Learn Filipino Book for Filipinos and Foreigners Alike

This Learn Filipino book available in Amazon is a fascinating find. Being a non-Tagalog native speaker myself, I see the importance of this book.

It's not just for foreigners. It is also for Filipinos who don't speak "Filipino." Yes, there are many Filipinos in the Philippines who do not speak "Filipino" as their native language. They need this book as much as foreigners.

How come? You might say.

In the latest (1987) constitution of the Philippines, the word "Filipino" got a new meaning. From then on it also referred to the "national language" of the Philippines.

The thing was, the national language up until 1987 used to be Tagalog. It was spoken by people in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces. So, the "Filipino" language referred to by the constitution was actually Tagalog, but with words incorporated from other Philippine dialects.

For example, the Cebuano word "liso" was incorporated into the "Filipino" language to refer to the seed (of plants). The Tagalog word for "seed" was "buto," which also referred to bones.

I look forward to the day when they would incorporate the Cebuano word "mingaw" into Filipino. The Cebuano word "mingaw" expresses a longingness for someone. In English, we say "we miss you." In Cebuano we translate that to "gi-mingaw mi nimo." In Tagalog, we translate that to "nami-miss namin kayo."

See the word "miss" in the Tagalog translation? That's an English word. The word "mingaw" has no Tagalog counterpart.

How many languages are there in the Philippines and how many speak them? Here's an interesting table from Wikipedia based on the Year 2000 census of the National Statistics Office:

Language	No. of Native Speakers	% of Population
Tagalog	22,000,000	28.34%
Cebuano	20,000,000	25.76%
Ilokano	7,700,000	9.92%
Hiligaynon	7,000,000	9.02%
Waray-Waray	3,100,000	3.99%
Kapampangan	2,900,000	3.74%
Chavacano (Spanish Creole)	2,500,000	3.22%
Northern Bicol	2,500,000	3.22%
Pangasinan	2,434,086	3.14%
Southern Bicol	1,200,000	1.55%
Maranao	1,150,000	1.48%
Maguindanao	1,100,000	1.42%
Kinaray-a	1,051,000	1.35%
Tausug	1,022,000	1.32%
Surigaonon	600,000	0.77%
Masbateño	530,000	0.68%
Aklanon	520,000	0.67%
Ibanag	320,000	0.41%
TOTAL	77,627,086	100.00%

The "Filipino language" is intended to evolve from the fusion of the various languages and dialects in the Philippines. That sounds to me like an absolutely long process.

Meantime, books that effectively teach Tagalog to non-Tagalogs would do great.

On the same breath, I also wish that books about the local languages will be created as well. In the country's desire to have a national language, it will be a pity if the educators forget about the dialects.

These dialects are part of the country's heritage. The country will do well to preserve them.