Why can't Filipinos speak proper English?

Question

Filipinos are taught English in school from kindergarten to college. Some were taught English as their first language. We are bombarded by tv shows, magazines, newspapers, radio shows ALL in Englsish. But why is it that a lot of Filipinos who can't speak American English? Well, just today, I talked to somebody who said: "I goh toh Jaleebeh ebree feydey." (I go to Jollibee every payday). English skills are very important in a lot of jobs, even some nannies are required to be able to speak it conversationally. Oh, I hate that "colegiala English", when they would say "let's go na to the mall, i want to buy a skirt eh." GRRRR. The main focus of our schools (public and private) is to teach students well.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a perfect speaker of the language but I am just apalled at how we can be taught something for so long and still not get it right!

Please explain!

Trinitysage ...sorry, you're right, there's a couple of typos here. I guess I should have double checked before sending. I find it hilarious. *hahaha*

Trinitysage ...sorry, you're right, there are a couple of typos here. I guess I should have double checked before sending. I find it hilarious. *hahaha*

Answer 1

Sad to hear that you met one of those who talks that way (and defenitly they're starting to multiply). I'm a Filipino and to be frank and blunt about it, it all started in the schools today. Heavens know it would be a lonnnnnnnnngggggg story to get to the roots, but ill try to enlighten you. You see many schools here nowadays had started hiring teachers who have very low proficiency in english conversation as well as in writing. The Education Dept here in the Philippines once conducted an English proficiency exam for all teachers in elementary and high school levels and guess what.... a great majority failed the exam. And to think these teachers conducts english classes everyday from kids to adults. And these students will actually think that what they hear is right. Inspite of all efforts by the Education Dept to uplift these proficiency all have failed because they have teachers in their staff that could never ever comply to that standard.

You may ask why they are still there? Why dont they fire them? Well welcome to the Philippines.. only these things happens only in the Philippines. It is so sad to see such things continues up to this day.

You ask how come I know this? I'm a computer shop owner near a school and Education students (future Teachers) would have their lesson plans and alike encoded. I wish I could show their lesson plans, their letters, their resume and cover letters. Geesh!

Me I graduated 1978, and all we had then was the basics in school, but by God we have very good teachers then who studied under American and Filipino professors. Back then when I was in elementary level majority of students could carry very decent English conversation.

I guess we are a dwindling race, English as a second language of the Filipinos is fast deteriorating. What you have encountered is what we call here "pa-cute english". They try to cover-up their deficiency by trying to be coy and cute.

By the way are you a Filipina? Anyway there are still Filipinos here who can carry on this ability. Want to talk to someone who is good at english? Try talking to a World War II veteran and yuo would see that I am right. Education then was much much better then here in the Philippines.

Nothing beats the "old school" approach. No amount of magazines, newspapers and even television could ever correct what has been taught in the young minds of children who for the first time entered school.

Answer 2

@Tammy

First off I generally love Filipinos and I have a team that works with me every day for the past 6 years. I've been there and will be going back again in the next couple months. Anyone that can speak 2 languages to some degree is special. My abilities lie with Spanish and some Brazilian Portuguese but not Tagalog unfortunately.

In any event the accents don't bother me at all as anyone from different regional spots will have their own accent. In fact that's what makes life interesting. However, some Filipinos simply can't speak English, even ones that work for me. For the ones that can speak English, it's still a struggle. "He/she" is always an issue as is "Sir/maam" and "... for it". For example. A simple "I will call" turns into "I will be the one to call for it". Redundancy is awful.

Less is more. Again, I love the people and love working with them but these are real issues if you're trying to run a call center or sales organization of any type. Also your references to day time television and blacks is way off. Day time television or any "reality show" is all about ratings. Confrontation sells, watch ANY reality show and you'll see that. Proper speaking businessmen then get along and have a conversation doesn't sell. Bad *** bitches that want to fight for some stupid reason and kick each other's *** does; same with rap songs. Proper English doesn't sell in certain mediums.

Blacks intentionally have their own language to differentiate themselves from the white man that suppressed them for so long and they have a right to speak however they want. Consider it a "dialect". People in the Northeast tend to speak faster, people in Florida are from all over the place so anything goes. Latinos have their own Spanglish as do Brazilians speaking Portingles. The difference is we know the difference between present, past and future tense. We don't say "I will be the one that will called for it now". That just sucks, sorry.

I dislike the term "African-American" as we are a nation of immigrants and everyone is a -American of some sort. We're just American period and if you pay attention to the history I believe the Americans that you seem to make fun of helped your nation out a great deal. Lots of American and Filipinos died together for a common cause. Maybe you don't care because it was so long ago. The Japanese committed absolute atrocities to Filipinos including rape and torture. Anyway I'm babbling. I hope you got my point and I'm just defending my point of view.

Answer 3

ei guys for your info, English is one of the native languages in the Philippines!. I can prove that! Tagalog is another native language and so as Cebuano and Ilocano. Hahahaha. LISTEN! THIS IS THE TRUTH. THE PHILIPPINES IS KNOWN AS A COUNTRY IN ASIA WHERE PEOPLE SPEAK BROKEN ENGLISH. Than broken English makes us (Filipinos) native speakers! you know that! AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT'S STILL ENGLISH. (broken English) but we are native speakers of the language. If you speak in either American or British accent. Fine! Well. Filipinos have got their own varieties of accents, common expressions, and grammar rules. Just like in England! There are expressions there that are not common to the people in the USA. They also speak bad English. They don't follow the rules either. However, Some of us go speechless and stuff when they're speaking with a native speaker from either the UK or the USA cause we ain't use to the accent they've got. They are used to each other's accents so no matter how fast they speak when they're talking, ain't no problems at all. We are not used to the accents that they've got 'cause we ain't got tons of Americans and English in our country. However, it doesn't mean that if you can't catch what they say them right away, ou ain't a native speaker. no no no. it's wrong. You are still a native speaker. In Scottland. People there speak English too. Sometimes, when they speak with other native speakers who are from let's say London or the USA. One of them has a hard a hard time makin out the other. It's true. So. don't worry, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT, you are FLUENT. if you are not FLUENT, YOU ARE NOT A NATIVE SPEAKER. IF YOU ARE FLUENT (regardless of your accent) YOU ARE INDEED A NATIVE SPEAKER OF ENGLISH. (Long as you were born in the Philippines) Okay?

Answer 4

Filipinos Speak

Answer 5

Filipinos cannot fully speak english fluently since not a lot of us had the privilege to learn the language from a very good instructor. True, that most of us studied the language even since we were children, but most of the teachers that we had back then(even now) came from the provinces, thus they have vernacular accents. I have nothing against them and I really do respect them, but it is hard for us to find passionate teachers who can also communicate well in english.

What we also lack is the chance to practice what we've learned. We cannot communicate with "tv shows, magazines, newspapers, radio shows ", so how can we apply the theoretical knowledge that we have? With the person who talked with you, you simply cannot blame him/her if he/she said "I goh toh Jaleebeh ebree feydey." since the old Filipino language only has 5 vowel sounds (aeiou) and does not use the f,v as well as the th.

Enunciation plays a very big role in the pronounciation of english words, with the American language having a lot of vowel sounds (ae,i/e,o/u...) as well as th,pf,bv,s/sh sounds, as compared to the Filipino language that only has basic consonant and vowel sounds. That is the difference between the two, and the pronounciation can greatly affect the accent and the diction when it comes to speaking American English. Filipinos speak in English using Filipino diction, and for someone who's very sensitive about the language, it can be irritating at times.

English is a medium that is used by a different types of people at different levels, and I agree with you that colegiala english very annoying. It is a product of a person not fluent with english who tries to speak the language while incorporating Filipino words so that he/she can complete the sentence, just so that he/she can say that he/she can can be termed as coño or pasosyal. FIlipinos have the mentality that if something's hard to understand, they'll just let it go and would not study about it, until the time comes that they would need it.

Answer 6

To validate what has already been mentioned, to speak English with an accent is quite different from not being able to speak English. This accent is mainly because our toungues are used to pronouncing our national language and therefore we tend to speak with that intonation, pretty much like some Americans are unable to roll their "R".

I am making extra effort to take your remarks in a non-derogatory way as I work in a field where a lot of correspondence is exchanged between my people in the US and the rest of the world including Europe and other parts of Asia. By far the best and most comprehendable English I have ever encountered are those of Filipinos because they though they dont have the American accent, they are able to speak in a clear audible manner.

I recommend seeing the glass half full on your part and taking time to compare Filipino English to those of Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, other parts of the US such as the south and Jersey and the British. You will see that there is not much difference besides the accent. You will also see that just like us Filipinos, they too make grammatical errors.

Answer 7

Yes Filipinos are taught how to read and write in English but not as a first language especially in public school but at private schools it is the medium of instruction. First and foremost our first language is Tagalog which we can fluently speak and write. In fact there is no such thing as a proper English what matters is that we can at least speak the language and understand it

As a comment to Albert above you cannot just point your fingers to the teachers, I have been teaching for 5 years now in a public school and i tell you, it really is frustrating to teach English subjects when dealing with kids who cannot even understand what i am talking about. Children today they are only expose to this language at school but at home and the community, there are not. To tell you it was really a culture shock for me when i first taught in public school but still it is a process that teachers are fighting everyday.
The media are not helping at all, lately the movies and shows are now being dubbed into Tagalog.
I am not defending the teachers at all, I agree with you when you say why not fire those teachers who cannot even construct a simple English in there lesson plans come to think, if there plans are not written in good english what more is the application. But the question is where are the teachers who can speak the English language good, they are now abroad.

Answer 8

If you're referring to the pronounciation and accent, well girl, we live in the Philippines, people speak Filipino languages/dialects most of the time and though proficient in English, we don't use it for our daily conversations. In school the focus of teaching the language is on being grammatically correct and having error-free spelling. So unless you went into a "speech class" to enhance your English speaking skill or have a native English speaker for a conversation partner or you practice your English speaking skills everyday, chances are you don't speak "American English" or even pronounce the words right.

And if you've live outside Philippines for quite sometime, you'd find out that what you have considered to be as a good accent in speaking English still sound Filipino.

And you know what's worse than "colegiala English"? TAGLISH!

Answer 9

Ouch! I got offended with this issue.I am a former call center agent and a TEFL student.
you know what girl, you are bringing everything in perfection.
there are times that native speakers talks a lot of english that seems not to be.
Filipinos are very good in english, even those who never got a proper education, you know why? they maybe cannot speak well but the thing is, they are so easy to understand..
Are you watching Oprah and Ellen de Generes show?
did you watched them interviewing Filipino personalities? how was their english? it was so good.. we are maybe loosing our grammar sometimes, but take note that the ENGLISH GRAMMAR is the hardest thing to perfect even the native english speaker can't. Why do I know? Because I had been with my English friends. Even I who can speak well in English cannot understand what are thet talking about. We dont have the same accent as yours, it is because we are not born on talking english.. our parents only taught and first talked to us with our native dialect and our national language.
Other nationalities say that we have a perfect pronunciation, very good subject-verb agreement.. we maybe cant speak deep-english words, but the thing is we are easy to understand even with some few words that we usually say..

Answer 10

OK, well, that person talking about Jollibee may haven't gone to school. He or she may have also just wanted to talk that way, I know English and Tagalog well and I sometimes talk like that just for kicks. Some people don't have a chance to go to school. Even I have an accent when I talk English because I know Tagalog and there's some parts where you have to say things differently form how you pronounce things in English. It's really nothing to stress about. Some people have accents like I do. Maybe the teachers can't speak English that well but they are trying as much as they can. :)