learn Tagalog

My Ma’s side are Filipino, and there’s a real good chance that hopefully she may move back home permanently in 2 years after living in the UK for over 30, so I really need to get fluent in Tagalog! At present my Ma almost exclusively speaks to me in the language, but its really not enough to hear it spoken all the time: I need to practise SPEAKING it more.

It doesn’t help when Philippine languages as a group are (linguistically) some of the most difficult Austronesian languages out there, and I still really can’t tell the difference between when you use “nakakapag” something and “pagka” something, but I will step the pace up now and get it in the bag! Kasi, mas importante ito (na pag-aaral ang wikang pamilya ko) kaysa sa ibang na kailangang kong gagawin. (was that even correct? lol) Good luck to all!

my heritage! i don’t know anything about the language though…

I need to do this, because you can talk about someone secretly in Spanish and get caught, but it’s MUCH easier to do it in Tagalog.

my girlfriend is filipino and is going to teach me tagalog, i want to not feel like a fish out of water when around her family or friends.

Well, I always make fun of the pronunciation because me and my friends call it TAG-A-LOG and when my friend says it (She’s Filipino), it sounds like she’s saying TAG-A-LOG with an asian accent. Lol. But it sounds like a cool language. And I would like to scare her one day and bust out with Tagalog.

Like a lot of the 1st generation Filipino-Americans that I know, I do not know how to speak tagalog. My brother and I weren’t brought up with a very strong connection to our heritage and our parents decided not to teach us tagalog. Even though I’ve been hearing it my entire life, little more than a few words and phrases (only awkwardly and uncomfortably pronounced) have stuck.

I’ve always wanted to learn and this desire became particularly important to me when I met my dad’s family for the first time, very few of whom speak English. The language barrier made it really difficult to connect with them. So basically, apart from being able to speak another language, I’d like to be able to form friendships with my family and get in touch with my heritage at the most fundamental level.

I just purchased Tagalog 1 and 2 from Rosetta Stone, and I hope to work on it every day as soon as it arrives.

My husband is Filipino and I’d like to speak the language his parents speak (he doesn’t speak it though).

I’ve started to get in touch with my cousin in Manila through Skype.

I’m mostly filipino so I should know how to speak tagalog. I grew up hearing my grand parents speaking it all the time, so I understand it pretty good but speaking it is different.

This past weekend I picked up Tagalog language software (comes with a book too!) for do it yourself learning. I realize I wont get far without person to person exposure to the language, but that’s where I’m hoping my mom will help out. Once I get more familiar with the vocabulary, I’m going to ask if she can speak to me in Tagalog.

I have a feeling this will be easier to learn than Spanish, mostly because I know I’m way more motivated to learn Tagalog.

We’ll see how it goes! I have yet to get into the software, only the book, haven’t had the time because of work… I’ll need to make it a priority to open it before the weekend.