I am 19 years old and a high school graduate.I really want to learn Tagalog or Ilocano because all of my friends speak that language because they are all in the Philippines (I have been back in California since April 2009,also I haven't continued college yet because of complications with my transcripts so I do not go to school and I barely go out). I lived in the Philippines since May or June 2006 til I came back on April 2009. I went to high school there for 2 years and took 2 semesters of college. I've read while searching on yahoo answers that it is easy to learn Tagalog if you lived there for more than a year or so but I never learned it at all. I don't even understand the majority of what they say on TFC or when my relatives talk in Tagalog,same with Ilocano. For a few days now, I've been trying to teach myself using an online course that comes with an online book and tapes that I can listen to. Right now I am still on the basics because I keep repeating the same thing because even the basics I don't seem to be able to remember. What other methods can I use?

Ano ang mga reaksyon ninyo? (What are your reactions?)

Do you really believe the Filipinos don't have what's called ORIGINALITY?

From a reality show in the Phil (PBB) a guest elder age 70+ said "Basta poryner guapo. Pag Pilipino panget."

Are Filipinos really that insecure of their own?

Posible ba na ang kahit isa sa mga sariling atin ay mahalin pati ng hindi natin mga kalahi sa iba't ibang panig ng mundo? Sometime in the future? (Is it possible that even non-Filipinos will start to enjoy things made exclusively from the Philippines?) Can we make something that will be popular internationally like Japan's Manga, Korea's Drama, America's Movies, France's cuisine..etc. Are we going to remain as an immitator?

Nakakabawas ng Filipino pride kapag nababasa ko ang label na yan dahil alam kong totoo nga. Ano naman reaksyon nyo?

Nakakalungkot. I'm a Fil-Am, and I tried my hardest to relearn Tagalog even without TFC and without a Filipino friend who spoke that language in my school. I watched Pinoy movies from the internet, and practiced it with my parents when they had time. It's a beautiful language only without so much English mashed up with it...really.

This is another quote. This time thought it's from a Korean living in the PI "If they want other countries to respect them, they should respect and love what they own"
Alam nyo sa Linn Oeymo mula po sa Pilipinas Got Talent? Maganda sha, inamin ng ng mga Jurado na wala shang talento pero ipinasa pa rin sha dahil sa ganda nya! Kaya tuloy ang kokorni umarte ng mga artista natin sa Pinas.

mayroong ko TFC, TFC subscriber ako ehh. Anyways, I don't always understand all the tagalog words, naintindihan ko maraming magsalita, pero, I cannot catch all of it. I always watch this one telenovela with anne curtis and Sam Milby, Natatawa ako si Sam ksi he is an english speaker and when he speaks in tagalog, it sort of reminds me of myself. It doesn't right, but I think I can speak it without having that american accent, napapraktis ako so hindi naman marinig akong accent. I wish TFC had english captions, cuz that would help tremendously. Nanood ako ng GMA na rin. HAY SUS Mariosep, mahirap naman magintindihan, ang balis naman nakausap. Its hard to catch everything. anyways, does it help if i watch the show and then keep asking for the translation of the words? I sound desparate, cuz i am, i need help talaga. Natatakot ko, when I return back to pinas, I cant speak tagalog yet. wawa naman ako. I want to speak tagalog talaga. and understand everything. I need to bond with my relatives
To let you guys know, im 23, and I dont live with my parents, so please dont tell me to practice with my parents.
no, my parents spoke to me in inglish and tagalog, I think most of the time it was english?? EWAN, basta, somehow I didn't pick it up. It's the same with my fil-am friends, they didn't pick up the language like me even though they were rasied in a traditional filipino home. But gusto ko magtuto.

I have been studying for about 6 months, but still can not understand the shows on TFC or GMA?

It is so frustrating sometimes!

Pertaining to Filipinos or Fil-Am here at YA who kept on asking translation of words or things in Filipino to English and vice versa. Here are some of them:

C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\Can someone please translate hindi kita kailangan from Tagalog to English - Yahoo! Answers.mht

C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\Translate from philippine to english - Yahoo! Answers.mht

C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents\What does toot mean in tagalog - Yahoo! Answers.mht

Have you ever found a Chinese trying to learn Mandarin or Fookien language? Even if so they are in the US or any where in the world for that matter. All Chinese knows their language esp. their own culture and tradition. In every Chinese movies I had seen they portrait that every Chinese from the time they were small and to the time of their adulthood must realize that they are Chinese esp. this Chinese character letter writing, it is in the stroke of the fingers that made every letters astonishing. If I am a Chinese I would be more proud being Chinese than Filipino. Don't you think? The Chinese are the first OFW for me that is, because they are the very first Asian who made it to California and work for the rail way station in the US in 18th century. Do you think meron ng Pinoy nun 18th century working for the US rail station? There is a program in TFC that is "Filipino ka, sabihin mo" portion that teaches Filipino overseas who doesn't speak Tagalog words, and they call it PILIPINO TIME. Like shy is torpe, cloud is ulap so on and so forth. Parang natuturo sa mga elementary pupils for Filipino class. Do we have to be like this? I mean let us assume one is born and raise in the US bakit hindi sya marunong kahit katiting na Pilipino language, isn't this odd. One of the parents is a pinoy so what is the problem there? If both parents are German I guess Pilipino language is out of the question or mayayabang lang talaga ang pinoy sa US at laging spokening in dollars ang gusto at pag nag Tagalog they want everybody to listen to their pronounciation. What a crap. Kaya nga tanong ko uli, meron ka na bang nakita or nakilalang Chinese who cannot speak Mandarin or Fookien? Ako wala kayo kaya meron?

I'm going to the philippines next year in Dec. I need to become fluent in tagalog by that time. Napaprakits ako na sa chat nalang. Ano pa ang gagawin ako? I want to write and speak tagalog as fluent as I can. Na bibili akong software, rosetta stone. atska bibli kong dictionario. parang bata ako na sulat en tagalog, and to speak it. but im trying to practice. my grammar is not correct, but i want to do it right. Nanood ako TFC para maintindihan ko, lahat. What else. give me ideas!
If anyone wants to help me, I need all the help I can get. Naturo ko.

flipside4real2006@yahoo.com

i know there are lots of filipino english speakers. help me to become fluent.
also, you can send me a YM at
flipside4real2006, so we can chat in tagalog or something, for practice