Do Filipinos look more like......?

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Gabriel

They look like Chinese. They speak some Spanish. Some do know how to speak fluent English. I should know, my mom's Filipino.

i go loony

hey hey... there are crazy folks around trying to answer what they don't know..

Well, it's true that Filipinos have Malayan looks although Filipinos look a lot better because the race was mixed with other races like American, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Indian... Well, that's because of our history of invasion and past international trade. Filipino features vary depending on someone else's ancestry.

Anyway, English is widely spoken in the Philippines. In fact, it is our second language and is the main language of the media, law, business, education, politics and almost all sorts. It is the medium of every school's instruction and not only in Manila. In the Northern area of the Philippines due to Americans' plan of invasion and development, English is widely used there and some places especially Baguio has become a favorite area of many EFL schools. People in Cebu also have good knowledge and practice of the said language. Anyway, generally, many speak English fluently and even more can write in English technically. You'd be surprised to read essays.

By the way, all over the Philippines, there are hundreds of call centers serving UK and America.

-NN-

They do not really look like hispanic people, the first filipinos came from the Malayan race which is the race of most Asians. Some filipinos are called "Mestizos" because at the time of the colonization, some spaniards married filipino women and they produced children that look like them. Other filipinos have chinese ancestry which is the obvious reason why some filipinos look like chinese but they do not necessarilly speak chinese.

On your other question:
most filipinos know how to speak english even though they do not speak fluently. The Philippines is adopting english as a second national language, basic english is taught in public schools around the Metro Manila Area

Well

All of the above, but mostly they are of Malay stock. They also speak better English than their other Asian neighbors.

IRconX

Trust me, a lot Filipinos can be mistaken for other nationality.

In california, Filipinos are generally know to be MEXICANS with car insurance.

Dave Star

A little bit of everything. It is where the East meets the West.

For a record, Philippines is the 3rd largest English Speaking Country after US and UK. They don't have American accent nor British accent, their accent is totally different. Quite funny though just like that of Australians.

Travis R

malay,
they speak english,
and yes, they are hispanic,
hispanic is NOT a race, but an ethnicity. It is self identified. It is NOT listed on the census as a race, but an ethnicity. If you follow hispanic customs and traditions, then you are hispanic.
Filipinos have many hispanic customs in their culture.
There are white hispanics in south america, (i.e. the white adopted children of supreme court chief justice John Roberts.)
And there are black hispanics in cuba,
If blacks can be hispanic, then malays can too.
Selma Hayek is hispanic, even though she is an arab.

-Baboushckha-

Wikipedia is not that very much that accurate is it?...everyone can go wrong...
Hispanic?..i dont think so...on the dialect yes Filipinos sound like Hispanic but looks? You can just see the resemblance with malays and indonesians...

Yes most of the Filipinos can speak English fluently because America had occupied Philippines in a period of time and their remarkable influence was the education. And it is in their National Curriculum considering English a major subject in Primary and Secondary..but yah..it depends wat provinces they come from. Others could not speak fluently but Others do...like in Cordillera Region where the people living in there especially the elders can speak english very well.

Lilat180

My husband is Filipino, he came here to the states to marry me (I am a white lady) When we are in the store he will have Hispanic people come up to him and start speaking Spanish to him, he just looks at them puzzled, saying I don't speak Spanish. He is very fluent in English! He speaks it better than me who grew up in America lol.

CDOguide

Hispanic? I don't think so. Unlike those Latin American countries which lost its original culture and language, the Malay culture of the Philippines was able to survive 300 years of Spanish colonization.

Filipinos are of the Malay race. Malaysians and Indonesians were the first migrants to the Philippine islands. The original inhabitants were Aetas or Negritoes (short dark skinned people).

Centuries of Chinese migration and other races (American, Spanish and Japanese) has produced half breed Filipinos which are commonly known as "Mestizo".

Filipinos are knowledgable in English than any other Asian country. In fact English is used in schools, media, commercial and government transactions. Though not all Filipinos are fluent in English. Most are still comfortable speaking in the local dialect aside from the national language (Tagalog).

moose

hmmm.

Filipinos just look like Filipinos.

Some look more Asian and some look more Hispanic.

oh yeah, i think English is one of their national languages.
they teach it at schools.

Bellygod

Filipinos look exactly like indonesians, which isn't too strange because they are both part of giant east-west (Indonesia) and north-south (Philippines) archipelagos which nearly touch each other.

The Spanish genetic influence is slight, not nearly what you state. Actually both indo/filo are equatorial types which are more in common genetically with Madagascar than china.

Definitely, both Filipinos and indos look like Malaysians and NOT Chinese. They have darker skin and much less of the skin fold in the eyes that Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans have. of course there are Chinese people in all these countries.

one can instantly tell the difference between indo-Malay-Filipino and Chinese; the lack of a strong eye fold, the darker skin, and the slightly better-knit, more muscular body structure. They are equator people, while Chinese are northern latitude. But remember there's a lot of mixing, including western so you get a lot of types in Asia, and this is a simplification of the real situation 'in the field'.

lois lane

Due to different colonizers and ancient traders who visited Philippines during old times, a lot of Filipinos look like Hispanic, chines-lookin, you name it. Filipinos are also known for being fluent in English, As a matter of fact, English is one of the subjects that are being thought in the schools nationwide.

capenafuerte

It all depends on the location where the foreigners settled. According to Wikipedia, modern day Filipinos are mostly of Austronesian ancestry, although there are a number of Filipinos with Spanish, Chinese, American, and Arab ancestry.

More than 170 languages are spoken in the country, almost all of them belonging to the Western Malayo-Polynesian language group of the Austronesian language family. According to the 1987 Constitution, Filipino, heavily based on Tagalog, and English are both the official languages. The twelve major regional languages are the auxiliary official languages of their respective regions, each with over one million speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Bikol, Kapampangan, Pangasinan. Kinaray-a, Maranao, Maguindanao and Tausug. English is used by some Filipinos as their first language, particularly those belonging to the upper echelons of society.

Matt

YES, Filipinos speak fluent English - it's the language they use in School. Elite families also use English as their mother language. 65% of the population speak fluent English as their second language.

Filipinos' looks can't actually be generalized. It is more on the locality: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Manila

LUZON: NORTHERN, CENTRAL, SOUTHERN

People living in NORTHERN LUZON and in the highlands of Luzon tend to be CHINESE-LOOKING. Prehistoric data attest to the fact that the Chinese and the Japanese frequently intermarried with the locals of North Luzon. Some people from Vigan City in Northern Luzon are HISPANIC-LOOKING, too.

People living in CENTRAL LUZON tend to look as a hybridized mix of CHINESE FACIAL FEATURES AS WELL AS TAIWANESE ABORIGINAL FACIAL FEATURES, though the CHINESE FACIAL FEATURES predominate. Also in Central Luzon are the cities of Olongapo and Angeles, where the former US Naval bases are situated. As such, there are also numerous HISPANIC and AMERICAN-LOOKING people, primarily CAUCASIANS, to a lesser extent, BLACK-LOOKING.

People living in SOUTHERN LUZON tend to be POLYNESIAN AND HAWAIIAN-LOOKING, as genetic researchers have confirmed the presence of Polynesian genes among them.

VISAYAS: WESTERN-CENTRAL AND EASTERN

People from the WESTERN and the CENTRAL VISAYAS (Panay, Negros, and Cebu islands) tend to look like a hybridized CHINESE and TAIWANESE ABORIGINES, though the TAIWANESE ABORIGINE look predominates. In southern Panay and Boracay island, however, people tend to be HISPANIC LOOKING, due to Spanish colonization and subsequent Europeans and Americans using the island as porstitution haven. In Cebu City, the CHINESE LOOK predominates, as the city's residents are of mixed Chinese descent.

People from EASTERN VISAYAS look quite like POLYNESIANS as their genes attest.

MINDANAO

People from Mindanao are overwhelmingly MALAYSIAN-LOOKING.

MANILA
Manila seems like Mexico City - there are lots of HISPANIC-LOOKING and CHINESE-LOOKING people, as the city is the gateway to international flights. MALAYSIAN-LOOKING people are found in Manila's suburbs. There are also many AMERICANS, BRITISH, AUSTRALIANS, BELGIANS, DUTCH, GERMANS, JAPANESE, SOUTH KOREANS, INDIANS, PAKISTANIS, and INDONESIANS in the Philippines, particularly in Manila.

ANOTHER POINT:
Rich and elite Filipinos look like AMERICANS, HISPANICS or CHINESE
MIddle class Filipinos look like either MALAYSIANS or CHINESE, thoguh some have also HISPANIC or AMERICAN facial features.
Poor Filipinos are overwhelmingly MALAYSIAN or POLYNESIAN in facial features.

GENETIC POINT OF VIEW:
4% of all Filipinos are of part-CAUCASIAN (mostly SPANISH, AMERICAN, or BRITISH) descent.
10% of all Filipinos are wholly or partly of CHINESE descent.
5% of all Filipinos are wholly or partly of INDIAN or PAKISTANi descent.
1% of all Filipinos are either of ARAB, KOREAN, JAPANESE, or JEWISH descent
1% of all Filipinos are pure EUROPEANS
1% of all Filipinos are pure AMERICANS, regardless of race
8% of all Filipinos are of MALAY descent
An overwhelming 70% are of TAIWANESE ABORIGINAL descent.

kisses

some filipinos look hispanic some chinese some malay,,they were breed by different nationalities...and most of them do understand and speak english even not fluent...english is the second language spoken by filipinos

Josephine D

I say...it's more mixed. Depends mostly on the geographical areas you're at and where the other races settled in that part of the country.

livinhapi

FILIPINOS ARE UNOFFICIALLY CALLED THE GOLDEN RACE DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE A MIXTURE OF A LOT OF RACES DUE TO DIFFERENT COLONIZERS THAT CAME TO THE ISLAND AND ALSO TO THE FACT THAT ALL OVER THE WORLD YOU WILL SEE THAT THEIR ARE FILIPINOS EITHER WORKING OR MIGRATING TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. I FIND THEM VERY FRIENDLY AND VERY HAPPY AND POSITIVE OUTLOOK, AND TALENTED AND INTELLIGENT AND HARDWORKING KIND OF PEOPLE NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF ECONOMIC SITUATION THEY ARE IN...

ryan g

I am a pure filipino.............

HISPANIC- some are just claiming that they do look like but the truth is they are not, they can't even speak spanish as well but we have filipino words that derive from spanish words and thats absolutely true.
ASIAN-CHINESE- some do really look like chinese because theres a lot of chinese people who married filipino which they produce a chinese looking persons but only few of them speaks mandarin fluently.
MALAY- most of us do really look like malay just like our neighboring countries thats why we belong in only one region, the SOUTH EAST ASIA.
MIXED- few are mixed because of tourists in different parts of the world who had sex with filipinas and accidentally got pregnant thats why they produce white, black etc,etc.
ENGLISH SPEAKING- yes theres a lot but not that much and the big difference is the accent. even i can speak english but not that fluent but still you can really understand what i want to express just like most of filipinos so it will not be hard for you to communicate in english there. filipinos excel most in
writing because we can think more that speaking spontaneously but just always remember that grammar doesn't matter as long as you're understood communication was done.
just check how many filipinos participating in this community.

asianguy00

no, they look asian

von1189

I am a Filipino. In general, We look more like our brothers Malays. For we came from the same origin. But because of many migrations from different countries looks of Filipinos evolved. Since English is included in our school curriculum most Filipinos can understand and speak English, though some may not be fluent but many can comprehend and speak fluent english.

lil123filipina

Depends on what part of the Philippines you live in..

Some pilipinos can't speak english, but many can

nutwpinut

A mixture of all three because of the reasons you already gave. It depends on the province the Filipino comes from. Filipinos who live or travel away from the Philippines (live, abroad, work abroad, travel, on business) generally speak very good English. The younger crowd in the Philippines speak some English, some are fluent.

dwardâ„¢

most look mixed, but i'd say mostly asian. some look very asian, and others less. and yes, most do speak fluent english. however, they have their own language which they speak in their villages

beach girl

most of the time Hispanic and some times Chinese depends on where they come from

zztopless

the inhabitants of the islands of the philippines are all mixed of different races.we r called the malay/polynesian races.we r not part of the mainland asian.in america,filipino are sometimes called the asian/pacific islander because we are part of the pacific ocean.some filipinos are look likes a polynesian,malay,macronesian.mainland asian and western looks.our languages is bases on the austronesian languages.the only country in asia or the world with so many bloodlines even before the spanish or the american influences.most people think im a maori but im not.where do you think those pacific islander came from thousands years ago came from.they are from many islands of the philippines.look at the waray from the island of samar.they are related from the tahitian and the maoris came from the northern part of luzon.as for english.if you come to the philippines you will never worry about translation.

sugar b

hello..my answer would be..all of the above, and more!! we do look like a mixture of different races..like me! my mother is half american, 1/4, 1/4 filipino..spanish..and my father is half chinese..and half filipino!!that's what we call..chopseuy!hahah
and for your second question..do we speak fluent english? i guess most of us still do!!

That's A Lot of Nonsense

well, i don't know about a lot of filipinos, but i look hispanic. people at work think i'm from south america (i don't bother correcting them since my last name is spanish anyway). when i don't shave for days, people say i look like i'm from saudi arabia. when i don't shave my back, they say i look like a german shepherd. hehehe...

and oh yeah, ay ispik englasaysing kuwait wil, tinkyuberimats!

maddog

They look like the cabin boys on cruise ships. They only speak fluent English if they've taken the time to learn to do that!

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