How Hard Is Learning Tagalog

Filipino Tagalog is an interesting mix of a language. The heavy employ of foreign loanwords combines with some rare grammatical quirks. In some ways the linguistic communication is piece of cake, in other ways it will most certainly take you scratching your head.

So, how hard is Filipino Tagalog to learn?

The main issues with Filipino are the abnormal grammar rules associated with the verb germination and also the issue of sentences beginning verb starting time.

Vocabulary – The linguistic communication has an incredible number of Spanish and English words. If you speak either of these languages you are going to have a significant advantage. Core vocabulary tin can be build relatively rapidly relative to other Due east Asian languages.
Grammer – The grammar of Filipino is pretty distinct and difficult to acquire. The major problem areas are going to be the focus and attribute changes for verbs. This involves a whole load of affixes being added to the verb to denote what is the nigh important object or the focus of a sentence. So, if asked the question, who bought the ticket. Your respond will focus on the person who bought the ticket. This focus is shown in how the verb changes. Yous as well have to adhere specific particle prefixes to the objects to denote their roles. This is a very clunky way to form a sentence and nothing like English. To add together to this core difficulty you also have changes for the aspect of the verb, meaning completed/incomplete or real/hypothetical, which is also denoted by a alter to the verb.
Speaking/Listening – Virtually of the sounds found in Filipino are found in English language. The main trouble areas to expect out for are the rolled r sound, the nasal ng sound and the glottal stops. These can take some practice to both listen for and to produce yourself.
Writing/Reading – Filipino has a standard English Latin alphabet with the q removed and three additional letters added. You lot also have to fence with three accent markers. That beingness said, these changes wont take longer than an afternoon to learn.

So that is a quick summary of Filipino. Let'southward spring in to the topic a lilliputian further.

How Hard Is Filipino Tagalog to Larn Really?

— Vocabulary

Filipino has borrowed heavily from other languages when it comes to vocabulary. It is estimated to share effectually 33% of the root vocabulary with Spanish. This is because of the length of time the Philippines was a colony of Espana. But to give y'all an idea of the range of vocabulary.

Chess – Ajedrez (Spanish) – Ahedres (Filipino)
Bluish – Azul – Asul
Electric fan – Ventilador – Bentilador

As you can see, very similar roots. If you have some working knowledge of Spanish, it will help.

Following on from Castilian, Filipino also has a large number of loanwords from English. The Philippines was a colony of the USA for around 50 years from 1896 to 1946. Over that time a lot of new words were adopted for common usage, these tended to be in the areas of business, sports, and tech.

Basketball – Basketbol
Jackpot – Dyakpat
Helicopter – Helikopter
Squatter – Iskuwater
Copyright – Kapirayt
Calculator – Kompiyuter
Tricycle – Traysikel

Filipino Tagalog has besides been influenced by Chinese and Malay only Castilian and English definitely make up the king of beasts's share of the loanwords. Cognates and loanword tin really help beginners to the language learn a lot quicker than those without that feel. If you have a groundwork in either of these languages you volition discover that y'all are able to pickup new language very quickly.

— Grammar

The keys problem areas of Filipino Tagalog are the complexity of the verb focus and aspect grammar bug, coupled with an unfamiliar word order. Vocabulary, speaking/listening and writing/reading are simpler.

Word Lodge – The word society of Filipino is pretty different to English language. Near sentences brainstorm with a verb, this is normally followed past the objects involved in the actions or function of the sentence. The object doing the activeness is usually the kickoff object. There are specific particles employ to denote the different objects and subjects.
Verb Focus – Verbs in Filipino have 5 focus forms. The focus of a judgement tells the listener what the speaker thinks is the important subject field or object of the sentence. This is probably the most difficult thing to understand with the grammar. Each different focus attaches a dissimilar affix to the verb, that is some particle addition with in front, in the middle or at the end of the verb. The focus is kind of like the active passive forms in English but with more variations of focus. The prefixes ang- and ng- denotes the important office, and then not simply does the verb modify, simply y'all have to add the particles to the objects and field of study. The different types of focus are every bit follows.
- Actor Focus – This is where the doer of the activity is most of import
- Object Focus – This is where the object who is acted upon is most important
- Locative Focus – This is where the location where the action took place is most of import
- Beneficiary Focus – This is where the object that benefits from an activeness is the nearly of import
- Instrumental Focus – This is where the means/tool by which an activeness happens is the nearly important
Verb Attribute – Also every bit the focus of a verb, the aspect of a verb is as well important. There are 4 aspects, actual, hypothetical, completed and incomplete. Much like the focus, the attribute is denoted by an affix attached to the verb root. Then, you always take to be aware of the focus and aspect of the verb.
Pronouns – There are two forms of pronoun, one for the ang- prefix and i for the ng- prefix. You volition have to larn both types of pronoun and use in the correct context.
Nouns – The nouns are the same for singular and plural forms. They volition also have a focus mark in front of the noun to announce the office of that subject or object in the sentence.
Prepositions – There are a number of dissimilar prepositions in Filipino which often but not always are made up of a syllable sa with other words in improver.
Adjectives – The adjective comes after the noun and usually has the word na between the noun and the adjective.
Direct and Indirect Objects — The focus markers will denote the role of nouns including direct and indirect objects.
Questions – In that location are a whole load of question words or alternatively with aye/no questions yous can form upward intonation at the end of the sentence or use the word ba.

So you can see that the focus and aspect, coupled with the apply of the bailiwick/object particles, is the catchy thing with the grammar. This is the major hurdle of Filipino.

— Speaking/Listening

In that location are a few sounds that need to be practices and you should exist aware of stress simply overall Filipino pron isn't also tricky.

Consonant sounds – In that location are eighteen consonant sounds in Filipino. They are similar to sounds you will accept encountered in English language. The iii yous should pay particular attending to though are the rolled r sound, the ng nasal sound and the glottal finish. The nasal sound is similar the the -ng sound in the discussion wing. Even so, this sounds tin announced at the start of words. The glottal end is similar to the sound we produced between the syllables of uh-oh. If y'all listen carefully the sound is clipped. The third audio to take note of is the r. Unlike in English, the r is often rolled in Filipino.
Vowel Sounds – There are believed to be around 12 vowel phonemes in Filipino. Most of these are found in English language so they shouldn't be too difficult. There is ane however, which is denoted ú. This sound is similar to the u audio in muy in Spanish. Also, be enlightened that when vowels are placed together in a give-and-take the vowel sounds are pronounced as separate syllables. Like in the case for panauhin which ways visitor, this is pronounced pa-na-u-hin.
Stress – There are many different patterns of syllable stress in a word. In fact you can have more than than i stressed syllable in some long words. The writing organization shows the reader where to stress a word, so check your dictionary if you are unsure.

— Writing/Reading

The Filipino Tagalog alphabet has a yard full of 28 messages. At that place are 25 letters from the normal English language alphabet, and so that's all the messages minus q. To that we add together the letters ch, rr and ng.

This alphabet is chosen abacada and is consequent and simple in terms of spelling. In other words, once y'all learn the pronunciation rules for the alphabet there are very few irregular exceptions to stumble upon.

As well equally the 28 messages of the alphabet there are three accent markers that you will take to become familiar with.

Acute – Pahilís – This marking denotes the syllable that needs to be stressed. A change in the position of the stress tin completely change the pregnant of a word. Have báta vs batá which is the difference between bathrobe and to suffer.
Grave – Paiwà – This mark is only institute at the terminate of a discussion and doesn't denote stress. Rather it denotes a glottal stop sound which is a sudden cutting of the sound in the throat.
Circumflex – Pakupyâ – This mark combines the effect of the ii above, then that is a stress on the syllable forth with a glottal terminate.

On remainder there are a few actress features to the alphabet, merely you should exist able to learn these in an afternoon. The spelling is pretty regular so the writing system for Filipino Tagalog could be said to be pretty direct forward.

Why Learn Filipino Tagalog?

Everyone has their own reasons for taking on the challenge of learning a new language. But here are my 4 for learning Filipino.

Filipino Tagalog is the major language of the native people in the Philippines. There are over 100,000,000 people living in the Philippines and a pregnant number speak Filipino Tagalog as their first or second language. On superlative of that at that place are believed to be a few meg people outside of the Philippines who speak Filipino. In cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai you are going to hear the language spoken in many communities. So with that many people speaking the language you are bound to find someone to chat with.
Travelling in the Philippines is a truly astonishing experience. The lifestyle, natural beauty and culture is unrivalled and with its colonial past the land is something of a unique country in East Asia. Sure, if you speak English you can certainly become past, but if you want the respect of the local people then learning Filipino will accelerate this cause no end.
The characteristics of the Filipino language brand it like no other language. The vocabulary is infused with Spanish and English language, the grammar seems jumbled and very alien to English speakers and yet it has a simple Latin alphabet, different many of the countries in the region. If yous are looking for a challenge with some linguistic quirks then Filipino is a great linguistic communication to dive into.
Making friends is important. If you program to spend an extended time in the country and you wish to really become to know the locals then you lot have to learn the language. Otherwise, you are going to feel left out of the conversation. The Filipinos reserve a lot of the serious conversation for word in Filipino. Don't miss out on this opportunity to get to know the people meliorate.

Filipino Tagalog Facts

Who Speaks Filipino Tagalog?

As a first linguistic communication, Filipino Tagalog is spoken in the area around the capital Manilla. To be more specific, those are southern central parts of the island of Luzon and north parts of the island of Mindoro. Equally a 2d language, Filipino Tagalog is spoken across all of the islands of the Philippines. Estimates vary and the census information isn't also reliable but linguists believe that around 45-50 one thousand thousand people speak the language.

Filipino Tagalog, along with English, are official languages of the Philippines and while English is used in the upper levels of companies and businesses, Filipino is used for local government and pedagogy. In some ways it is the non-elitist language of the people.

What'southward the Difference Between Tagalog and Filipino?

In modern conversation, the terms Tagalog and Filipino are used interchangeably for the same linguistic communication. However, this description isn't entirely accurate as there is a nuanced difference to the 2 terms.

Tagalog is the name used to describe the language that was spoken effectually Manilla earlier the colonial conquests past Kingdom of spain and the U.s.a.. Before Spanish and English vocabulary and pronunciation began to influence the language information technology was a distinctly different language. The name Filipino is used to describe the language now. A language that has been heavily influence by Castilian and English along with other dialects in the country.

What is the History of Filipino Tagalog?

Austronesian explorers around 2000 years ago arrived in the Philippines speaking a Malayo-Polynesian language which over time evolved into Erstwhile Tagalog. Before the colonists arrived in the land, Tagalog had a rich history with potent influences from other languages from China and Malaysia. Information technology also had its own writing system chosen the Baybayin.

To give some context, at this time, there were many dialects and languages beyond the many islands of the Philippines and Tagalog was just ane of many. Tagalog was really only spoken in the surface area are Manilla.

When the Castilian arrived in the 16th century, the Spanish language began to have more and more of an influence on the local languages including Tagalog. The Spanish made Manilla the capital in 1595 and this is when Tagalog began to increase in importance over the other languages and dialects of the Philippines.

In 1896, the Philippines became a colony of the USA and English language grew in important and influence. A lot of loan words for business and applied science were adopted by speakers of Tagalog. In 1939, Tagalog was made the official linguistic communication in the land. Later, in 1987 they renamed the linguistic communication Filipino. In native Tagalog, in that location were no words using the letter f, but the decision to use the f in the proper name Filipino was to betoken how influenced the language was to outside languages.

Is Filipino Tagalog a Tonal Linguistic communication?

Filipino Tagalog is non a tonal linguistic communication. Many languages in the nearby region are like Standard mandarin, Thai, and Cantonese but Filipino is not. To requite y'all some idea, the more difficult parts of Filipino pronunciation are the rolled r audio and the heavy utilize of the nasal ng audio. Thankfully for anyone taking on Filipino, you wont accept to battle with tones.

Resources to Learn Tagalog

I speak iii languages to a fluent level and an ever growing number to a conversational level. The method I utilize is pretty straight forward and can exist tweaked for any language be it Mandarin, Swahili or Tagalog.

My hybrid method borrows systems and techniques from a number of sources that I have encountered over the years I have been learning dissimilar languages.

In particular, the book Fluent Forever which I thoroughly recommend. Y'all can pick it up on Amazon for pretty inexpensive these days.

My hybrid method is as follows.

Ankidroid Space Repetition — Become hold of a vocabulary frequency list for your language and build vocabulary flashcards and upload them to Ankidroid. Review the cards daily, and build new sets every calendar week.
Graded Reading — Scour the internet for graded reading cloth in your target language. Purchase everything y'all tin find, and then take some time everyday to work your mode through the stories.
Speaking Do with italki.com — Apply italki to get very cheap video chat lesson with a native teacher in your target linguistic communication. The cheaper the better, and don't mess around with overly formal lesson plans.
Writing Exercise with lang-8.com — Use Lang 8 to upload pieces of writing everyday to the customs. They volition correct whatsoever errors yous have and y'all can get dandy native level feedback for free.

That's basically the entire method. Don't get bogged down in expensive fatigued out language courses. Adopt, utilise and fifty-fifty tweak this template and just keep at it!