English Literacy in the Philippines

[Jeff S]

[robert angel]

They say that the Philippines has the third largest English speaking population in the world. As some Filipinos have, shall we say 'phoenetic challenges' (why isn't the work 'phoenetic' phoenetically simple?)--it is still  hard to understand some Filipino's English. Some of the many Filipino dialects transfer into English speaking better than others.
Then, some Filipino dialects/languages are so much like Spanish, that they understand each other quite well.
 
I have spoken to a number of Filipinos in person and on the phone---especially with  high tech call center workers, who spoke near flawless English.
 
Then again, the farther up the north east coast of the USA you go, the harder it is to understand THEIR English, and some of those Ivy League 'Hahvaaahd' University "scholars are no exception!

[InnocentVixen]

haha you paak your caa in Haavad Yaad?
I still think american southern accent is harder to understand, to me at least it is... that sort of tune they have is awfully distracting! so I'll stick to north east coast as my favorite american men even if sometimes they sound like a bit like Elmer from bugs bunny 

[Bob_S]

...even if sometimes they sound like a bit like Elmer from bugs bunny 

[Jeff S]

You know IV - there are many different Southern Accents. Here's a little tutorial:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4-n7Sfzt-M

[robert angel]

There are many, many variations on accents in almost every country, city and village worldwide. Although with people moving more frequently than they used to in past years, there are still linguistic scientists who can typically pinpoint exactly where you are from, if they listen to enough of your speech, recorded or otherwise.
 
It is to the point where crimes have been solved by New York City linguistic experts, who were able to tell from what borough in what neighborhood a person came from, right down to an area of a few blocks, by listening to speech patterns.
 
Of course with people moving more often, folks from foreign nations moving into neighborhoods and the influence of TV, movies, the internet and music media, it's not as easy as it once was, but it's still amazing what your speech can reveal about where you came from.
 
By some accounts, a distinct language is lost somewhere in the world each day--the world is becoming 'smaller' in more ways than one.
 
Linguistic scientists have studied Tennesse accents, thought by some to be the most strongly "Southern"  sounding of southern accents and they have found traces and roots of their speeech oddly enough to rooted be in Shakespearean and Elizabethean English. The fiddle that was long a mainstay in USA Southern 'country music' fits right in at many traditional Irish and also some English pubs.
 
Scientists long thought that the first inhabitants of North America came across the Russian/Siberian strait about 12,000 years ago, when it was still frozen and over thousands of years, then made their way down through what's known today as Canada, to South America. 
 
I think in Canada, they stpped by Whitey's house and got some warm furs and in California, stopped by Father Time's place and got some spear points. Rumor has it that they also stopped by Ray's place and were taught how to boil fat and hot oil, to pour on people they found annoying.
 
Linguistic scientists have studied the language of the tribes that seem the most indiginous (native) to the most undeveloped areas of Central and South America and have found traces of their language patterns that apparently came from persons originating in the islands of the South Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, RNA and DNA genetic sampling not only bear that theory out, but places these people (who likely came by boats made of reeds and palm trees and followed the stars to navigate) as being in South America as far back as 25,000 years ago and perhaps even longer than that.
 
The Bering Strait being the only entry way to the America's 12,000 years ago is a theory that while still being in many history books, has long been disproven----I have found here on the east coast of the USA finely worked tools and projectile points that have been dated as being over 15,000 years old and I have a hunch there are older ones to still be found.

[Dave H]

Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. It is the politically correct term for Taglog. Filipino and English are both  official languages The Philippines has it's own version of "American English." I think the biggest problem with pronunciation is that school children are first taught the five vowel sounds of the Filipino language (similar to Spanish.). Then, they are taught English using these 5 vowel sounds, by non-native English speaking teachers.This may help:http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/filpro.htm

If a Filipino asks for "Sneakers," it isn't "rubber shoes" they want, but a Snickers candy bar.

[Dave H]

It is to the point where crimes have been solved by New York City linguistic experts, who were able to tell from what borough in what neighborhood a person came from, right down to an area of a few blocks, by listening to speech patterns.
 

Hey Robert,

So linguistic profiling is still legal in the US...for now... That will all end when they can tell the difference between a full blooded Puerto Rican and Geraldo! (Gerald Michael Riviera)

Dave

[InnocentVixen]

Jeff that video is hillarious! and as different as the accents sound in those examples, for me as an non native english speaker still sounds similar enough to think of it as one accent with different voice tones or speeds... do you know which accent is the one that sounds like another language to me though? the "teenager" accent, you know those grumpy teenagers that mumble and are half asleep? I can never understand a thing they are saying no matter what part of the US they are from 


Have you noticed that people that speak a second language extremely well are no longer able to speak their native language in a natural way? maybe your brain is able to handle only one real native language at the time, I know that when I am giving english lessons I make a very conscious and big effort to pronounce clearly but when I am talking on the phone with some guy I relax and don't let my accent bother me too much allowing me to talk longer without feeling exhausted, I would guess filipinos are a bit like that too?

[braziliangirl]

Have you noticed that people that speak a second language extremely well are no longer able to speak their native language in a natural way?

I'll have to disagree with you here, IV. It may happen to a few people, or maybe it's a Spanish thing, but I know a lot of people, especially from work, that can speak more than one language very very well without losing the naturally on their first language. Some of my friends studied abroad for a long time and they came back still speaking a perfect Portuguese. I can't judge the ones that speak Italian, German or Russian, but I know people who speak perfect English without losing anything on the Portuguese. And vice-versa.

[michaelb]

The fiddle that was long a mainstay in USA Southern 'country music' fits right in at many traditional Irish and also some English pubs.--------Everybody knows (or should know) the saying "Bluegrass has green roots".

I was born in D.C., lived in a Maryland suburb, when I was 4 we moved to Kentucky, when I started school they told me that I had a speech impediment and the nice lady from the the school district came once a week and tried to teach me to talk like a coal miner. Second grade we moved to South Carolina (so don't make light of Senator Strom) and they told me I had a speech impediment and a different nice lady came in once a week trying to teach me to have a 'Southern' accent (at least I think that's what she was trying for)....I never could pick that one up, but did get pretty fair at Gullah from listening to the men who worked for my dad. Then we moved to Kansas, where again I was told that I had a speech impediment, and, this being a much richer school district, I got to see the nice lady every day! Then we moved to Oklahoma......no nice lady there, but they did say "You talk funny."

[Ray]

 
 
   
 
 

[InnocentVixen]

Well BG we can agree to disagree on this one, this is just what I have noticed around me and just to be clear I am not saying they are no longer able to speak their native language well enough, but that the way they speak is no longer like those that speak only their native language if that makes sense, sometimes the difference is very very subtle, sometimes there is no difference but that usually means they speak their second/third/whatever language with a bit (or a lot) of an accent.


Then again in those countries where they speak like 4 languages on regular basis must be an exception, I read of a couple of places like that, wish I was born in one of those places!!

[Ray]

Hey Dave,
　
I like some of that guy’s techniques in the link you posted. As he correctly pointed out, one of the particularly difficult pronunciations for foreigners learning Tagalog is the letter ng.
　
I remember one poor girl in particular in one of my Tagalog classes who just couldn’t get it right, no matter how much time the teacher spent with her. She was a native Spanish speaker from Mexico and her tongue got all twisted up every time she attempted to pronounce a word beginning with this letter. Finally, toward the end of the semester, she finally figured it out and got a standing ovation from the rest of the class…LOL!
　
This is one of the best educational tools I have seen to help master the letter ng.
 

The Letter NG

This is a single letter in the Filipino alphabet and its sound is not at all foreign to the English speaker. It can be found in words such as "sing" and "hang" etc. The difficulty for non-Filipinos is that the ng sound is often at the beginning of a word or a syllable. Here is a trick to learn this sound. It works as long as you don’t pronounce the word "sing" with a hard g.
 
Repeat the words "sing along" several times together in a continuous flow:

Sing-along, sing-along, sing-along, etc…
 
Now remove the last syllable "long" and repeat several times:

Singa, singa, singa, etc…
 
Now remove the first two letters "si" and repeat several times while making sure that the sound of the letter Y does not creep into your pronunciation.

Nga, nga, nga, etc…

Now you’ve got it! 

 
Ray
 
 
　

[SkyNorth]

To funny...Tim Willson was a "Legend" after he quit college.  He would come back and preform.  He is a good guy.

[thekfc]

 http://asianjournalusa.com/philippines-is-the-worlds-best-country-in-business-english-p12140-67.htm

http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/ph--world-s-best-country-in-business-english.html?orig_host_hdr=ph.news.yahoo.com&.intl=PH&.lang=en-PH