The Philippines is the only major Asian country that is largely bi-lingual. The predominant native language is Tagalog with English as the second language. Everyone we encountered in our travel spoke some degree of English. I was surprised how easy it was to communicate with everyone.
I expected to find a high degree of English spoken in large cites like Manila, but inversely I expected communication problems in the outlying areas. This was the case with my travel in Mexico, but it certainly did not apply in the Philippines. English-based conversations were possible with almost anyone, anytime, anywhere.
In Mexico people would tend to ignore you if they didn't want to mess with the language barrier. In the Philippines people seemed to ignore the problem and just answer you with a good firm "yes", or "no". Even if they did not understand the question. More detailed probing questions were often necessary to confirm understanding. Something to keep in mind is that the people speak English, but many have a rather small working vocabulary. To ensure good communication between you and the Filipino people, keep the dialogue simple and avoid flowery language.
The biggest communication problems we had were with waitresses. Everyone else in the country speaks English, but waitresses seem to be faking it. I bet even the waitresses speak perfect English when they are not working, but put an order pad in their hand and suddenly they lose all communication skills. For example, I ordered tea and got coffee. I asked for one egg and cheese sandwich while pointing to the said item on the menu and got two sandwiches: an egg sandwich and a cheese sandwich.
Book Your Trip To The Philippines Right Now!Manila Bacolod Baguio Cebu Davao Palawan Banaue More Airline Reservations Tours Destination Guide |
Back to General Comments