Mike's Tagalog Blog

Coming soon...

...Tagalog film reviews......Filipino recipies......News....Events......

......watch this space!

Word of the day 21/01/2005

Labas - Outside

Usage

Ako La Labas Na - I am going outside

Word of the week 18/01/2005

Gubyerno - Government

Word of the day 18/01/2005

Pagkain - Food

Pronunciation

Pag-Kah-In

(No emphasis on any one syllable)

Karaoke

Karaoke is a national obsession in the Phillipines. Its thanks to Karaoke that I met my wife! We first met in a Karaoke bar. To be honest, I wasn't enamoured with Karaoke at first, but it is something that grows on you. We have a Karaoke DVD player at home, and I have been known to give the odd rendition (emphasis on the "odd").

Sometimes friends bring round a device called a "Magic Sing" microphone. This device plugs into your TV and provides the words, music and video background. It even gives you a score out of 100 at the end of the song (but imho it gives bad singers good scores and vice versa!). The machine costs about £150 and can be found here -

http://www.astramagicsing.com/v8.html

In the Phillipines the belief is that they invented Karaoke, nevermind that it is a Japanese word (Kara - Empty, Oke - Orchestra), trust me do not get into an argument with a Filipino/Filipina over this. You may win the argument - but lose a friend!

The Magic Sing is cheaper in the P.I. and I will probably buy one when I visit there next.

Learning Tagalog - Fifth and last 20 of the 100 most commonly used words

81. (I) think - Naisip Ko
82. This - Ito
83. Time - Oras
84. To - Para
85. Under - Sa Ilalim
86. Up - Taas
87. Us - Ako At ikaw
88. (I) use - Ginamit Ko
89. Very - Napa Ka
90. We - Tayo
91. What - Ano
92. When - Kailan
93. Where - Saan
94. Which - Alin
95. Who - Sino
96. Why - Bakit
97. With - Kasama
98. Yes - Oo
99. You - Ikaw
100. Your - Iyong

Learning Tagalog - Fourth 20 of the 100 most commonly used words

61. Place - Lugar
62. Please - Pakiusap
63. Same - Pareho
64. (I) see - Nakita Ko
65. She - Babae
66. So - Eh
67. Some - Dagdagan
68. Sometimes - Minsan
69. Still - Patuloy
70. Such - Napa Ka
71. tell - Sinabi
72. Thank you - Saalamat
73. That - Iyan
74. The - Ang
75. Their - Nila
76. Them - Saka Nila
77. Then - Noon
78. There is - Mayroon
79. They - Ka Nila
80. Thing - Bagay

Learning Tagalog - Third 20 of the 100 most commonly used words

41. One - Isa
42. More - Sobra
43. Most - Lahat Lahat
44. Much - Marami
45. My - Ako
46. New - Bago
47. No - Hindi
48. Not - Hindi
49. Now - Ngayon
50. Of - Ng
51. Often - Palagi
52. On - Ay Nasa
53 (blank - to be added later)
54. Only - Nagiisa
55. Or - Itong
56. Other - Ibang
57. Our - Tayong
58. Out - Labas
59. Over - Puno
60. People - Tao

Learning Tagalog - Second 20 of the 100 most commonly used words

21. (I) go - Ako Umalis
22. Good- Mabuti
23. Good-bye - Paalam
24. Happy - Masaya
25. (I) have - A ko Mayroon
26. He/She- Sya/Siya
27. Hello - Kumusta
28. Here - Narito
29. How - Paano
30. I - Ako
31. (I) am - Ako
32. If - Kung
33. In - Sa
34. (I) know - Alam Ko
35. Last - Huli
36. (I) like - Gusto Ko
37. Little - Maliit
38. (I) love - Mahal
39. (I) make - Akoy Gumawa
40. Many - Marami

Learning Tagalog - First 20 of the 100 most commonly used words

1. A,an - Ng Nga
2. After - Pagtapos
3. Again - Mule
4. All - Lahat
5. Almost - Halos Matapos
6. Also - Atsaka
7. Always - Palage
8. And - Ng
9. Because - Dahil
10. Before - Bago
11. Big - Malake
12. But - Ngunit
13. (I) can - Puwede

14. (I) come - Dumating
15. Either/or - O kaya / Itong
16. (I) find - Nakita Ko
17. First - Una
18. For - Para
19. Friend - Kaibingan
20. From - Galing

How I'm going to learn Tagalog...

and how you can learn with me.

I'm going to start with vocabulary. The most 100 common words used in any language. This will be my cornerstone. I plan to have "Word of the day", "Word of the week" and so on. I will list groups of words like , Numbers, Foods, Colours etc.

Once I've memorised a few dozen words, I wil start to move into phrases and grammar - but not too quickly. I will also be posting useful Pinoy resource information, websites, restaurants, charity functions - anything that comes up thats Pinoy related.

I hope you will come with me - and enjoy the ride!

Tagalog 101

This is what I've learnt so far -

Tagalog is the national language of the Phillipines. It is not the only language spoken, there are dozens of dialects across the thousands of islands that make up the P.I. However, I shall concentrate on the version of Tagalog that is spoken in and around Manila and is understood by the majority of the P.I. inhabitants. English is spoken widely, especially in the big cities. But, I would not rely on that. There are still are a large number of Pinoys who speak no English at all (my in-laws for example).

Tagalog has derivations from Malayan Languages and also bits and pieces of Spanish and English. To confuse matters Pinoys will often speak "Taglish", basically a mixture of English and Tagalog. I have found that my wife will talk to her friends in Tagalog, and then break into English for emphasis like "Oh my god!". This seems borne out by the many Pinoy movies that I've watched, where the characters appear to do the same thing.

Next post - the "how"

This the beginning...

of my journey to learn Tagalog - the language of the Phillipines.

Why? Well my wife is from the Phillipines, and anything that can help us communicate has got to be a good thing - right ?

I'm hoping that some of you will share my journey and perhaps we can help each other along the way.

I don't want this to be a painful experience, so I will be throwing in a few "cultural references" , observations and general info which I think might help someone somewhere.

Enjoy the ride !