A White Foreigner Trying to Speak Tagalog is an Insult to (Educated) Filipinos?
I have encountered two Filipino people who have told me that to them it is an unsult to hear a White Foreigner trying to speak Tagalog to them. To me this sounds ridiculous because Filipino people speak so many languages abroad- they quickly learn Spanish and Arabic and German and French and speak those well and no one thinks that way about them.
Frankly, I have never heard anything more preposterous in my life.
Why are they saying that and is it an insult to you, too?
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Tagged with: foreigner • insult • languages
Filed under: Philippines Tagalog - Written and Spoken
perhaps a bad experience led to their opinion.
i once had an encounter with a white foreigner who came up to me and said, ‘kantotan tayo’ (let’s f*^k) while smiling suggestively. i was insulted of course. and i know some guys who only want to learn bad Tagalog words and they like to practice on unsuspecting Filipinas.
personally, i appreciate the effort that goes into learning our language from foreigners and i don’t see it as an insult. the offense i think is when they use whatever they’ve learned to intentionally insult Filipinos.
If they think its an insult, then they are not truly educated….or they may be educated but not learned.
Nop, I would be more than happy if I hear a foreigner trying to speak my langauge because it shows that my language is being appreciated even by the foreigner.
That does not make any sense. There are many native filipino’s who never left the country want to practice speaking english with a foreigner.
A lot of Filipinos (educated or not) snicker at foreigners trying to speak Tagalog because of the accent. But the two people you spoke with seemed to be ultra sensitive. It is very much appreciated here if a foreigner tries to speak our language. I mean, just notice how when a foreign artist for instance guests on a TV show and says "mabuhay, mahal ko kayo", smiles and cheers all around.
I’m a Filipina, I don’t think so, what they told you is ridiculous?!?!
It’s really cute (and sexy) hearing my American husband speaking my native language. I found it amusing and really flaterring that he is speaking and have the determination to learn my native language.
I think it’s narrow-minded to think that only Filipinos in particular can be a polyglot. I think level of learning a language doesn’t depend on where a person came from…although Filipinos in general can twist and turn their tongues to easily learn other nations language (with the exact accent:)
who were they anyway?
i tell you, filipinos would even feel you’re an instant family member once you tried to speak their language.
believe me, a lot of them would even actually think you’re cute.
maybe your language is appreciated by foreigners
the opinion of these 2 filipinos you mentioned was actually insulting to the filipino hospitality.
Its an insult if you try to speak it in that way. You can speak english if you like. They just don’t want you to get stressed learning to speak it.
You are right, it is ridiculous. If they were truly educated, they would have taught you the correct way to pronounce the word and made you repeat it over and over until you get it right. For most Filipinos though, they take pride if a foreigner goes out of his/her way to learn the language.
That it depends what they’re talking with the white men.. Maybe the Filipino you encountered was talking to the white men with english then suddenly the white men speak tagalog.. they was really shame for themself, not insulted.
It’s not an insult.
those filipino thugs who said it are just narrow-minded.
It doesn’t sound a bit ridiculous to me. Unless of course they’re trying to speak Filipino in a ridiculous manner as to insult us.
But I find it amusing that other nationalities are trying to speak our language.
Its no more insulting to them than having hoards of their own people saying "Hey Joe" "Give me money" to me. You get what you give. If your all so smart why arent you rich?
They are probably just bitter about life.
I have never heard anybody say that, especially Filipinos.
For it just does not make sense, especially if you are saying it came from educated Filipinos.
Maybe you misunderstood or something was lost in the translation. You know Philippine-born Filipinos think in their native tongue, convert that into English in a split-second & that’s the translation that comes out of their mouths. So maybe "an insult" wasn’t what they meant. Maybe what they meant to say it that it was "an insult for Filipinos who were born abroad" who cannot even speak a sentence in Tagalog.
dont host countries do this to tourists/ new immigrants? not knowing the language is what separates the locals from tourists. Im Filipino and I have never heard of this. Maybe you met two arrogant people.
I come here lots and I am sick and tired of the people calling me JOE as it is a real insult for a European to be called JOE as we are not Americans. It gets even worse when they call you joe and throw things at you telling you to leave their country. Yet before the insults it was Hey Joe give me money and hey Joe need a drink, you buy for me OK all about money and if you say anything to them they run around with an AUDIENCE yelling at you and say you insulted them. All the braindead ones keep saying JOE. I will now start calling them FLIP or BUMBAI as I hear it gets them pissed off as it is an insult. Now you jerks know how it feels to be insulted. When you people come to our country we usually say HELLO not hey FLIP like you yell HEY JOE and we never ask for money either. Have a good day FLIPS.
PS: Just to add to this Ionce had the greta opportunity to lend money to several of these people here with no charge and I mean MONEY in the thousands as they needed it for medical and also house repairs. I should have just burned it or given it away as they never pay back EVER and they always have money for Tuba and San Miguel or Red Horse. So where is the reality here? I see it as we are ATM machines and all called the bank of JOE and a target to be insulted and verbally abused as well as have a flock following us asking for money. I seen the Philippines as a great place and I still love it here, but the idiots that harass foreigners have to stop as it drives investors and good people away and that in turn means no improvement here as the money goes to other countries who appreciate tourists and or ex pats too. Please drop the JOE name OK the war was a long time ago and we are not all GI Joes OK.
It is never an insult to us Filipinos to see foreigners learning our languages. In fact, I admire foreigners who give effort in learning our language before visiting it.
But, you see, most educated Filipinos were taught English in school so if you’re language is English, there is seldom a need to speak English. Others will be mildly offended if someone who knows how to speak English speaks to them in Tagalog, since it is as if you insinuate that they would not understand English. They’ll speak with you in English; not in Tagalog.
But I don’t see how we would get insulted by someone who wants to learn about an aspect of our culture.
that is no not true! i’m a filipino and for me hearing foreign people try to use our language (in a not insulting way) is actually very cute, i’m so happy they would try to take time to learn our language. those two filipinos who told you that, must be really stupid or something.