do filipinos in america consider themselves hispanic?

Question

when I go to the US I hardly distinguish the filipinos from the latinos, especially in california.... IN ADDITION, why do filipinos have spanish last names and look almost hispanic and some speaking spanish does not help a bit................................

Answer 1

Filipinos do NOT consider themselves Hispanic. They will either consider themselves Asian or Pacific Islander.

In what manner can you not distinguish Filipinos from Latinos? By the way they talk? walk? dress?

Filipinos, as a culture, is a blended one. The country has been 'invaded' by Chinese, Japanese, Muslims, Spaniards, and Americans. The Spanish rule last quite a long time, hence the integration of Spanish sounding last names. Tagalog, the Philippine national language is strongly Spanish based also. Komo esta / Kamusta

Answer 2

I'm Filipina and i get mistaken for a Mexican all the time. Yeah some Filipinos and Mexicans look alike. For the last names, I have a Spanish last name too. The reason for that is because Spain use to own the Philippines back in the day. Some people changed their last names because they were getting persecuted they didn't want to be found. The language (dialect) that i speak is kind of similar to spanish and so i could understand spanish a little bit.

Answer 3

Hey there! I'm a Filipino and no, I do not consider myself Hispanic. I don't look Hispanic, and perhaps despite some Spanish in my blood, no, I am not Hispanic. This is the first I've ever heard of Americans misinforming the general public of our ethnicity. Just to clarify to anyone who may have been misinformed: we do not consider ourselves Spanish. Never have, never will, save for those handful back when the Spanish were still our colonizers. I've heard news of our president attempting to reintroduce Spanish to the educational curriculum, but that's pretty much the extent of it. And no, we don't embrace the Spanish culture much anymore, since it is pretty much dead to us... well, as opposed to the American culture. Nowadays you'll see most people wanting to leave the country, especially for the United States. You'll also see people looking with disgust at their own roots, and local lawmakers lobbying for English to be used as the medium of instruction for all subjects in all schools. It's called colonial mentality; get used to it. It's so ironic that sometimes the people who love our country the most are also the people who do not come from our country. I'm truly and deeply grateful that you respect and even love our culture. We could learn from you. The Philippines, my country, is a land just waiting to be explored and now all it's doing is going to waste.

Answer 4

Filipinos dont consider themselves Hispanics, as an Hispanic is a spanish-speaking person from anywhere in the Americas and Caribbean.

A lot of filipinos have Spanish names, though, because they were a Spanish colony.

Answer 5

The reason behind this is because Filipinos have a hispanic background. They are actually blended in by hispanic and indian, and some other nationalities that I can't remember about. Because they have a hispanic background, they in fact have a spanish last name. However filipinos do not consider themselves hispanic or anything close to it. They just simply consider themselves filipino.

Answer 6

They are considered Asians. The reason they have hispanic last names is that the Philippines was colonized by Spain and they were under the Spanish regime for 300 years. Most were given Spanish last names and the others were aquired through inter-marriages.

Answer 7

Many of us Filipinos are partly Spanish since we were colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, thus the look. That's also the main reason why most of us have Hispanic surnames.

Answer 8

you need to read a history book or something. Spaniards colonized what is now known as the filipines. filipinos are a mix of chinese, spanish, and I believe malay. No FLIP is going to look the same cuz they are mixed. I even had a filipino friend quote that one. They are mixed just like black people here in america, that's why some look like this or that. Dark skin, light skin, round eyes, slant eyes.

Answer 9

Because the Philipines were a part of the Spanish Empire for many, many years....till the US war with Spain in 1898 when we sank the Spanish Fleet in Manilla harbor. (and fought the Spanish in Cuba at the same time).

Answer 10

Some do, some don't. That's what happens when a president makes up a patronizing term to try and define hundreds of groups of people for the census. Oh well, live and learn!