For those people who would like to learn some Tagalog, the most spoken language in the Philippines, I’ll give some links here where to choose from.
For an expat to be accepted faster in the Philippines it would be best to learn a few phrases and small sentences in Tagalog.
Check on the links below.
Paul Morrow’s excellent site about Philippine history, language, writing, etc (includes a tutorial on how to write with the Tagalog alphabet and free Tagalog fonts): here
Online Tagalog lessons
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/
http://www.tagalog1.com/Index_Lessons.jsp
Other sites about Tagalog
Tagalog Electronic talking dictionaries
Ating Baybayin, an Old Filipino Script
Alibata, Filipino’s Ancient Writing Script
A fascinating introduction to the alphabets of the Philippines by Hector Santos
Information about the Tagalog language
Have fun with it and enjoy the smiling faces when you talk a few words to the Filipino people.
Filipino time:
We’d like to invite Expats to join our TAGALOG CONVERSATION for BEGINNERS starting on AUGUST 14, 2010. The schedule will be every Saturday from 4:00 to 5:00pm. The language package will be for 8 hours and renewable upon the end of the 8 hours.
The class size will be limited to a maximum of 8 students only.
The venue will be in Alabang (near Alabang Town Center and Ayala Alabang Village)
To inquire about the fee and other details, please call 02-4859292 or 0923-4291979.
Heh, reminds me of the time a former gf described our intimate moments, sabi sya “masarap kasama”; it took me 4 more years to understand ALL that she meant by that long after I’d moved on. Talaga, “sarap” (and so many Tagalog root-words) can and are commonly applied in so many different contexts, indeed Tagalog is one of the most contextual languages I’ve encountered, even in just common vernacular. Here’s another one to ponder: “kita”. Magingat yan! Buyer beware, if you don’t understand already, you’ll eventually learn far beyond any dictionary.