Being 95% Irish and 5% Filipino, and living in Philippines for a while when I was young, I occasionally get questioned if I learned how to speak Filipino and sometimes, Tagalog. I don’t speak the language fluently but I can understand some words. Anyway, what is the difference between Tagalog and Filipino? Is it like Mandarin-Cantonese or are the differences less obvious? Or are they the same thing?
Apparently there isn’t any real difference. The Columbia Encyclopedia says Tagalog “is the legal national language of the Philippines, where it is called Pilipino”; Pilipino is just a “form of Tagalog”.
Filipino native speaking here:
They’re the same thing. The only difference is a matter of politics, not linguistics.
Tagalog is the language of the Phillipines. I think there are nearly 1,000 different dialects of Tagalog.
Mabuhay! 
Must…type…faster…
To nitpick: it’s called Filipino now, not Pilipino. The name change is an acknowledgement that the ‘F’ sound (and other sounds like ‘V’) can and should be used in the language.
Now I see that upperdeckfan has posted in the meantime:
Tagalog is a language spoken in the Philippines. It’s a major language, one of several. There are also many minor languages as well as innumerable dialects.
Violet, kamusta?
I stand corrected.
Terminus Est, uh, magaling? Only a few words known. I once had a drink called “masarap” at a place called Mabuhay something. The drink was indeed masarap! Interesting how “kamusta” is like “como estas” in Spanish. At least to me!
http://www.csun.edu/~sm5149/sal/tutorials/tagalog1.html
Tagalog to English Translator
http://bennyhills.fortunecity.com/hope/401/tagalog.htm
Tagalog Language Translator
Diyan ang bahay ng pulis.
why does Filipino not start with Ph?
Violet: Say it like you mean it: Magaling! Great! “Kamusta” is indeed derived from the Spanish phrase “como esta”. Many Tagalog words are actually from Spanish or Chinese. Today, the language is incorporating English as well. You can create some truly hilarious (and untranslatable) double- or triple-puns by mixing all these languages together.
Niobium: Filipino is derived from the name of the country, Filipinas, named by the Spanish “las islas Felipinas” after the king, Felipe.
I must add that Filipinos are warm, hospitable, fun people. Such quick wit, too. And the food!! Masarap, again.
Ano bolita!
A long time ago I worked as a file clerk and I had a Filipino boss who would always point to a stack of papers and tell me (because of the P/F thing) to go “pile” them, and I would say, “But they’re already piled!” I have no idea whether he thought that was funny or not.
Well, apparently there was an attempt after the war to incorporate words from other Philippine languages into Tagalog in order to make “Pilipino”. But it didnt really turn out that way and as has been said, Tagalog and Filipino are pretty much interchangeable. Tagalog and Cebuano were actually pretty close in the running. Some one told me that some Cebuanos are still upset it wasnt picked and at least in Cebu, some will pretend they dont know Filipino.
Anyhow, Visayan here, i’m half Filipino. My Grandparents are from Aklan (Banga) and Capiz. I have an uncle in Negros Occidental, and some in Quezon city (who married into the Sy family :)). Dad never knew enough Aklanon or Ilongo to teach my brothers and I the languages though. I understand a few Filipino words though.
I always thought that Tagalog was really sort of a creole mix of native Filipino languages and Spanish. Is Tagalog the official language of government in the Phillipines? Is that what people speak on a daily basis? I have a cable channel at home that shows news programs from other countries 24 hours a day and I frequently watch the news from Manila but I can do this because it is in English. I always got the impression from this news program that English and sometimes Spanish is used for official business, but Tagalog was the language of the people.
Doobieous: I believe that Cebuano actually has more native speakers than Tagalog. However, Manila is located in the Tagalog-speaking region, so if you want to do business with the central government you’ll have to speak their language. Also, never underestimate the power of media - Tagalog is also the language of movies and television. You’re right, though, that some of the more, er, militant Visayans will pretend not to understand Tagalog.
Chupacabra: You’ve got that backwards. Pilipino was supposed to be the bastard mix of native languages used for official business. The syntax was Tagalog-based, and it was supposed to incorporate words from other (native) languages as well. However, it really didn’t reflect the way people actually spoke and mandated words like “salum-puwit” (literally, ass-catcher) where everyone else would say “upu-an” (Tagalog - device to sit upon) or “silya” (fr. Spanish silla - chair). The name change to Filipino was an acknowledgement that artificially-creating words was not working; this was also a political decision since this change came about only after Marcos was deposed. The official languages today are Filipino and English; Spanish used to be included, but that was dropped about 15 years ago. You can go anywhere in the country and find that people can speak or understand Filipino (Tagalog, really) and/or English.
It’s interesting to note which languages tended to contribute which words. Chinese contributed a lot of words for food and familial relationships. Spanish brought in a lot of words for furniture, time and money (also trash). Filipinos are busily incorporating English into their language. On the streets of Manila today, you can hear a wonderful mix of Tagalog and English, called “Taglish”, where English words are freely borrowed and transformed with Tagalog syntax, and Tagalog words are cheerfully mangled into something resembling English.
Here’s what my Tagalog dictionary says about the various foreign words incorporated into Tagalog (in round numbers, so it’s an estimation):
Spanish - 5,000
Chinese languages - 1,500
English - 1,500
Sanskrit - 300
Arabic - 250
Malayo-Indonesian - 3,200
The Philippines was an important trade center in south east asia for thousands of years. The incorporation of words is one example of that. So, Filipinos have been constantly influenced by peoples coming to either trade, or take over the islands, yet Filipinos always “nativize” whatever is brought in.
Commenting further on what Terminus said, often in Non-Tagalog areas, people (educated at least) will speak a minimum of three languages (with varying degrees of fluency/proficiency): English, Tagalog, and whatever language is spoken natively in their home region. My grandparents probably spoke both Aklanon, and Ilonggo, as well as English. I dont know if Grandma speaks Tagalog, but i think she does (although she left right after WWII).
There are true spanish/philippine language creoles in the Philippines. One used to be spoken in Cavite, but another which my friend Liz speaks, is from Zamboanga in Mindanao. Oddly theyre named “Chabacano” (which Mexican friends tell me is a name for the apricot). Anyway, it’s truly interesting to hear it spoken. If you speak spanish it sounds like it is Spanish, yet at the same time it’s strangely not.
Thanks for the info Doobieous and Terminus Est. I learn great stuff on this board every day.
As far as I know, Apricots are albaricoques not chabacanos, but my Spanish is Cuban and Mexicans may have a different word for them. It may also refer to a specific variety of Apricot.
I somehow missed this gem.
You made the kind of weak pun that Filipinos commonly make (and enjoy). Odds are that your boss did think it was funny.