Learn to Speak Tagalog

Tagalog is the main language spoken in the Philippines and the first language for approximately 90 million people worldwide. The standardized form of Tagalog, Filipino, is the official national language for the Philippines, though Tagalog is largely used as the lingua franca throughout the country and in overseas Filipino communities. Tagalog was chosen as the basis for a new national language in the Philippines in 1937 and since then the language has evolved into today's modern Filipino. While English is also widely spoken in the Philippines, Tagalog remains the sixth most spoken language in the Unitied States with over one million speakers. Although not a language of world commerce, Tagalog is a useful language to know for anyone planning on traveling to or living in the Philippines, as it serves as a main communication tool between ethnic groups within the Philippine's borders.

Tagalong is a prominent language in the Malayo-Polynesian language group, a group of languages widely dispersed throughout the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean and spoken by approximately 351 million people. A common characteristic of these languages is the tendency to use repetition of all or part of a word to signify a plural (i.e. wiki-wiki). Tagalog has a fairly simply syllable structure and only uses 16 consonants and five vowels to construct all of the language's words. Tagalog has also been strongly influenced by both Spanish and English over the years, incorporating many words from the two languages.

There are several different ways to go about learning Tagalog. A good way to start would be to check out if there are any community classes in the language in your area, whether at a local community college, university or language learning institute. Because Tagalog (or Filipino) is spoken by so many U.S. residents, there is a chance you could also find a good private tutor to help you get started on the basics. Programs like Rosetta Stone can also be a good way to get started on learning the basics of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Of course the best way to learn any language is through total immersion. In fact, a few weeks spent speaking and interacting in a language on a daily basis can be worth more than a year in the classroom (plus, it will give you an excellent excuse to travel to the Philippines!).