Rachel Hampton

Learning Tagalog June 11, 2010

Hi, I’m American.

Like many Americans, I only speak English. (boo)

I am not happy with that fact.

That is the basic information you need to know, first of all. I’ve always wanted to learn another language, it’s just never happened. Let’s look back to high school. You’re forced to take a foreign language. Being the independent middle child that I am, I decided I was going to take French instead of Spanish like my two older siblings had done. Oh the stories I could tell you about that class! It was crazy and fun and not filled with the most brainy of students…if I’m being honest. I remember one girl tried to hot glue chocolate chips to paper to represent the Pyrenees mountain range. Chocolate. HOT glue. Enough said.

So I can’t say that I tried my hardest in that class. But I’m not sure it would’ve mattered. I was HORRIBLE at the pronunciation. In fact, I once tried to speak French to a friend from church whose parents were from Congo. He literally could not understand a word I said.  I swear I was speaking French. I think. Or maybe it was more like Joey’s attempt on Friends…

Moving on to college. I decided to try Spanish. Much easier to pronounce and, I heard, learn. It was easier, BUT, I had four semesters of it with a different teacher each time. It is hard to learn that way. Now since I have not used it in however many years, I remember very little Spanish.

So, now I’m in Manila, Philippines. Before I came, everyone insisted I would not need to learn another language because everyone speaks English. That is partially true. Most people here do speak conversational English, though not all. The thing I have come to realize is that English is not what most would choose to speak on a regular basis. Here, the first language is Tagalog (tah-gah-log). When I am taking public transport to work, this is what I hear. When I walk down the street, this is what I hear. When the women in the office talk to each other, this is what I hear. Not only would I love to learn Tagalog to be able to speak it, but I think it shows people respect. I am living in their country, why not learn their language?

I have had five lessons so far. My teacher is amazingly sweet and patient. Tagalog is not an easy language, but it is fun to try to learn. I still cannot carry on a conversation, but I am able to pick up words everyday as people chat around me. Slowly but surely. The sound is similar to spanish and they even use some spanish words since they were ruled by the spanish for so many years. I will say this: I hate sentence structure. Not fun, not fun at all. Still, I am determined to keep studying and, by the time I leave, be better than when I came. Shouldn’t be too hard!

Ingat po kayo (take care)!