A brief guide to Philippine English

By Les Zsoldos

Philippine English is a variety of English with differences in vocabulary and use. Some words are taken from Tagalog, so they are unfamiliar to speakers of other varieties of English. Sometimes the words are from Spanish and some are also used in other varieties of English but in a different way.

The words ube, ampalaya, buko, guyabano, carabao, barangay and barkada are from Tagalog. They mean purple yam, bitter melon, coconut, soursop, water buffalo, district and s group of friends. Buko juice is a common drink in the Philippines but in other English-speaking countries is known as coconut water. A word that is used regularly in the Philippines is viand, which is unknown in other English-speaking countries. It is a meat dish.

Words taken from Spanish include merienda, camote, nata de coco, despedida, sala and leche flan. They mean snack, sweet potato, coconut cream, farewell, living room and flan. The word despedida is often used in despedida party, which to other speakers is a farewell party. The words leche flan literally mean milk flan, but in English and Spanish this dessert is simply known as flan. In fact, if you want to say milk flan in Spanish, maybe to specify that milk was used instead of, for example, cream, you should say flan de leche.

Words that are unfamiliar to other English speakers are comfort room and bake shop, which refer to a rest room and bakery. Some words are used differently. For example, hot dogs can be the popular snack with a bun and sausage, but also refer to hot dog wieners. The word nosebleed can mean headache as in “All this study is giving me a nosebleed.” Slippers can refer to what we wear inside the home, but can also mean flip-flops. The word avail is also used differently. For example, I availed the tennis court is I availed myself of the tennis court in other English-speaking countries. However, most English speakers do not say this. It is more common to hear a sentence such as I used the tennis court.

The words batch and batchmate are regularly used in Philippine English. If two students are in the same batch, it means they are in the same class or same year. The word batchmate is a classmate. The words service and ballpen, words that are also used in other Asian countries, are free/complimentary and ballpoint pen to other English speakers.

Though Philippine English is undoubtedly closer to American English than to British, it tends to use hire as in hire a car rather than the American rent a car and the British word biscuit is often used rather than the American cookie.

With respect to dates, Filipinos almost always use cardinal numbers rather than ordinals. For example, Filipinos tend to say February 1, July 10 and November 18 rather than February 1st, July 10th and November 18th. It is also common for Filipinos to use different languages for numbers such as Tagalog, English and Spanish. In fact, mixing Tagalog and English is popular and is known as Taglish.

The English spoken in the Philippines is a variety that reflects the reality of the country in which it is spoken. The Philippines was a Spanish colony for more than 300 years, was also an American colony, has several native languages, and is located in Asia. Thus, it is not at all surprising that Philippine English has influences from Spanish, American English, the Asian continent and the many native languages spoken in the Philippines.

The writer is a Canadian professor in the English Department of Hankyong National University. His email address is lgzster@gmail.com.