English In Filipinos Colleges And Universities

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jpbago
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This is the problem PI is having with call centers. It seems that they are reading from a roll-o-dex.

 

Really?  I have found for the most part Filipinos are excellent English speakers.  Even my wife's rice farming uncles in the province are fluent (albeit with a rather heavy accent).  In the cities it is almost a given a majority of people speak fluent English (from my experience - limited mainly to Luzon).

 

 

They have memorized a certain amount of words to do with what they are doing but if you ask details or go off topic, then they are stumped. I have asked questions at SM department store about a generator and how to hook it up. Nobody could say. Walk around the clothing sections where the pretty girls say "Good morning, sir" Ask them questions about the clothes in their 3 meter section and you will get few to no answers. Maybe in Manila, it is different but down here in the hills, English is limited. In our family of 68 on the wife's side, maybe 5 can carry on a conversation and then it is limited to local chat, no world events. 

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Miguk
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This is the problem PI is having with call centers. It seems that they are reading from a roll-o-dex.

 

Really?  I have found for the most part Filipinos are excellent English speakers.  Even my wife's rice farming uncles in the province are fluent (albeit with a rather heavy accent).  In the cities it is almost a given a majority of people speak fluent English (from my experience - limited mainly to Luzon).

 

 

They have memorized a certain amount of words to do with what they are doing but if you ask details or go off topic, then they are stumped. I have asked questions at SM department store about a generator and how to hook it up. Nobody could say. Walk around the clothing sections where the pretty girls say "Good morning, sir" Ask them questions about the clothes in their 3 meter section and you will get few to no answers. Maybe in Manila, it is different but down here in the hills, English is limited. In our family of 68 on the wife's side, maybe 5 can carry on a conversation and then it is limited to local chat, no world events. 

 

 

Of course English is widely spoken in Manila.  It is the language of government and academia.  However As I said earlier even in the provinces here on Luzon the people speak English.  I don't know why it would be different down south.  It is a national language after all.  And since people are the main export of the country it would behoove the government to ensure people spoke the international language well enough.

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jpbago
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Some OFWs speak no English. The seamen work on a ship with 12 to 15 other Filipinos. The OFWs in the Middle East all hang around together. We met two who have worked in Macau for 18 years and spoke no English. Our niece works in Singapore and speaks no English. I met a few care givers in Canada that spoke very poor English and when they met in groups at the coffee shop, there was no English. A class mate of my daughter spent the last 4 years in England (he had to drop back 1 year) and when he came last weekend to visit for 6 days, he spoke Illongo to all his friends here instead of English. They all can speak English but don't want to.

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Thomas
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A class mate of my daughter spent the last 4 years in England (he had to drop back 1 year) and when he came last weekend to visit for 6 days, he spoke Illongo to all his friends here instead of English. They all can speak English but don't want to.
Well. That's not odd. I don't want to speak English either, when I meet Swedes  :)     (or Norwegians. We understand each other's language rather good.) 
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Steve & Myrlita
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Filipino culture says that Filipinos are only allowed to speak to each other in their natural tongues. How do I know this? My wife & I were speaking to a friend of ours and even though the 3 of us spoke English, they insisted on speaking Ilonggo then interpreting to me. I feel this to be rude and ignorant but, hey, it's their country.

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alsuave
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Posted (edited)

Filipino culture says that Filipinos are only allowed to speak to each other in their natural tongues. How do I know this? My wife & I were speaking to a friend of ours and even though the 3 of us spoke English, they insisted on speaking Ilonggo then interpreting to me. I feel this to be rude and ignorant but, hey, it's their country.

I don't know about this. I know many Filipinos who speak English among themselves. In fact, I think they prefer English. And I'm not talking about Fil Ams or OFWs. These are real Filipinos in Manila. Edited by alsuave
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Jack Peterson
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They all can speak English but don't want to.

 

 

 

:rolleyes:  OH YES! And That! JP, Sums it all up, in a Nutshell. Very much, like the french :unsure:  :lol:

 

 

:tiphat:

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jpbago
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A class mate of my daughter spent the last 4 years in England (he had to drop back 1 year) and when he came last weekend to visit for 6 days, he spoke Illongo to all his friends here instead of English. They all can speak English but don't want to.
Well. That's not odd. I don't want to speak English either, when I meet Swedes  :)     (or Norwegians. We understand each other's language rather good.) 

 

 

That is understandable if the Swedes that you meet are not studying English but if all of you are studying English, it will help if you practice especially with each other in conversations. Practice makes perfect. 

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Thomas
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Filipino culture says that Filipinos are only allowed to speak to each other in their natural tongues. How do I know this? My wife & I were speaking to a friend of ours and even though the 3 of us spoke English, they insisted on speaking Ilonggo then interpreting to me. I feel this to be rude and ignorant but, hey, it's their country.

Well. Yes, boring to sit in a group with Filipins talking to each other so I don't understanding anything (but I understand a litle bit if they speak Tagalog - and 2 words if they speak Cebuano  :mocking:

BUT not a suprising cultural reaction after being a colony.

 

 

 

A class mate of my daughter spent the last 4 years in England (he had to drop back 1 year) and when he came last weekend to visit for 6 days, he spoke Illongo to all his friends here instead of English. They all can speak English but don't want to.
Well. That's not odd. I don't want to speak English either, when I meet Swedes  :)     (or Norwegians. We understand each other's language rather good.) 

 

 

That is understandable if the Swedes that you meet are not studying English but if all of you are studying English, it will help if you practice especially with each other in conversations. Practice makes perfect. 

We speak English in Swedish school during English lessons

and at University level even some OTHER subjects are teached in English and some University litterature are in English too. (I suppouse because of it give access to additional specialist teachers and additional special books.)

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Americano
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Filipino culture says that Filipinos are only allowed to speak to each other in their natural tongues. How do I know this? My wife & I were speaking to a friend of ours and even though the 3 of us spoke English, they insisted on speaking Ilonggo then interpreting to me. I feel this to be rude and ignorant but, hey, it's their country.

 

Of course what they are doing is rude. If there's a common language that everyone understands then that's the language they should speak. Deliberately leaving one person out of the conversation is rude.

 

What if you and your wife were both fluent in Tagalog and in English but your friend was only fluent in English. Would you and your wife speak in Tagalog which would leave your friend out of the conversation? Of course you wouldn't because you know it would be rude. What you shared with us happens every day because a lot of Filipinos are just rude people. Some times just one person is being rude but the other people are too afraid to tell them. Saying its their country is not a valid reason for being rude.

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