A Question About Filipino-Americans...

[arwalden]

Okay... a FEW questions...

1) What is the native language of Filipinos? Sometimes it sounds like Spanish... but not quite.

2) Why is it the Philippines (with a PH) and Filipinos (with an F)?

3) All the barbers at my barbershop are Filipino (as are most of the customers) and I hear them all socialize with each other speaking in Filipino... yet they use English words and phrases in-and-amongst their native language.

My question is... are these English words that have worked their way into the Filipino language, or are the speakers simply meandering and drifting back and forth between languages because they feel equally comfortable with each?

It's frustrating at times... but it's also entertaining for me to try and figure out what they are talking about when I hear the brief one-word or two-word English clues sprinkled in their sentences.

-- Allen

[GOPisEvil]

1. I can help a little.

1. The official language is actually English. Their native tounge is "tagalog".

2. Who knows?

3. Because English is the official language. :-)

[GOPisEvil]

2. Oh, my dad is my source for the official language being English.

He was inspecting a dining hall there for the Air Force. He was going to write them up for not having signs in the native tongue. That is when he was told that the official language is English.

[slackmaster]

3. I'm not Filipino but I can answer a couple of them

1. The language you're hearing is called Tagalog.

2. The "Ph" as an "F" sound doesn't work in Tagalog or in Spanish, which is also widely spoken there.

3. All languages that exist in close proximity share words over time, and bilingual people (like the many we have in Southern California) mix up languages. Often Language B has a better word for something than Language A. If I didn't understand and speak Spanish pretty well I'd have a hard time conducting business around here.

[Bertha Venation]

4. my cell mate is from the Philippines

I can attest that no. 3 is puzzling. I can also attest that in two years I have picked up not one word of Tagalog.

Not much help, I suppose. :shrug:

My cell mate's a lovely woman and I care for her very much. I just wish she would turn down the volume on her cell phone ringer, and quit spritzing herself liberally -- here, in our cube -- with body deodorant three-four times a day.

[Abbalon]

5. Yes it is different

My father was a tail gunner on a B-17 when the Japanese hit the Philippines. His plane was destroyed on the airfield. Because of that he and the other enlisted men were ordered to surrender when Corrigidor fell. The pilots and officers in his squadron were flown out to Australia.

My father and five buddies stole a boat and fled south. They were picked up six months later.

My dad said the Filipino's were occupied by Spain and then the USA around the turn of the century. Their native tongue did not have words with the meanings of many Spanish and American words.

The corrupt form of Spanish you hear is an adaptation of the old and new.

[the Kelly Gang]

6. were they in the boat for six months ??