Spelling Filipino Words is Easy

[g2narat]

Oh, here's a tip for those who want to learn Filipino. Begin by learning the spoken Filipino. Once you get the hang of speaking in Tagalog then you can dive into writing in Tagalog. Speaking is the harder part. Writing is a breeze because you just spell words the way you hear them. There are no silent letters, or unnecessary double letters. Just spell what you hear.

[skywatcher]

I agree with this. I actually had a harder time learning the written variety because of the complexities in the language, but the spoken form is generally easier to learn because not only are you exposed to the environment where everyone almost speaks the language, but remembering the words in their spoken form are generally easier, since much of the language is derived from other languages as well.

[eppie]

Oh, here's a tip for those who want to learn Filipino. Begin by learning the spoken Filipino. Once you get the hang of speaking in Tagalog then you can dive into writing in Tagalog. Speaking is the harder part. Writing is a breeze because you just spell words the way you hear them. There are no silent letters, or unnecessary double letters. Just spell what you hear.

Actually there are a few Filipino words that are not spelled the same way you hear them like "ng" (read as nang) and "mga" (read as manga - not the same as in mango fruit).

By the way, "ng" is equivalent to the English "of".  "Mga" on the other hand, indicates that a noun is plural.  Ex. Girl = Babae while Girls = Mga babae.

But I agree with you when you say that it's harder to speak Filipino than to spell it.  :grin:

[g2narat]

Actually there are a few Filipino words that are not spelled the same way you hear them like "ng" (read as nang) and "mga" (read as manga - not the same as in mango fruit).

By the way, "ng" is equivalent to the English "of".  "Mga" on the other hand, indicates that a noun is plural.  Ex. Girl = Babae while Girls = Mga babae.

But I agree with you when you say that it's harder to speak Filipino than to spell it.  :grin:

Oh yeah! I forgot about those! Thanks for pointing out the exceptions. These are actually quite handy to remember. You have to admit though, that spelling words exactly as you hear them is more the rule and not the exception. 

[Baburra]

I agree because Filipino words are usually just spelled exactly how they sound phonetically. It's why I often wish other languages also were the same way, but I guess spelling things a bit differently kind of adds to the mystique.

[ang.diwata]

This is so true! Sometimes I wish other languages are as easy to spell as in our language. When I was in grade school and used to enter spelling bees, I always land on the runner-up spot because some words like 'reservoir' are not spelled the same as it is pronounced!

On unnecessary double letters, we do have that in our language, like, 'mangga' (mango). But I do agree it's more of an exception rather than the rule.