Are Filipinos really proficient in the English language?

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kmsca5

It all depends on what type of English your talking about either British or American. They are both different in terms of proper English wording. The Filipino-American ones are the better English speakers because they live in the atmosphere and English classes are taught from K-12th grades and up to college even beyond that. Filipino-Americans that are born and/or raised in the U.S. have the best experience in learning English. For some it's even their first language. Now for some of the others on here that may seem like they have good English writing can be deceiving because for one it probably took them an hour just to type their answer in, going back in forth from an online dictionary and back to yahoo answers. The way to tell is very simple and all you have to do is realize then ask yourself would people actually speak like that in person, sorry but big fat NO! How you write most of the time is also the way you speak. Even authors and journalist do not speak like that. Another way is a lot of them just plagiarize.

crispy pata

some are really very good; most are okay like me. at least we are understood and we know how to laugh at our own mistakes. we are ingenious even in making up words.

kamagong

Compared with most Southeast Asian countries, the Filipinos generally have an edge in English proficiency, particularly in spoken English. We can enunciate the words better thus we are better understood. In written English, however, where grammar and form become more evident, our edge in proficiency is somewhat diminished.

Very good snippet, Annabelle. Thanks for sharing.

Here's my contribution.
At a recent party here in SoCal where most of the guests were Fil-Ams, this Filipina was talking to an obviously pregnant woman (another Filipina). In a voice loud enough to be heard by those nearby, she blurted "Oh my dear, you've got a baby there. How nice. When is your monthly due?" Muntik ko na talagang ibuga yun beer ko!! I thought I was going to make a fountain right there. I had to leave the room as I couldn't contain my laughter anymore.

oneiloilokano

Most of the ones with a college education here speak english well.
All my wifes immediate relative are college educated and they all speak english well.

I'm with Kent,
They speak engish allot better than I do Illongo or Tagalog. :)

kentenooo

I think most filipinos know english a h.ll of a lot better than I know tagalog lol

Big P

Since I travelled to different parts of the world, a majority of filipino's can speak english.
To my surprise, a couple of my wife's friends speak english just as good as me or maybe even better and never been to any country where the official language is english. Very sharp well spoken filipinas.

Barrio Lass

some are, some are not. Educated and schooled ones are proficient but not all. But, Filipinos are better in speaking English than other English speaking countries because we are more pronounced and grammar conscious...

warrior is a child

haha good one.

we're not really proficient but as compared to other countries in Asia we know how to speak in English..

Jai Hoâ„¢

most of the Filipinos who attained high level in education i could say that are really proficient in English specially when compared to other Asian countries...but those who have lack of education may not speak well but somehow understand...

house_music_addict

hey, that\'s a funny one. the call center industry here have been growing exponentially the past few years. to compensate for that growth, bpo companies have lowered their requirements and have accepted just about anyone who at least can converse in the language. that sadly have lowered the quality of service centers here can provide. but still, most of americans i have talked to yes, im a call center agent) do prefer to talk to filipinos than indians or other asian counterparts.

Juan C

not even 50% of the total population... actually, Filipinos understand and speak BASIC English, not too fluently, but at least, we have the knowledge on how to use it...

Lapu-lapu arf

We speak well in English but somehow we have problems in expressing ourselves due to the fact that Filipino is what we are good at. We can explain clearly in english but not as well in Filipino

Beetlle

no, not all are proficient, but most can get their point across.

-jáƒ¦â¿Ñ”llÑ”-

not all..

:)

neenz

it really depends on a person..... actually i am a filipino. and here the subject, english, is part of the curriculum and we are taught to be english proficient, but it really depends on the person.

but compared to other asians, we can actually speak english.... (in my opinion only)
other asians come here to study the language. sadly the english proficiency rate is going down here.... so that would explain your story... ^_^

I have found proficiency goes along with education.

francistubbali

Most of us Filipinos are more proficient in English than most of our Asian neighbors that is why people have that impression on us. In the olden days where the medium of instruction in school was English, more people speak and write in English then, than Tagalog or any other dialect.

(y)

Its just a normal common error in what to call that thing. No big deal. Instead of making a big thing of it, that person should only tell her to call that thing a "computer". Thats more understandable to the caller.

little miss moonlight

a lot of filipinos are proficient in english. in fact, we are just one of the few countries with more than one official languages where in almost everyone can speak in all of them. (people usually speak only one of their countries' official languages.) we use english in schools, newspapers, signs... but of course, we are not 100% perfect, just like everyone else.

unfortunately, english education isn't impressive. only the middle and upper class can afford to have good english education. in fact, they are more fluent in english than those of from the lower classes (i'm not trying to marginalize the poor in a bad way though.) and a lot of times, we are not confident in our english fluency because we feel that there's something wrong with it.

what i really don't like however is when people shamelessly poke fun at others because their english (including their pronunciation) isn't perfect despite being very understandable. we are just human beings and we make mistakes sometimes, and some just make an effort to speak so that they could be more fluent someday. and we have our own accents, so why should we mimic an american accent just to make it sound good? it's just isn't right. (the robot story though is funny.)

Erika

Yeah, they are ok. My mother in law is Filipino, but one time she called my baby girl a hoochi mama, and my husband got so mad. She was like I thought that was a good comment. She knows how to talk quite well, but she doesn't get some of the expressions we use. Which would be like anyone else in a different country. Ha ha! hoped nobody calls her that. She probably was like ohh really thanks!

Do you guys want to know a secret?
There are people born and raised in English speaking countries that are not proficient in using the English language.
So why be so hard on yourselves?
Show a bit of pride in that you can speak/understand 1 or 2 dialects along with English.
There are many in this forum who I would have trouble with when comparing English. I wouldn't stand a chance in a stand up arguement with the likes of Ar*f, Kah*an, Sw*et, Bo*ols etc. etc.
So to expect the entire populace of a non-English country to be 100%proficient in English is a bit much, don't you think?

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