I work in a hotel and we close and lock our lobby at night. We have signs on the front doors and on the doors leading into the main hallway explaining this to the guests.
Right now, we have a large group of construction workers staying here and most of them are Filipino. Some of them don’t know much English, so I wanted to make a couple of new “lobby closed” signs with English and Spanish text. Can anyone here translate it for me?
This is the text for the front door sign:
And this is the text for the door leading to the main hallway:
I specified Filipino in the title because I’m not sure how much Filipino Spanish differs from the Spanish spoken in Spain and Central and South America.
I’d appreciate it very much if someone could kindly help me out with this.
Don’t they speag Tagalog in the Philippines? I know there’s a big Spanish influence, but would they really, normally expect to be able to understand Spanish?
Tagalog and English are the official languages of the Philippines. There are actual four main languages, depending on one’s “tribe” (not really a better term - to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t been regional in over a century), and many, many dialects in each of the languages. There are a number of Filipino programs in English. Many interviews coming from the Philippines, and the Filipino / U.S. newspapers, are in what is slangily called Taglish - they’ll change languages mid-paragraph and sometimes mid-sentence, then switch back.
I’ve asked my wife to translate to tagalog for you. She is a native speaker.
So… ummm… if you need someone to translate these English signs into Tagalog for you, what will dialing “0” on the telephone get your Phillipino customer?
Most Filipinos understand rudimentary English (it is taught in schools), and many will speak and understand it spoken better than they can read it.
ETA: They are from the Philippines (one L, two P’s), aka the Philippine Islands. The people are Filipino, or is just talking about women, Filipina. Occasionally, you will hear one call themselves Pilipino in conversation.
Thank you, D_Odds, and please thank your wife for me, as well.
I knew that Tagalog was spoken in the Philippines, but I thought it was more of a tribal or traditional language, for lack of a better word (kind of like Gaelic in Ireland or Scotland), and that Spanish was the predominant spoken language. Ignorance has been fought today.
To answer your question, mlees, they all seem to know at least a little English. I mean, they understood me when I was checking them in and asked their names and who was rooming with them. Most people who use that phone to call the desk just want an extra towel or something and I think these guys would be able to ask a basic question like that.
For that matter, they may be able to read a little English, I just thought I’d try to go the extra mile for them and make it a little easier.