The Philippines is a rich and vibrant country home to 180 languages. Though the 1987 Constitution states that the official language is Filipino, with English and Tagalog being designated as official languages. But that has done little to discourage the use of other languages in the country. Interestingly Spanish is to be promoted but on an optional basis. That said it’s important to understand the long-standing relationship between Filipino, Tagalog, and English in the country.
The relationship between Filipino and Tagalog
Tagalog is spoken as the first language by a quarter of the people in the Philippines and as a second language by a majority. However, the relationship between Tagalog and Filipino is that the latter is a standardized form of Tagalog, and so it is the national language up there with English. Interestingly, Tagalog has been derived from any other local languages like Visayan, Bikol languages, Pangasinan, and Kapampangan. It is distantly related to many other Austronesian languages like Malay, Taiwanese, Hawaiian, and Malagasy to name a few.
English, Tagalog, and Taglish
Interestingly the vast majority of the population in the Philippines speak fluent English despite having been a Spanish colony for over 333 years. However, over the past couple of years, a mixture of English and Tagalog has begun to make its rounds in regular circles across the country. The merging of these two languages is nothing new because Tagalog does borrow a few English words here and there. That said those who speak and write Taglish mix the words mid-sentence, also referred to as code switching it is widely seen in other languages spoken in the country too.
Code Mixing is a term which refers to using foreign words from languages like English which are Filipinized by using Filipino rules like verb conjugations. So, speakers will use either English or Filipino words whichever they can think of first.
The people most likely to use code-switching are the educated class born around and after World War II. The practice is also common in the print media, radio and television. So, local advertisements from Wells Fargo, Western Union, Albertsons, Walmart and MacDonald’s amongst others will use Taglish.
Translating between Tenglish and English
One of the challenges of translating from Tenglish or Taglish as its called to regular English (UK or US), is the fact that the context of English words are unknown to a computer or non-native speaker. So, using machine translation almost never works. The only way would be for a native translator who speaks and writes all three languages fluently to read, understand the context and translate.
Translating from Tagalog to English
Tagalog is a hard language to learn, and machine translators get it wrong all the time. So, businesses usually employ a native Tagalog speaker and writer who is at least fluent in English as a second language. The first pass of the translation is done by this person with the second pass being done by a native English speaker to ensure that the translated text is professional and easy to understand for native speakers.