A separate/non-English Yahoo Answers Philippines?

Question

Would you prefer a separate "Answers Philippines" from the rest of the English questions? Mexico, Japan and other non English speaking countries have their own version. Why not the Philippines?

Most Filipinos speak English but would prefer to speak in Tagalog or any other Philippine dialect. Then there are some anal retentive members who would report us in violation of the community guidelines or say that the question is not under "Travel/Philippines" category.

The Philippines may be a third world country/market but you will note that any internet voting contest that has a Filipino/Filipina was won by the Filipino/na. Ms Photogenic in beauty contests is a common example.

Also, most of the internet savvy Filipinos are either abroad or the class ABC in the Philippines so that is still a good market if you want to base it on advertising.

I believe the Filipinos are a force to reckon with as far as the internet is concerned so please let us have a separate "Answers."

Ang ibig ko pong sabihin, pag nag click kayo sa bandang ibaba sa "Answers International" sa Philippines, mga English na questions pa rin ang pinupuntahan. 'Di tulad ng sa iba kagaya ng Japan, na sarili nilang wika ang ginagamit.

Gusto ba ninyong pag nag click kayo sa Philippines ay may sarili tayong "Answers" na Tagalog o Ilokano o Bisaya o kahit ano pang Pilipino version ng "Answers" ang lalabas?

Ipakita natin na madami tayong Pinoy @ nang makumbinsi natin sila na gawan tayo ng hiwalay na para sa ating mga Pinoy!

Ok, not necessarily non-English then :) just a separate one that when you click on "Philippines" in the Answers International list at the bottom of the page, brings you to an exclusive site for Pinoy questions with all the categories available too.

They already have it set up, but currently it just sources from the current English Answers.

Even with the separate site, you'll still see a lot of English questions since a lot of Pinoys are comforable using English.

I was expecting more answers but the timing might have been bad, the weekend and people not at "work" :) plus the fact that it took a while for the question to be posted. Maybe there was a flagged word in the question.

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/anal-retentive

Answer 1

I'm in total agreement with you, Promdi. It's about time the administrators of Yahoo! Answers create a separate Tagalog home for those who are more comfortable expressing themselves in the vernacular. I sometimes cringe in my seat whenever I read poorly constructed questions and answers supplied by Filipino Users whose idea of translating Tagalog to English is a LITERAL, word-for-word crapola. At least if one still mangles one's own language, full blame must be placed on his/her lap for being so ignorant.

But there's a hitch here.

Does anyone care? Based on the answers before mine, not much. Voting for a favorite candidate in a beauty contest or an FHM poll is one. Adding your voice to petition Yahoo! to give us a separate linguistic home is another. Besides, not everyone with internet access in the Philippines participate in Y! A, much less in this specialized category. A quick browse on the number of questions and answers this heading generates confirms that this place is not exactly attracting good traffic.

That flow of participants is likely to be reduced some more if Yahoo! creates a separate home for Tagalog- or Cebuano-proficient participants. It will effectively shun English-speaking people from putting their two cents in simply because they cannot understand or express themselves in our language/dialect.

And when was the last time Filipinos ever become TRULY united in what they wanted to achieve?

Unless and until these problems are addressed can you hope to see the realization of your proposal. In the meantime, write a draft of your proposal and ask me to sign your petition papers before you send them to Yahoo! :-) GOOD LUCK!

3 Feb 2007; 7:45pm, Philippines

Answer 2

First and foremost, English is an international language. Obviously, you will only get violations if you are using other language at an English site. We need to request a pure Tagalog Y!A site if all that you want is to speak Tagalog.. but I think almost everybody in the Y!A Philippines speak English even there are some who are not really that fluent... like me.But there are also people who are living at an English speaking country like America and UK who are not good on English.. like spelling. Just think that we are fortunate enough to speak the English Language then why not use it? other countries are limited to speak English so let's not make a big deal out of it. It's not really a big issue here.. when we all know that for us Filipinos, English is our second dialect and to top it all we are the largest country in Asia who are English literate. Even the small child from Philippines can already understand English 'cause it's already part in our school requirements. We should be proud of it that we are not that baloney, don't you think so? Well, If you want to speak Tagalog you can use the Y!A Philippines site and to make it sure that you won't get any violations.. try to make or attach an English translation on everything you've said in Tagalog or other languages / dialects. <*-*>

Answer 3

With a population of around 90 million I believe a Pilipino or Tagalog section is a great idea. True, English is widely spoken in the Philippines, but socially Pilipino dialects are the norm in the RP. It would not even require a separate language pack so this is a great idea that Yahoo should consider. I might even learn a little more Tagalog myself, and am sure my wife would show more interest.

Answer 4

As far as I know you may ask and answer using whatever language you like. If you want to only "outlaw" english then you would have to ask and answer your question in 100+/- different dialects so as to include all the filipinos. Oh, thats too difficult? Maybe just Tagalog? What about all the other filipinos who don't speak tagalog? OK then lets follow your previous logic back to where we started.........DUH! Don't you all use the american alphabet in your language? Japan has their own. And another thing. I think you insult a lot of filipinos with your dialogue.

Answer 5

I am not Filipino but I read these questions and answers to learn more about the country that I like.

If the questions were in Tagalog then I wouldn't be able to read it.

Answer 6

Question to answer yours.

How many Philipinos are posting here?

Not many I can see and most stop posting after 2pm in the afternoon.

Answer 7

daghan uy basta naa ray bisaya walay problema sa ako.

Answer 8

Depenitli! :)