The Philippines: Celebrating Diversity

IN THIS ISSUE...

Tagalog, Pilipino, Filipino:
Is there a difference? »

Ask remithome:
Recipient Bank Accounts »

Most Americans, and some Filipinos as well, probably do not fully appreciate the great diversity of peoples, cultures and languages in the Philippines. With 7,109 islands, and cultural influences from many sources, it’s not surprising that different parts of the Philippines have maintained diverse languages and cultures.

It is estimated that there are 171 native languages spoken in the Philippines. While most Filipinos refer to these languages as “dialects”, most are significantly different from each other to preclude mutual intelligibility. So native speakers of Cebuano, Ilocano, and Kapampangan need to find a common language to communicate with each other.

English is certainly one possible common language, since it serves as a language of instruction in schools in the Philippines (see our March 2010 Newsletter). In this issue of the newsletter below, we discuss Filipino, the national language of the Philippines.

Tagalog, Pilipino, Filipino: Is there a difference?

Do you speak Tagalog, Pilipino, or Filipino? Or are they the same language? How you answer these questions may depend on what part of the Philippines you come from and how fine a distinction you choose to make. However, some knowledge of Philippine history and geography will help.

First of all, it’s important to note that Tagalog is spoken natively by only about 25% of the Philippine population, mostly concentrated around Metro Manila, the southern part of Luzon, and the islands of Mindoro and Marinduque. This means that most other Filipinos are native speakers of one of more than a hundred other Philippine languages, the most common being Cebuano (24% of the population), Ilocano (9%), Hiligaynon (9%), Bicol (6%), and Waray-Waray (5%).

What is the National Language of the Philippines?

If you ask someone what the national language of the Philippines, you may hear different answers. The reason is that you can have an “official language” which is different from a “national language”, and these have changed over time. Here is a brief timeline.

1897	Tagalog was declared the official language by the first constitution of the Philippines.
1935	The Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as the official languages but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.
1937	Tagalog was selected as the basis for the national language by the National Language Institute, a committee comprising seven members from different regions of the Philippines.
1959	The national language was renamed Pilipino to separate Tagalog from its ethnic identification and facilitate acceptance.
1973	The constitution designated Pilipino, along with English, as an official language, and mandated the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.
1987	Filipino was named the national language by the constitution, which further specified that the Filipino language should evolve by being developed and enriched based on existing Philippine and other languages.

So, are Tagalog, Pilipino, and Filipino different languages, or are they simply different labels for the same language? From the standpoint of grammar and mutual comprehension, there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

However, if you want to make fine distinctions, perhaps you could say that the difference is that Filipino is intended to be open to borrowings from other Philippine and foreign languages, whereas Tagalog (and Pilipino, to the extent that this term is still used) are more likely to use native words. Using this distinction, if you use the words “bughaw” and “luntian” for the colors “blue” and “green”, you are speaking Tagalog, and if you use the words “asul” and “berde” instead, you are speaking Filipino!

Ask remithome: Recipient Bank Accounts

Question: I have been using remithome to send money to my sister for the past three years. The money has been deposited directly into her Banco De Oro account. She has now closed her Banco De Oro account and has moved to Philippine National Bank. Since my sister’s address and phone number have not changed, why can’t I just edit my sister’s recipient profile and replace the Banco De Oro information with Philippine National Bank information?

Answer: Once you have sent money for deposit to your recipient’s a bank account (Banco De Oro, in your case), none of the bank information can be changed. This is even the case if your recipient just changed accounts at the same bank.

The reason your recipient’s bank account information can’t be edited after you have sent a transfer for deposit to that bank account is that remithome needs to maintain a history of your transfers. So, if you need to know how much you sent to your sister’s Banco De Oro account and on what dates, we would be able to provide you that information.

To send money to your sister’s new account at Philippine National Bank (PNB), just use the Add Recipient function to create a new profile for your sister. Choose a descriptive nickname that will remind you that the transfer will be sent for deposit to PNB. See our September 2009 newsletter for ideas about how to create useful nicknames.

If you have any questions about how to create a recipient profile, or would like some assistance in setting one up, please call remithome Customer Service at 1-800-919-0787, Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, Pacific Time (California), or email us at customerservice@remithome.com.