Filipino or commonly known as Tagalog– the irony of it all is that Filipinos have a hard time being literate at it. This would include speaking, understanding it, writing it, and reading it. For many, the only time they use Filipino is in a state of emotion (commonly in a state of rage) or if they’re in a place that demands the language. But other than that, they revert to English.

But there is another thing to consider about the Filipinos. They live on an archipelago. And it’s common that they don’t have a single language. In fact, the Philippines has 170 languages with some even being umbrella terms such as Bisaya. The word “Bisaya” is a common reference to any language that comes from the Visayas region. Languages there can include Bikolano, Cebuano, Waray, and other languages from the different areas. So, there’s really no one language that everyone can understand. But because of our period of being a colony of Western powers, we have English.

In fact, one of the funny revelations is that even some people from the Visayas prefer English. If you can’t speak their mother tongue, they will insist you speak in English. But it begs the question: when will the Philippines ever settle on a single language?

There’s a possibility we never will.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to learn the language.