Learn Tagalog Online: The 3 Most Important Things You Need
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Introduction
Imagine how it would be if you could make people laugh in Tagalog... Well, it really is every bit as rewarding and fun as it sounds.
In this article I'll explain how you can learn Tagalog, based on my own experience learning the language as a foreigner. It took me more than two years while living in the Philippines with my wife, Fiona, and her family. Looking back, it took me so long, because I didn't have the right materials.
I wrote this article, because I'm convinced you can learn to speak Tagalog in about a year, even without living in the Philippines.
It's quite simple. All you need is:
1. A good habit of learning a little every day for 4 to 6 months
2. Good learning materials
3. Practice with native speakers (in person or online) after 4 to 6 months
Let's have a look at each of these points.
In this article I'll explain how you can learn Tagalog, based on my own experience learning the language as a foreigner. It took me more than two years while living in the Philippines with my wife, Fiona, and her family. Looking back, it took me so long, because I didn't have the right materials.
I wrote this article, because I'm convinced you can learn to speak Tagalog in about a year, even without living in the Philippines.
It's quite simple. All you need is:
1. A good habit of learning a little every day for 4 to 6 months
2. Good learning materials
3. Practice with native speakers (in person or online) after 4 to 6 months
Let's have a look at each of these points.
1. A good habit of learning a little every day
Learning a new language is easy and fun. Anyone can do it. The most crucial part is creating the habit to do a little every day, say 20 to 30 minutes after dinner.
A little every day works best, because...
- it's much easier to stick to a daily habit, than an irregular one
- it's easier to concentrate for 20 or 30 minutes than for an hour or two
- it's more effective to review something every day than once or twice a week
Classes aren't optimal to learn the basics, because...
- they're usually given only once or twice a week - not every day
- they usually last an hour or more - that's too long
- the teacher determines the pace - you're too passive as a learner
- it's harder to stay alert in class when everything is new
That's why it's better to learn at your own pace every day and stop after half an hour. It's supposed to be fun, not a chore!
Of course, you need to spend your time effectively, which leads us to...
A little every day works best, because...
- it's much easier to stick to a daily habit, than an irregular one
- it's easier to concentrate for 20 or 30 minutes than for an hour or two
- it's more effective to review something every day than once or twice a week
Classes aren't optimal to learn the basics, because...
- they're usually given only once or twice a week - not every day
- they usually last an hour or more - that's too long
- the teacher determines the pace - you're too passive as a learner
- it's harder to stay alert in class when everything is new
That's why it's better to learn at your own pace every day and stop after half an hour. It's supposed to be fun, not a chore!
Of course, you need to spend your time effectively, which leads us to...
2. Good learning materials
Using good learning materials is important. Not only to learn how to speak correctly and reach a good level, but also to save time.
What do I mean by good materials in the case of Tagalog?
Well, you probably already noticed: Tagalog is very different from English! Unlike Spanish or French, it's much harder to guess how Tagalog works simply by looking at a few sentences and their English translations.
That's why I think a good Tagalog course should have the following:
1. Dialogues: natural conversations that also reflect culture
This is very important. It's only through natural and realistic conversations that you will get the important expressions, vocabulary, cultural differences etc. that you need to learn.
If you start from English sentences and translate them into Tagalog in a "how do you say" fashion, you'll miss a lot of things that people say, or you'll end up learning things nobody actually says in the Philippines, like "Kinagagalak kitang makilala" (Nice to meet you).
2. Pronunciation: audio and textual guide
This is also very important. You need audio to learn the pronunciation of individual sounds and words, as well as natural intonation. In dialogues, the intonation says just as much as the words themselves! Audio helps you remember what you learn, including intonation.
Also, a textual pronunciation guide is handy for Tagalog, because some words have final glottal stops (before a pause) or long vowels here and there. It's better to see those clearly in the text.
3. Translations: natural and word-for-word
This is obvious, but important. Some courses don't include translations! Pictures are only good enough to describe single objects, but not to describe situations or anything involving time, uncertainty, thoughts etc.
You need to know what every word in a Tagalog sentence stands for, even if it has no exact equivalent in English! That's why you need word-for-word translations or hints.
Aside from that, you also need a natural translation of the whole sentence, to tell you how you would put that same sentence in English. Having the translations saves you time, as you don't have to look up words anymore.
4. Grammar: no guessing
Tagalog grammar is very different from English grammar. There is no way around it: you need some brief explanations to make sense of it. Without any kind of grammar, you're never really sure you got it. One-sentence-explanations are usually enough.
5. Structure: building up little by little and with plenty of repetition
A course should be well-structured, so that it teaches new concepts in order of importance, without overwhelming the learner. Dialogues should be written in such a way that they don't introduce too much new information. In fact, there should be enough repetition. Learning is all about repetition.
Learning Tagalog
When I started learning Tagalog in the Philippines, there was no resource that provided this. That's what made Fiona and me decide to develop a course to learn Tagalog online with all those features. Fiona also wrote an accompanying free Tagalog grammar reference, which answered a lot of my own questions as a foreign learner.
The course essentially consists of short stories with dialogues that teach you very common sentences in everyday situations. Based on those, we also explain the grammar and some cultural aspects.
The dialogues introduce new vocabulary, sentence patterns and grammar little by little. There are also drills so you can practice some variations and learn more vocabulary. We use underlines for long vowels and apostrophes to mark final glottal stops.
The course offers free lessons, so you can try it out without having to register.
What do I mean by good materials in the case of Tagalog?
Well, you probably already noticed: Tagalog is very different from English! Unlike Spanish or French, it's much harder to guess how Tagalog works simply by looking at a few sentences and their English translations.
That's why I think a good Tagalog course should have the following:
1. Dialogues: natural conversations that also reflect culture
This is very important. It's only through natural and realistic conversations that you will get the important expressions, vocabulary, cultural differences etc. that you need to learn.
If you start from English sentences and translate them into Tagalog in a "how do you say" fashion, you'll miss a lot of things that people say, or you'll end up learning things nobody actually says in the Philippines, like "Kinagagalak kitang makilala" (Nice to meet you).
2. Pronunciation: audio and textual guide
This is also very important. You need audio to learn the pronunciation of individual sounds and words, as well as natural intonation. In dialogues, the intonation says just as much as the words themselves! Audio helps you remember what you learn, including intonation.
Also, a textual pronunciation guide is handy for Tagalog, because some words have final glottal stops (before a pause) or long vowels here and there. It's better to see those clearly in the text.
3. Translations: natural and word-for-word
This is obvious, but important. Some courses don't include translations! Pictures are only good enough to describe single objects, but not to describe situations or anything involving time, uncertainty, thoughts etc.
You need to know what every word in a Tagalog sentence stands for, even if it has no exact equivalent in English! That's why you need word-for-word translations or hints.
Aside from that, you also need a natural translation of the whole sentence, to tell you how you would put that same sentence in English. Having the translations saves you time, as you don't have to look up words anymore.
4. Grammar: no guessing
Tagalog grammar is very different from English grammar. There is no way around it: you need some brief explanations to make sense of it. Without any kind of grammar, you're never really sure you got it. One-sentence-explanations are usually enough.
5. Structure: building up little by little and with plenty of repetition
A course should be well-structured, so that it teaches new concepts in order of importance, without overwhelming the learner. Dialogues should be written in such a way that they don't introduce too much new information. In fact, there should be enough repetition. Learning is all about repetition.
Learning Tagalog
When I started learning Tagalog in the Philippines, there was no resource that provided this. That's what made Fiona and me decide to develop a course to learn Tagalog online with all those features. Fiona also wrote an accompanying free Tagalog grammar reference, which answered a lot of my own questions as a foreign learner.
The course essentially consists of short stories with dialogues that teach you very common sentences in everyday situations. Based on those, we also explain the grammar and some cultural aspects.
The dialogues introduce new vocabulary, sentence patterns and grammar little by little. There are also drills so you can practice some variations and learn more vocabulary. We use underlines for long vowels and apostrophes to mark final glottal stops.
The course offers free lessons, so you can try it out without having to register.
3. Practice with native speakers
Practicing with native speakers is very important to become fluent. Self-study with a course can only get you a passive knowledge of the language. It's like "setting the stage" for the real thing: an actual conversation.
From my experience, it takes a while before you actually start speaking. I don't mean just greeting people, I mean short conversations with full sentences.
In the beginning, even if you know how to say something, you'll probably hesitate to say it, unless you feel confident about understanding the answer to what you said. Also, very often, the situation will have passed before you formed a sentence in your mind or you'll just use English rather than look for your words.
That's all normal and no reason to get worried. There will eventually be a point in the learning process, where you realize you understand most of what people are saying. That's a nice feeling and you will probably start speaking spontaneously some time after that.
If you live around native speakers, you can just start practicing with them in daily life. If not, you can take conversation classes or use sites like www.mylanguageexchange.com to find people to practice with.
This way, you'll be able to make yourself understood quite well in Tagalog within a year.
From my experience, it takes a while before you actually start speaking. I don't mean just greeting people, I mean short conversations with full sentences.
In the beginning, even if you know how to say something, you'll probably hesitate to say it, unless you feel confident about understanding the answer to what you said. Also, very often, the situation will have passed before you formed a sentence in your mind or you'll just use English rather than look for your words.
That's all normal and no reason to get worried. There will eventually be a point in the learning process, where you realize you understand most of what people are saying. That's a nice feeling and you will probably start speaking spontaneously some time after that.
If you live around native speakers, you can just start practicing with them in daily life. If not, you can take conversation classes or use sites like www.mylanguageexchange.com to find people to practice with.
This way, you'll be able to make yourself understood quite well in Tagalog within a year.
Conclusion
In summary, I believe you can learn to speak Tagalog in about a year with:
1. A good habit of learning a little every day, for 4 to 6 months
2. Good learning materials, like this online course to learn Tagalog
3. Practice with native speakers (in person or online) after 4 to 6 months of learning on your own
I wish you a lot of fun learning Tagalog!
1. A good habit of learning a little every day, for 4 to 6 months
2. Good learning materials, like this online course to learn Tagalog
3. Practice with native speakers (in person or online) after 4 to 6 months of learning on your own
I wish you a lot of fun learning Tagalog!
Books for learning Tagalog
About us
Frederik and Fiona De Vos developed Learning Tagalog. Fiona also wrote Essential Tagalog Grammar: A Reference for Learners of Tagalog. The web version of the book is available online as a free Tagalog grammar resource.
by learn_tagalog
I'm a linguist, engineer and software developer, who lived in the Philippines for a while and learned Tagalog.
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