestly say when they think that you don’t know what they are talking about. Quiet funny actually when you let them know afew days down the track. I don’t see why you shouldn’t at the least try to understand more because knowledge is a powerfull thing. If you want to be lazy and not try then thats fine too but being knowing another language is never a bad thing.
happy-me 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
yeah, it would be helpful to learn tagalog when also having filipino customers.
etyryutr 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
you should learn the language so nobody can fool u in many transactions specially the one that involves money. MANY Filipino think that if u can’t understand the language, u r dumb enough to be fool or dumb enough to realize that u r being fooled. In our travelling in the country, they always tried to cheat my husband or even me by charging a lot. I’m a filipina, I can speak and understand Tagalog but they are still trying to fool me, how much more to a person who can’t understand and speak the language? I encountered some filipino who hates for a western to have their wife’s company bcoz they can’t easily cheat or overcharge the western.
It’s ok to pay a little bit extra sometimes, but..for them to think that u r a dumb, is not ok.
dianniebunny 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
If you learn Tagalog, it would be easier when you talk to people and you can understand them and the other people that’s SECRETLY talking about you will not know that you can understand them…except if they’re from Cebu, Ilocos, Leyte, or other places in Mindanao.
joryday 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
yes for your own sake i advice you to do so. never forget what the roman use to say in rome you behave like the romans and this is applied to every one. i will explain you why, it is in the blood of filipinos swindle people though they speak english if they want to get you done they will not speak english while they are getting you done to take away what you possess, believe me for your own sake learn the language in order that you know what’s going on in your company, don’t trust filipinos, they are slimy in business, trust me
lace 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
yes, i think so. learning another country’s language is an advantage. when talking to people in their own native langauage, it makes them feel important -. important enough for you to make an effort in learning their language. if you want more clients, you should be in their level, not above them. people in the philippines sometimes presume that you think you’re better than them because you don’t bother to learn anything from them. but learning tagalog would make you more approachable to them. some filipinos are a bit reluctant to speak the english language freely and having someone with them who can understand and speak their own language would be a great relief to them.
good luck!
Ling Ting Tong 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
About previous posters’ reasons" I learned Tagalog and it is not a guarantee that they will not cheat you. Actually, in many cases, it will help you get cheated even more as you can become even closer friends with the cheater and they will get into your confidence even more. Plus, whether you speak Tagalog or not; you will get cheated; it is just that you will be able to fight back better.
Most foreigners never learn Tagalog and Filipinos do not mind- they expect you NOT to speak it ( unlike in other countries, where YOU have to adjust to the natives, in the RP, THEY adjust to you.) Actually, when Filipinos speak in English they become formal and respectful and treat you with formal respect. Many ladies also prefer an English speaking BF so that they could move onto a higher social ‘plane’.
So, it is not *necessary* to learn Tagalog.
But, but, but….if this is your priority ( because it is mine) – if you want to become ONE with the country and feel its pulse and FUSE with the people and feel their soul on a grassroot level and be ONE with them, learning Tagalog is paramount. I have learned it pretty well by now and I do not regret having learned it. It also opens up opportunities to get to know the average person on the street, the farmer, the working man, the common folks as you would never do if you did not speak the language. If THIS is NOT important to you, just stick with English.
One of the reasons only a tiny handful of Americans and other Western people ever learn Tagalog is that they were taught to be practical. It is not practical to learn it for them; but if you are a romantic person; it is of immense benefit.
punnyguy 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
nice to learn 2nd language
jd 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
I live in Cebu and you don’t hear much Tagalog here. It’s Cebuano. When they get the Tag Vys Eng mix going no one could learn to understand it.
I don’t need it. She takes care of everything for me.
_DreD_ 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
Even though you try not to learn it. You’ll learn it eventually. Because Filipinos around you will teach you some few Tagalog words eventually.
bkoo869 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
I just moved to the Philippines, and have been learning Tagalog from a private tutor. I’ll be here several years, so it might be worth it for me, but I’d agree with the posters who say that’s pretty much a waste of time for practical purposes – the Philippines is a bilingual country, everyone "should" speak enough English to communicate, and Tagalog is optional in all normal circumstances for a foreigner. I mean, as a foreigner, almost every person you come into contact with will speak better English than you’ll ever speak Tagalog. Oh, and I visited here for six years, at least four trips a year, without learning more than a phrase or two, and never actually needing any Tagalog.
More importantly, though, you’ll probably never get past a few phrases and answers that you utter in Tagalog rather than English mostly for effect and fun.
I know I’m only a beginner at this, but unless you’re a language master, Tagalog is a bitch for an English-speaker – I’m fluent in Spanish and close to it in French (and incidentally, in Korean, another non-European language)- but Tagalog is just really so foreign compared to English, Filipinos talk so fast, every word sounds the same (look up "m" words in a Filipino dictionary – they seem to make up about half the dictionary), and there are numerous enough grammar rules and permutations that you can screw up a simple sentence in 5 different ways – that I’m every day impressed by how slow my progress is compared to any other body of knowledge or skill I’ve tried my hand at.
I estimate that it will conservatively take me two to three years of constant study and constant practice to get to where I can comfortably hold daily conversations in Tagalog. And every Filipino I know, even the less well uneducated ones, seem to speak English about as fluently as I can speak French (which took me two years of living in France to reach). It doesn’t even begin to be practical for me, except, like I said, for the occasional phrase or reply to impress a friend or shopkeeper, and I live here. You can decide, but realize what you’re getting yourself into before you buy.
Oh, you can also download Rosetta Stone for free on P2P. I did, yet I went with a private tutor. Even if you eventually buy it, I’d recommend browsing some books at the library or websites to get an idea of what Tagalog is really like. Maybe I’m just getting old, but my new joke is that Filipinos talk so much because Tagalog is so complex that they need that much practice just to remember it all.
Ω↔MiChiE↔Ω 11:01 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
to all the people up there let me correct you: NOT ALL Filipinos are born swindlers. Whenever I see a foreigner trying to buy something on the streets here in the Philippines, I always try to help them out in buying. You see the key here is to understand what ticks and tocks in the minds of the sellers. Even if you are fluent enough in Tagalog to negotiate bargains, if you don’t pay much attention and don’t observe things closely, there really is a big risk that you will be cheated.
Focusing on the question more, the answer is yes. You should really try to learn to speak Tagalog especially if you stay very often in Metro Manila. If you always go somewhere like Cebu or Davao, you should learn the native dialect of the people in that place.
Learning Tagalog can really help you understand all the things around you. You can go to a nearby bookstore to get Filipino-how to books or get a private tutor. Its up to you. But let me warn you, Tagalog is not the same with English. Most of the time, in the grammatical structure, Tagalog is really the opposite of English. But once you’ve learned the grammatical tricks of my native language, it’ll be a piece of cake.
Learn Tagalog Free 4:04 pm on November 5, 2009 Permalink
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constantine 4:10 pm on November 15, 2009 Permalink
How do you know if your filipino friends are talking bad about you? why do most of my friends speak tagalog that has alot of words starting with the letter (P)?