Do people in the Philippines speak English or mostly Tagalog?

Answer 1

Tagalog. Tagalog and English are the two official languages of Philippines, and English is usually used in government speeches. They do teach English as a second language, and most people in Manila area speak it fluently. However, out in the provinces you'll find that most people speak only the basic phrases, and many don't even use Tagalog, but their local language (Cebuano, Kapampangan, etc).

If you're planning on coming over, I have to warn you that because of the different sentence structure, their English might in spots might sound funny. (Examples: his husband, or mixing up to and from). Please don't laugh but correct the error, and they will appreciate that. I spent a number of years in Asia, and run across this problem all the time (even with my wife) and shaming them will make them stop using English - and if you don't use it, you lose it. BTW, I did not mean to insult anybody by this.

Answer 2

We can speak English but to make things easier we speak with the language we were born with or wherein much more people commonly use.

If we compare local dialects, Tagalog is widely spoken as well as Bisaya. Aside from being spoken, Tagalog can be understood mostly by any person within the country.

Compored to English, many people are much more knowledgeable in speaking Tagalog than English. Fluent English speakers have decreased nowadays, but the number of people who can understand English is still high. The fact that we can answer questions on Yahoo! Answers means that we can understand English.

So answering you're question, Filipinos mostly speak Tagalog.

Answer 3

The poor Filipino has no language. Communication is difficult and often impossible. I live in Davao, and seldom meet anyone that can speak English. A few words, yes, but speak the language, no !
Whatever Tagalog is, the national language, it is not. Away from the Nation Capitol Region few people understand Tagalog.
But then the Philippines is not really a nation, but a group of islands with governments ran by officials for the purpose of self enrichment. These kleptocrats have no filiality to anyone.

Answer 4

It depends on the region or the place. The filipinos are speaking different dialects but almost all knows how to speak Tagalog (the national language). More than 70% of the population also speaks and understands English.

Answer 5

Both, before the 1980s the medium for instruction in schools was the English language, after the Edsa revolution, it was changed to Pilipino which is mostly based on the tagalog dialect. The current state of crooked english and bad grammar among the new generation is mostly due to this, but the flood of english movies and television shows available in the country more than make up for this lack. Although in the Visayas and Mindanao regions where people speak the bisaya dialect, people are more likely to be fluent in english than in tagalog.

Answer 6

Most still speak Tagalog or the other native dialects that most provinces have. However, most everybody know how to speak English, even if its only short phrases. Especially if they went to school because they're trying to implement making English the main language for instruction. So most kids nowadays and a lot of adults too speak really good English.

Answer 7

Tagalog. But for business purposes we speak English

Answer 8

mostly tagalog..

Fact: Tagalog
- one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. It is the most spoken Philippine language in terms of the number of speakers.

Answer 9

There are many dialects used all over the country. but mostly everyone knows how to speak tagalog and english.

Answer 10

Yes, we Filipinos speak English but we often use Tagalog everyday.