Filipino (Tagalog) Is Difficult
There is no sugar-coating required and I am not justifying my children's not speaking the language. It is really difficult and complicated. I remember in my senior year in high school, I feared that I might flunk the subject. Seriously. Well, it was mainly because our teacher was notoriously bookish and her exams were hard to understand, but still... Filipino grammar is really difficult.
Our eldest lived in the Philippines for the first four years of his life and he was surrounded by pure Tagalog speakers but unfortunately, he did not pick up the language. He had a speech delay and spoke in full sentences only when he was four years old, and he was back here in Abu Dhabi. Of course, the language was English already.
Trying To Learn Tagalog
Tagalog is the mother tongue of my husband and me. It is the official language of the Philippines and is spoken mainly in the southern part of Luzon, and is the second language by many.
While the two of us speak Tagalog at home, the children picked up English as their language from digital media - Youtube mainly. We consciously teach them Tagalog so that they will become confident speakers but the journey has not been easy so far.
Sometimes I can't help but crack up whenever we are studying and they pronounce the words still with a distinct accent or when they mistake a word for another that sounds similar.
Example:
kama = bed
One time when practice-reading, we came across the above word. I asked my eldest what "kama" meant. He confidently said, "hand". Wrong!
kamay = hand
Homographs
Tagalog also has lots of homographs or words with the same spelling but different meanings. Where you put accents or stress on the syllables will make the word mean differently. I have to point this out in our reading lessons too.
Example:
baka = cow
baká = maybe
or... they have the same pronunciation but different meaning...
Example:
bato = n. rock
bato = v. throw
A lot simpler in English.
There are still a lot of other ways where my children are struggling and English would be simpler.
For example, to make the plural form of a noun, we only add "s" to most English words. In Tagalog, we have to add an extra word, "mga" to express a word in plural form.
Example:
singular:
flower = [Tagalog] bulaklak
plural:
flowers = mga bulaklak
Not only is the Tagalog translation to the word "flower" longer, we have to add the word "mga" to make it plural. Should I mention, it is also difficult to pronounce!
"mga" = pronounced as, ma-nga
My daughter struggles with the "NG" sound. LOL.
Slow Progress Is Still Progress
If anything, reading comes easy for them since the Modern Filipino Alphabet is almost similar to the English Alphabet. My daughter surprises me with her Tagalog reading skills but we still have to work on comprehension. My eldest has more reading comprehension than her since his Tagalog vocabulary is wider.
We lagged in the previous months but these days we make it a point to really sit down and have at least 30 minutes of Tagalog lessons every day. I try to make it fun for us so that they won't run away. Haha.
This is our constant challenge and hopefully, this will make them become confident Tagalog speakers one day.
All photos are mine. Original illustrations by the author originally appeared in this blog.
Baka means stupid in Japanese I guess. 😂 Words look bit funny. I know some filipino words like
Kumusta ka = how are you
Mahal kita = I love you
Gusto kita = I like you
Salamat po = thank you
Walang anuman = you are welcome
Kuya = brother
Aate = sister
Hindi = no
Asawa = wife
Some bad words in tagalog :P my ex taught me all
Haha! Your ex taught you well. Those words/phrases are most of the time foreigners learn first, and of course the bad words. :D They never get missed out on the beginner's vocabulary list.
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.Indeed, slow progress is still a progress, it is better than no progress at all. Just like the tech titan Elon Musk said when he introduced his conpany's internet service by saying "Better Than Nothing Beta". It is great that you are achieving or having progress than nothing at all. Just keep it going. Regards.
Our goal so far is just to make them confident speakers for now, then reading with comprehension. Mejo struggle lang talaga kasi kaming mag-asawa lang naririnig nilang magtagalog. Silang tatlo talagang English mag-usap. Para kaming may mga kasamang Amerikano sa bahay. 🤦♀️
Congratulations @arrliinn! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
I'm guessing it must help to also hear mum and dad speaking Tagalog regularly. Even the English language can get confusing with those words that are the same, when it's not your mother tongue.
Yeah, my husband and I speak Tagalog every time. My 2 elder kids can already pick up some bits from our conversations but they cannot be bothered to speak it yet. Hopefully they're saving up in their language bank. 😅
I've featured your post in the @HomeEdders weekly curation.
Curated by @minismallholding on behalf of @HomeEdders.
Supporting home education and educational content. If you're a home educator, home educated or are thinking about home education, find out what we're about HERE.
You can join the community by clicking the subscribe button on Hive or Peakd.
please feel free to join us on discord.
Thank you!
Damn colonialism is insidious XD
or maybe I should stop attributing everything to colonialism
Great that you're making the effort :) I wish I'd known more languages to teach my kids when they were that age, but I didn't learn when I needed to have learned them :<
Not sure about colonialism, but could be. 🤔 I've seen lots of families now struggling of teaching the mother tongue to their children even in the Philippines itself. English is now becoming the first language of many children (because English speaking children sound smart and cute?) and so learning the main language comes second only.
Right now, I am thinking of the time when we will relocate to PH and my children will be immersed to the language and culture. I want them as equipped and knowledgeable as possible.
Read and heard way too many stories of language and culture being sometimes literally beaten out of anywhere that's conquered x_x so I blame everything related on colonialism ^_^;
I actually think having an international auxiliary language is not the worst idea (kind of like how it would be useful to have a global kinda currency like crypto XD) however I'd much prefer it was a conlang or something because I really despise languages and cultures being supplanted (or actively destroyed as has happened and may still be happening in some places).
Necessity is an amazing motivator; if/when you return, they'll suddenly have to remember all the Tagalog you've ever taught them and when they have to use it daily it will stick XD
Although I have no experience with Tagalog, I do see the struggle of having a multi lingual child some days ;) We speak 2 languages at home, but she also picks up the local language and on top of that the Spanish we practice, as we lived there and will go back there as well.
Good luck learning!
Thank you! I'm really keen on them learning Tagalog, while I also encourage them to see the advantages in learning other languages apart from English.