Tagalog survival kit

About this kit

Tagalog is spoken by around 80 million people in the Philippines, where it serves as the basis for Filipino, the official language. It is written in the Latin alphabet and is full of loanwords from Spanish and English. With this kit, you have the bare minimum to get by in Manila, Cebu or Davao.

Tagalog is spoken as a first or second language by around 80 million people in the Philippines. It serves as the basis for Filipino, the national official language codified from Manila and the central Luzon region. An Austronesian language, Tagalog is now written in the Latin alphabet (after using pre-colonial baybayin) and is full of loanwords from Spanish (legacy of more than three centuries of colonization), English (since the American occupation) and Chinese. Its grammar is marked by a complex verbal system (the verbal "focuses" that orient the sentence around the agent, patient, place or beneficiary) and a frequent use of the suffix "po" to mark respect. Pronunciation is largely transparent for a French speaker, with stress often on the second-to-last syllable. Beyond the language, traveling to the Philippines means discovering an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands marked by Catholic culture, community conviviality (bayanihan), creole cuisine (adobo, sinigang, lechon) and English widely spoken in cities. Manila, Cebu, Bohol, Palawan offer as many contrasting faces. This kit gathers the bare essentials to handle an arrival at NAIA, a taxi or jeepney ride, an order in a carinderia, a medical emergency and a smooth departure. You will find key greetings, phrases to orient yourself, words to eat and sleep, as well as cultural tips to avoid faux pas.