Philippine English
Philippine English refers to the English language as it is spoken in the Philippines, where it is one of two official languages, the other being Filipino, which is based on Tagalog. Many Filipinos are at least bilingual, knowing their native, regional language (which can be Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, or one of a number of other languages), and Filipino and/or English as their second and third language. English is widely used in areas such as education, print and broadcast media, and business, and is used as a lingua franca throughout the archipelago.
Spelling
There is no universally accepted standard of Philippine English, though most Filipinos tend to follow after American spelling. Usage of British spelling, though, is widely understood.
Pronunciation
Educated Philippine English tends to follow American rather than British pronunciation, as is the case in most other countries in Southeast Asia. However, most Filipinos speak more slowly and enunciate their words more clearly than Americans.
Filipinos, in informal situations, sometimes infuse native words into their English . For example, "Let's go home na" (Let's go home already). More on this can be found at Englog.
Most of the peculiarities of Philippine English pronunciation have to do with the lack of certain sounds in the indigenous Philippine languages. For example, dipthongs are often pronounced as individual vowels. Among the sounds that some Filipinos have difficulty pronouncing are:
Consonants
| Standard English sound |
Phil. English sound |
Sample word |
Pronounced like |
| v |
b |
vote |
boat |
| f or ph |
p |
fast |
past |
| unvoiced th |
t |
thin |
tin |
| voiced th |
d |
this |
dis |
| ch |
ts |
check |
tsek |
Vowels and Dipthongs
| Standard English sound |
Phil. English sound |
Sample word |
Approximate pronunciation |
| short u |
short a |
cut |
cat |
| short i |
long e |
bit |
beet |
Vocabulary and Usage
Where Philippine English shares vocabulary with other English dialects, it shares more similaraities with American English than with British English.
Some areas where Philippine English (PE) usage differs from American English (AE) are:
- Numbers between 1,000 and 9,999 inclusive are enumerated as thousands, not as hundreds. For example, 1,500 is read as one thousand five hundred rather than fifteen hundred as is common in AE. Years, however, remain the same—e.g. nineteen ninety-five for 1995.
- For non-alcoholic cold beverages, soft drink is used instead of American variants soda, coke, and pop.
Some words in Philippine English have a different meaning from their counterparts in standard American or British English. In addition, there are some words and phrases which are peculiar to Philippine English and do not appear in other English dialects at all. Some examples are:
- Commander - (slang) for My wife.
- C.R. - toilet, bathroom. C.R. are initials for Comfort Room.
- every now and then - often
- for a while - used on the telephone to mean please hold
- get/go down the bus - Get off the bus.
- open/close the light. - Switch on/off the light.
- ref - refrigerator
- salvage - murdered for political reasons or by police/military elements.
- the other day - the day before yesterday
- traffic - traffic jam or congestion
- Ebiltoots (in rural areas) - Evil thoughts
History
In 1898, Spain ceded control of the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, and thereafter the Americans controlled the Philippines until it gained its independence in 1945. The Americans established a system of public education wherein English was used as the main language of instruction. After independence, the Philippine government continued public education in English, while at the same time establishing Filipino as its national language. A parallel system of private schools, many of which were established by the Catholic Church, follows with the dual-language system, although private schools tend to use English more than Filipino in their instruction.
At present, the abundant supply of speakers of English in the Philippines and low labor costs have enabled it to be competitive in the international call center and outsourcing industry.
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