Hiya! Okay, imma filipino, born in Australia, and the weird thing is that i can understand tagalog all the time.....but i can't speak it...... well not fluently anyways. =_= Is this normal? Or am i just weird? ;p
I'm trying to learn how to speak tagalog fluently, but i cant get the accent right.... >.< Any advice on how to improve?
Much appreciated ^_^

I wanna polish my Filipino grammar and build my Filipino vocabulary (because it's a shame naman that I don't speak my native tongue fluently). i'm fil-chi but I'm more fluent in English >.< I was wondering, what books could help me do that? I was thinking: books by Efren Abueg, Edgardo M. Reyes (those are the authors in my HS third year textbooks)..but I can't find them anymore anywhere!

I tried reading Bob Ong's MACARTHUR but it wasn't my thing...so I guess that rules him out.

Ayaw ko rin ng local/native setting. Those settings really depress me! It's very hard to choose Filipino books...because majority of 'em are set in native provinces... I want to read a Filipino book that I could relate to.

And I also DO NOT like the romance books they sell in National Bookstore! (Yung Filipino version ng Mills and Boon!)

Of course, Eli Fili and Noli are out of the question! (Truth is, masyadong malalim yung Tagalog dun para sa akin)
btw, in case it helps, i'm currently 16.

We have a debate in school about my question.My classmates chose negative so even if I chose positive, It will still be negative, so i chose negative.Please answer and thank you.
It has to be a fact.
I am in the Philippines.><
I need many answers so we will win the debate.

I see that in sites about the Philippines, they use <i>Pilipino</i>, but my family and everyone from the Philippines speaks <i>Tagalog</i>. Is Pilipino reffering to all the languages and dialects of the Philippines?