Foreign languages that became an official language of the Philippines

Spanish and English are two languages we Filipinos got used to when we were still under  the governance of Spain and America.

Spanish – used to be the official language in the Philippines back in the 16th century but now, only around 2,000 Filipinos use this language.

English – is a foreign language commonly used by Filipinos until today. In a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations(SWS) back in 2008, around 76% of Filipinos says they understand English. It is the language mainly used in schools, in the government, in the business world, and etc. This foreign language became an official language of the Philippines under the 1935 Constitution added alongside Spanish. Under the present constitution, approved in 1987, Filipino and English became joint official languages of the country.

Although we have many languages most of us use Taglish or a combination of English and Tagalog. This is often used by the younger generation of Filipinos when texting or talking to friends. Filipinos abroad who have forgotten how to speak Tagalog use this too.

Example: Please call a policeman(English)         Pakitawag ng pulis(Tagalog)       Paki-call ng police(Taglish)

Our languages just show how unique we Filipinos are. But no matter which part of the country we are from or what language we use we can always use Filipino or English to understand each other.