Philippine English

[Aurika Floria]

My family plans to move to the Philippines due to my fathers job. As I asked about the language, my dad said: "They speak English there, you'll do with it." But at the university we were told that each English-speaking country has its own language peculiarities. This article about the Philippines http://www.naij.com/tag/the_philippines.html says that they have Filipino as their oficial language also. I wonder if anybody can tell about the influence Filipino did with English, and what I should pay attention at, when I go and try to communicate with people out there?

 

[Tarheel]

From the website: The Philippines has two official languages, Filipino and English. READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/tag/the_philippines.html

The written (printed) English on that website was easy enough for me to understand. Whether that would be true of the spoken English I might encounter there, I can't be sure.

 

[Tdol]

I have lived for a few years in the Philippines. Basically, you won't have problems with speaking English. The true native speakers belong to the elite, but you can walk into a shop and communicate. As you move down from the elite, there is an accent, but it won't affect understanding. There are distinctive characteristics and influences from Spanish and Tagalog, but don't worry about them too much. Learning some Tagalog will help- I took lessons, but my partner didn't and it never really affected her greatly. Philippine English as its own characteristics, but it's easy enough to understand- it's more a question of accent than anything else.

 

[Tarheel]

My hairdresser in St. Louis was Filipino. (She did my perms.) I don't recall her even having an accent.

 

[Tdol]

There is an accent, and some of the intonation is different, but it's clear and easy on the ear.