Languages of the Philippines

Languages on the Philippines number more than 170 and almost all of them belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian languages. The official languages are English and Filipino. Filipino is both the national language and an official language. It is based on Tagalog. Filipino (or Tagalog) serves as the lingua franca for Filipinos among the islands, provinces and abroad.

Tagalog is the dominant native language in the Philippines with Cebuano, also called Visayan, in a close second place. The other six major native languages spoken in the Philippines are Ilocano, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Bicolano, Ilonggo, and Waray.

English is the dominant language in business, government, and education. The native languages are most oven heard in colloquial settings. Filipinos would much rather have their text books like calculus, physics, chemistry, etc. written in English rather than Filipino. At home with family and friends however, most use their vernaculars. When English is used, there is an air or atmosphere of formality such as in school, government, ceremonies. A large percentage of the media such as television, newspapers and entertainment are also in English.

Pilipino is a more native word or pronounciation for Filipino, just like Nipponggo or Nihonggo is to Japanese, or Francais to French. There is no f sound in the original pre-Spanish Tagalog.

Since Filipinos are very well oriented with English, a large influx of English words is expected to be integrated into Tagalog and the other native languages. It is customary to substitue English words even if the word exists in the original vernacular.