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Hello  all

Being that  I  am  exposed  to  4  languages a day  lately -- English, Japanese, French, and  Spanish.  I  was  wondering  what  your  spouse's  profiency in    foreign languages  was  other  than  English  and  Tagalog  and other various pinoy  dialects.  Though it  has  been  a  long  time since  the  spainish occupation of  the Philippines,  is spanish  still  commonly used now  and  then?  

Since  the  majority of  the  board  is  filipino in  nature  I'm  asking them.  But  for  anyone  else  who  wants  to  play  in  this  discussion  / Inquirey --- jump  in  --- the  water is  still  warm, but no splashing, and wait a half hour after you eat ha ha ha.  

For  other  nationalities  I'm  wondering  about  other  languages  besides  your  wife's / husband's  native  tongue.

Windmill boy

... in response to Habla  Espanol?, posted by Windmill Boy on Sep 13, 2002

I don't know much about the PI, but in good old Anaheim, you need Spanish to survive. At my business, I have 43 employees, only four of whom speak English. I'm the only non-native Spanish speaker and my secretary and I the only two born in the USA. I have asked Filippinos if they speak Spanish and most tell me only the really old people still speak it, but as I understand it, many Spanish words have found their way into the native languages - in the same way pizza or tsunami or boondocks have found their way into English. BTW, do you know how to say "bread" in Japanese? It's "pan" from the Portuguese (also Spanish.) The Japanese had never seem bread til the black ships brought it there in the late 1500s or early 1600s.

So Dave, your father in law was a guifted linguist? Since most of the languages I've learned have been out of necessity and just enough to survive, I just consider myself a cunning linguist. =8oO (Did I say that?)

-- Jeff S.

... in response to Yo tambien, posted by Jeff S on Sep 14, 2002

Hi Jeff,

I suppose I'm a survivalist linguist myself and not very cunning. :o))). My father-in-law was able to go beyond the basics and become quite fluent. I'm told that he had a gift for it. He supervised many employees, some of whom didn't speak Tagalog, Bisayan, or English. He made them happy when he could communicate with them in their native tongue and also got accomplished exactly what he needed. I learned something today while listening to President Bush and the Italian Prime Minister on TV. I discovered that I could understand much of what was being said in Italian. I already knew that I understood some Portuguese.

Dave H.

... in response to Habla  Espanol?, posted by Windmill Boy on Sep 13, 2002

Hi WB,

Other than English and Tagalog, my wife speaks Bisayan (native tongue) and is learning Spanish. She was surprised at the number of Spanish words she already knows, as they are part of her language. My father-in-law was a gifted linguist who was fluent in English, Spanish and many Philippine languages and dialects. According to what I have read (Lonely Planet Philippines), Spanish as a compulsory subject, was abolished in the public schools in 1968. It also stated that Spanish "is still the mother language of a small percentage of the population, mainly the upper class." I speak English (native tongue) and Spanish with a Mexican accent (so Cubans tell me - too many novelas!), probably like Jeff. :o))) I am trying to learn Bisayan and Tagalog. I have managed to learn most of the bad words...much to my wife's dismay. She never uses them! I learned them on the Internet. :o)))

Dave "sinverguenza" H.

... in response to Habla  Espanol?, posted by Windmill Boy on Sep 13, 2002

WB,

When I lived and worked in Miami most of the Filipina nurses that I worked with knew Spanish fluently because they had to speak it to most of the patients. They said that it was relatively easy to learn due to some similarities with Tagalog and Visayan. I am not sure if it is still spoken in the Phils, although it probable would in some small regions.