ikaymoreno's recent posts

I think Korea prioritizes applicants from Western countries now. I have a friend who used to work for a Hagwon in Korean and she's now teaching in China instead because of it.

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

Ooh thanks i will have a good listen later

Im a bit busy these days so I've been skipping my daily lessons. :( Please let us know if it's any good! :)

My husband was a foreign exchange student and he said studying abroad helped broaden the way he sees the world. We have no plans of migrating but I'm hoping my kids can qualify for some forex program. When I was in PNU, we had the option to study in France, Spain, Japan, Canada, or Korea. We just had to take an exam and add the language to our current load.

Has anybody tried using this site? I've seen some great reviews about it.

http://listeningpractice.org/

Oghenekevwe wrote:

Thanks to a Chrome extension called Language Learning With Netflix, you can now learn a new language by watching Netflix.
All you need to do is install the Language Learning With Netflix Chrome extension. Then, you pick a film to watch, select the language you want to learn how to speak and the language you can already speak, and away you go. It really is that simple.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/learn-new-language-watching-netflix/
See for yourself.

I saw this before but I mostly watch Netflix on my TV. :( 

No prob. :)

It's available on Shopee. I got teh standrad pack, expnsion and the NSFW version for like P500. :)

Rai.S. wrote:

dragonsky wrote:

How old was your kid when you worked overseas? Was he living with you in a new culture and country or did he stay back?

He was 1 1/2 when I left and he stayed back.

This was my sister's dilemma too. If she works abroad, they'd have a better life. If she stays, she can be sure her kids gets the care she wants her to have. Sigh.

My dad's Ilocano but he also never tried teaching us. I know a couple of words but not even enough to ask for directions or to buy stuff at the market.

My husband and I have always worked and we're noticing how...different the kids are now that I get to stay at home with them. We had to adjust a lot cost-wise but the kids are all teh better for it.

Which stage are you at now?

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/10-stages-of-language-learning/

Who else is stuck climbing Conversation Ridge? :D

Michelle.Batan wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

I think so. Even in my country, there are dialects that are at risk of "disappearing" because no one really uses it anymore.

Is this true? Can you name few?

Here you go. :)

https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2018/01/29/1782295/kapampangan-dying-language-serious-threat-culture-and-identity

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248078736_Thirty_endangered_languages_in_the_Philippinesv

I love 'em too. :) I'm a visual learner so it helps me a lot.

Rose.Angelie wrote:

For those learning a language that is not used in your country, how would you apply 2, 4, and 5? Do you join local clubs with the same interest or attend an in-person language school?

I'm learning Korean and #2 and #3 I mostly do by watching Korean movies and listenign to Kpop. My sister got me into it in the late 90s (Arirang!) so we both use Korean expressions now and then. As for #4 and #5, I'm stuck. I just have no one to practice full sentences/convos with. Also no time and energy to build new relationships online just so I can practice it on them.

Actually, I had to quit my full time job because I just can't juggle my schedule anymore. I feel bad for my husband because our budget's resting solely on his shoulders now but we both have been working non-stop for 10+years. We thought it'd be good for the kids to have parents instead of maids for a change. :P

As for your kids these days, I think it's more of the parents too. My kid had a friend who kept stealing her toys so I told her to not play with that kid anymore. We weren't rude or anything. I just told her to tell the kid they're not allowed to play together anymore. That kid's parents had the balls to go to my house and confront me because "we're discriminating against them because they're poor". That and her kid only takes stuff we can afford to buy anyway. Insert facepalm here. 

I have two girls and my eldest is VERY outspoken. She's the one who'd get in people's faces if they bother her. When she was in 3rd grade, she had a classmate who kept teasing her "Gaby (Gabi) Gulay". This kid teased her for weeks. Then my kid snapped and confronted her. She asked the kid: Why are you like that? Don't your parents talk to you? Do you have a bad home? Don't your parents teach you good manners? Is that why you're poor?

Granted, the poor part is a bit foul but I still think it's incredulous that she's the one who got reprimanded and not the kid who teased her for weeks.

Rai.S. wrote:

Wow. I'm really interested in home-schooling my son too, but I don't know how and where. Would you tell me more about it please?

There are several homeschool programs you can choose from. With my daughter though, we opted not to go with any of those and just make her take the ALS (Alternative Learning System) test when she's ready to go back. The last time she was in school was in 4th grade. We'll probably make her take it in time for Grade 7.

Our struggle with her is that when she went to school, she knew like 10 Tagalog words. So for a lot of the lessons, she'd just sit there not understanding what the teacher was saying. She's pretty shy too so she's not the type who'd speak up and ask the teacher to say it in English. By the time she was in Grade 4, she was struggling so bad with Civics and Filipino that she'd cry every time it's time to go to school. She gets bullied too. Once, a couple of boys locked her in the bathroom. When she got out, she called them pathetic and useless. A teacher heard and she was the one called to the principal's office for using bad words. Lol. Needless to say, they got an earful from me and my husband.

We've already tried several private schoosl in our area. We even enrolled her in public school so she'll be immersed with people speaking Tagalog. The teacher called us after two days asking us to move her to a private school. She said "I'm a Filipino major. I can't teach in English, ma'am."

So now I create lessons for her. Her lessons are a mishmash of things. For Filipino, she's learning vocab (months in Tagalog, counting, animals, etc). For English, she's working on high school level material. For Science, she's still on Grace 3 level but we'd be moving that up soon. Civics, she's on Grace 5 material. :)

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

Also when American product are described as having knobs instead of dials that's a p#nis

That I knew. :) An officemate made a joke about "polishing knobs" and got told off by a British client.

edz.conde wrote:

Indeed true to all....I'm not full blast in the seven. :pensive:

I'm struck at 4. Nobody at home to speak Korean to, really. :P

This strip was made for English but I think it applies to all langauges. :)

Michelle.Batan wrote:

time (spanish)
age (tagalog but most of the time english)
date of month (english)
year (englis?)
counting (tagalog, sometimes spanish)
prices (english)
fractions (english) :blush::blush::blush:

I think the only time I've ever heard date/year said in Tagalog was in Sibika (Civics).

Rose.Angelie wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

They didn't go into it in detail. My kids loved "Exploding Kittens" though so I'm looking for another fun card game for them. :)

How do you play that? Curious as I've never heard of it before.

It's loads of fun. We even bought teh expansion pack so we'd have a "cone of shame". Lol.

leosmith wrote:

Rai.S. wrote:

Very well explained, edz. Might as well explain when and how we use ika-(number) for dates or counting. For example, ika-1, ika-28. I myself is a bit confused when it's used in dates of the month or anniversaries. Thanks in advance.

So when do you use ordinal numbers, if at all? I hear unang and huling pretty often, but ika- very rarely.

Ordinal numbers: We use una, pangalawa, pangatlo...

I live in the Southern part of Luzon and you hear "ika-" here a lot. So people would say "ikalawa" instead of "pangalawa"

I think so. Even in my country, there are dialects that are at risk of "disappearing" because no one really uses it anymore.

edz.conde wrote:

I wonder where we could buy that here in our country. Or is it available online...perhaps in Lazada or Shoppee?

A knock off version of it, probably. :P

Rose.Angelie wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

We play a lot of card games at home. This looks interesting.

My computer's speaker is kinda broken so I had to replay twice to really listen but still, I didn't get how they play those cards. Did I miss the explanation?

They didn't go into it in detail. My kids loved "Exploding Kittens" though so I'm looking for another fun card game for them. :)

Yeah, I think. My aunt is deaf and because she learned ASL, she's not familiar with a lot of Tagalog words. I think there are official sign languages for other languaes too. (goes off to Google)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

Rai.S. wrote:

Is this a one-on-one lesson, ikay? Or is it an online session as well?

Online. :) She's home-schooled so she does it after all her formal lessons. :)

Rai.S. wrote:

Wow. It's great to hear that your daughter wants to learn another language. Spanish would be easier, I guess, because we got some of our words from the language.

She's also havign Filipino lessons and her Spanish lessons help make her enjoy the Filipino sessions more. :)

Charlyn wrote:

Music is great.. :slightly_smiling_face: For me, it makes learning a language more interesting in an expressive way if I like it's lyrics and rhythm.

This site uses music to teach Spanish. :)

We play a lot of card games at home. This looks interesting.

I have kids and I always stress teh importance of learning instead of getting good grades. What I tell them is that they should learn not so they can become "special" or so that they will get good grades. Theys hould learn because that will help them make better decisions and live better lives.

As for learning languages, we stress "language advantage" so my ten year-old is now starting to learn Spanish.

Rai.S. wrote:

Thank you for the clarification, leosmith. I also think learning depends on the eagerness of the person, the available resources and the time and effort of the teacher. Learning all by yourself and without someone with you who knows the language can be really difficult.
So, ikaymoreno, we still have a chance with Korean. :)

My daughter just told me she wants to learn Spanish. It helps if you're learning with someone so I may have to switch to Spanish soon.

I was looking for a nice spelling video for my kid and found this. :)

Rai.S. wrote:

Apparently, the languages that I want to learn are in Group 4. :sweat_smile:

I feel you. I've always wanted to learn Korean and Japanese. Now I'm thinking maybe I should go back to learning Spanish or French.

I'm a bit disheartened that Korean is in group 4. T__T

The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) divides languages into four tiers of difficulty for native English speakers to learn. Group 1, the easiest of the bunch, includes French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swahili. According to FSI research, it takes around 480 hours of practice to reach basic fluency in all Group 1 languages.

The difficulty begins to spike as we move down the list. It takes 720 hours to achieve the same level of fluency in Group 2 languages, which include Bulgarian, Burmese, Greek, Hindi, Persian and Urdu. More difficult are Amharic, Cambodian, Czech, Finnish and Hebrew, which places them in in Group 3. Group 4 is comprised of some of the most challenging languages for English speakers to grasp: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Full BBC article link

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

Fanny is an important one to look out for too in English we use it for slang for a ladies front parts and in America (correct me if i am wrong) but its your behind ?

I didn't know that fanny meant genitals in the UK. I thought it meant butt too.

No prob. :) I think TESDA is still revising their course offerings since some of what they used to offer is now part of K12.

I found my old French workbooks so I'm gonna try learnign French again. :) This video is a fun way to help my tongue get used to French phonemes.

I asked my daughter who's in junior high and she also can't recall covering Filipino tenses. :P

Michelle.Batan wrote:

leosmith wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

This made me a littel sad because I honestly don't know how many tenses there are in my language. T__T

Technically speaking, the answer is zero. There are 4 aspects though - infinitive, completed, incompleted and contemplated.

What are these in Tagalog?

I don't remember covering tenses in Filipino. We discussed parts of speech, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions. Do you remember it being discussed?

No problem. :)

Rose.Angelie wrote:

Right. I actually read more about it when you posted this and learned that it's more targetted to those who will be working outside the country. Still, it's a huge help!

I think local employment works too. Here's the updated list of courses active. You can just apply online too. :)

https://www.tesda.gov.ph/About/TESDA/39

leosmith wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Never heard of those. Will Google them to know more. :) I also can't recall any lesson for Filipino tenses. Huh. Found this online though. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Filipino-Verbs-and-Tenses

Unfortunately the author is trying to shoehorn Tagalog into english-like grammar; she's labeling aspects as tenses, which unfortunately happens a lot with Tagalog. This post explains it much better imo:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tagalog/comments/91uzg8/aspect_or_tense/

Thanks! :)

Oghenekevwe wrote:

Thank you for explaining Ikaymoreno.
"It's so that the customer can understand them with little to no effort and that the conversation can focus on the customer's concern and not where the agent is from."
What if the Agent speaks clearly and is easily understood but doesn't have the American or British accent. Will the person still need this training to sound "proper"?

Going through soft skills training (accent, basic customer service telephone etiquette) is standard for most centers. So regardless of whether they sound neutral or speak with a mild regional accent, they would most likely still go through training.

Having a "native" accent is almost never required. I worked in the BPO for more than 10 years and I've only encountered one account that required agents to "speak like Texans". We had to hire an external trainer for that. Lol.

I worked as a trainer and I don't sound American or British. In fact, I still have "markers" of Filipino English. Customers dont have difficulty understanding me though and I almost never get asked where I'm from. so... :P

Here's a sample recording I made for one of the centers I worked for. :)

leosmith wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

This made me a littel sad because I honestly don't know how many tenses there are in my language. T__T

Technically speaking, the answer is zero. There are 4 aspects though - infinitive, completed, incompleted and contemplated.

Never heard of those. Will Google them to know more. :) I also can't recall any lesson for Filipino tenses. Huh. Found this online though.

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Filipino-Verbs-and-Tenses

This made me a littel sad because I honestly don't know how many tenses there are in my language. T__T

Oghenekevwe wrote:

I've heard a lot of people say "I need someone who speaks English with little or no accent". I'd like to know what the deciding factor is. Which is the standard English with no accent?
Who decides how English should sound like generally?

I've heard a lot of people say "I need someone who speaks English with little or no accent". I'd like to know what the deciding factor is.

I worked as a trainer and a recruiter for call centers and when we look for people with "little to no accent", we're referring to regional/local accent. Having an American (or even British) accent is almost never required. What we need though is someone who can speak in a very understandable mannaer and will not draw attention to the fact that they're not "local" so we can avoid unnecessary complaints about immigrants or outsourcing stealing jobs from Americans. We even train them to make sure they sound "neutral".

Which is the standard English with no accent?

When recruiting, our goal really is understandability. That and not having any noticeable regional accent. If their accent is obviously non-native, we recommend that they be trained first if that's an option. Or just not hire them. And again, it's not because their accent is wrong. It's so that the customer can understand them with little to no effort and that the conversation can focus on the customer's concern and not where the agent is from.

Who decides how English should sound like generally?

For BPO recruitment, what's "right" is based on which region they'll be supporting. People assigned to support US campaigns will have a different standard AND accent training from people who'll be supporting Australian or British campaigns.

What we stress from recruitment to training is that there is no right or wrong accent. As service providers though, it's our job to make sure that the people we're speaking with are comfortable. Part of making them feel comfortable is making it easy for them to understand us. That and avoiding any discomfort by drawing attention to the fact that we're not local. That's why we have different accent courses depending on the region they'll be supporting.

edz.conde wrote:

Great article indeed..my fave is this..."Define your 'why' first...with enough why, a language learner can endure almost any 'how'.

I like that one too. :)

This article lists some pretty good tips. This tip is my favorite.

Spend most of your time in the language, not learning about the language. We acquire languages at a subconscious level when we get sufficient input and practice.

leosmith wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

I've seen "Anki" mentioned several times here and I didn't know it was a deck/flashcard program. How helpful is it to expanding one's vocab? I think Duolingo also has a flashcard app but I haven't tried it yet.

Anki and other SRS makes reviewing vocabulary more efficient; in that way, it contributes to expanding your vocabulary. It's not a very good tool for learning new vocab; just reviewing imo.

Good to know. Thanks!

Michelle.Batan wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Don't they come hand in hand? I mean, how can you be considered fluent if your use of the language is not correct/accurate?

This may sound logical, but what I was trying to say is, accuracy is the ability to produce grammatically accurate English sentences, while fluency is the ability to produce language in a coherent and effortless way. I mean you can express yourself clearly eventhough your language is not accurate :) I hope it makes sense haha!

Aaah. In that case, I think 'conversant' is a better word. :) 

Shout out to dragonsky for finding this! He also has one for Korean alphabet which I'm linking here. :)

I have Michel Thomas's French course and was surprised to learn how similar the vocabulary is. :)

dragonsky wrote:

Can you explain more about it? What's the basis of "flashcard programs"? :)

I haven't tried them too but I think it's similar to how we use flashcards when learnign the multiplication table or something. I'll try it after I finish the project I'm working on. Don't have a lot of time these days.

I've always liked French. :) I watched the Netflix series Call My Agent just so I can listen to French people arguing while going about house chores. :P

dragonsky wrote:

What's the backstory behind having so many languages in India btw?

No idea. Could be a tribal thing. That and it's a big area. Too lazy to Google. Hehehe.

Rai.S. wrote:

This is a good read, ikay. Thank you. Well, I just hope they would also offer to those who wants to learn the languages and not only for those who need it.

I used to train for TESDA and what they're offering are scholarship programs to help people secure jobs. That's why for most of their courses, the trainers have a target to have a certain percentage of the participants employed. I facilitated Contact Center Services NC II and the target was 80% hire rate. :)

Rose.Angelie wrote:

I'm always fascinated with the Russian alphabet. I think this is a good start for those interested in learning to read the language. Though for me, I felt it's too much to handle after level 3. LOL

I get confused too because I keep reading some of them as English phonetic symbols. :P

dragonsky wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Don't they come hand in hand? I mean, how can you be considered fluent if your use of the language is not correct/accurate?

I agree with this comment, but I think OP meant "you know like 90% of a certain language but you struggle with the other 10%"?

I don't get it. Hahahahaha!

I've seen "Anki" mentioned several times here and I didn't know it was a deck/flashcard program. How helpful is it to expanding one's vocab? I think Duolingo also has a flashcard app but I haven't tried it yet.

Oghenekevwe wrote:

Charlyn wrote:

Hi Oghenekevwe! Goodluck in learning French! :slightly_smiling_face: French sounds interesting. I'm thinking to learn it soon.

You should Charilyn. It's interesting but not easy. There are days i want to quit,but I'm making progress. When you are ready,I could do with a study buddy :wink:

Do you follow a course/syllabus? I'm thinking of learning French again. :)

Don't they come hand in hand? I mean, how can you be considered fluent if your use of the language is not correct/accurate?

dragonsky wrote:

Damn I had no idea so many languages were spoken in India tbh

I worked for an Indian-owned staffing firm and I also didn't know. I really thought it was just Hindi and Tamil. :P

Rose.Angelie wrote:

I didn't know that TESDA offers free foreign language lessons and used to include Korean on the list. Good to know!

They did. :) But you need proof that you'll be using the language for work before you get enrolled. They had Korean and Japanese. Not sure if they still have Japanese though.

dragonsky wrote:

Ha! This is really cool actually!
As a Macedonian I have no problem reading russian as we use a different kind of cyrilic but I like how this comic explained things easily.
This is really cool actually and really helpful.
Are there any comics like this for other languages?

No clue. A friend sent me this. I'll ask him where he got it. :) Maybe they have it for other languages too.

Michelle.Batan wrote:

wow this is so cool! what is your source Ikay?

A friend sent me this. :) No idea where he got it though.

Came across this and it's a pretty good list. :) Hope it helps you!

https://www.cosmo.ph/lifestyle/career-money/learn-korean-language-the-philippines-a1129-20170920-lfrm

I came across this and wondered if it's true. I like how the Cyrillic alphabet looks and it'd be cool if Ican at least read it. :)

leosmith wrote:

Which, if either is more common in colloquial speech?
a) Kapatid ni Martha ang matangkad na lalaki.
b) Kapatid ni Martha ang lalaking matangkad.

2) a) Kapatid ni Martha ang mga matangkad na lalaki.
b) Kapatid ni Martha ang matatangkad na lalaki.

For all of this, I'm assuming the brother is younger because if he were older, we'd be using an honorific -- kuya.

Martha's brother is the tall one.

Yung matangkad na lalaki ang kapatid ni Martha.

Kapatid ni Martha yung matangkad na lalaki.

Martha's brother is tall.

Ang kapatid ni Martha na lalaki ay matangkad.

Matangkad ang lalaking kapatid ni Martha.

Matangkad ang kapatid ni Martha na lalaki.

Oghenekevwe wrote:

"I learned English through magic like every other baby"
That line got me :grin:
Great video! Thanks for sharing Ikay.

That line made me smile too. :D

Rose.Angelie wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

YESSS, this! ♥

I actually have a similar tattoo of the tree on my arm. :) This meant a lot to me especially before I turned 30.

Rai.S. wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

I think it's one of those words that we just "coin" to Tagalog like midya and kompyuter. We tagalize it by changing the spelling. We had a class in college that discussed this and why it's preferable to do this over using hard to understand Tagalog words/terms. I forgot what rationale was given though.

Great point here too, ikay. Easily understanding the word comes first. Some Tagalog words are seldom used because not many Filipinos know those words even exist. I'm not sure how to properly address those tech words though.

The prof gave a very solid explanation on the why and how but ...I'm old. Hahahaha! I can't remember what it was. We were discussing lingua franca vs colloquial vs slang. Then this came up. Maybe somebody with a fresher brain can remember this from their Filipino course. :P

Rose.Angelie wrote:

I always prefer to read in English. This might be strange to some but I have a hard time reading in Tagalog and Bisaya (Cebuano) - two of my native languages.

There also aren't a lot of very good books written in Filipino, I think. I have a couple of great books by Filipino writers but about half of em are in English.

Some of these languages, I've never even heard of. The only languages I knew from India were Tamil and Hindi.

This is pretty interesting. I've always known that there were a lot of Chinese speakers but I didn't know Russian was this widely spoken too.

I asked a student to trade hours with me so I could learn Korean. I taught her English for 2 hours and she taught me how to read and write in Hangul for 2 hours. I don't think I'll ever try to teach Korean so I can learn it though. I feel like it's a blind leading the blind kind of scenario.

I think it's one of those words that we just "coin" to Tagalog like midya and kompyuter. We tagalize it by changing the spelling. We had a class in college that discussed this and why it's preferable to do this over using hard to understand Tagalog words/terms. I forgot what rationale was given though.

I mostly read English novels though I wish I could read some books without having to rely on translation. I bet there's a bunch of subtleties and wordplay that I'm missing. I'd love to read Little Prince in French, Kazuo Ishiguro and Murakami's books in Japanese, and Noli Mi Tangere in Spanish. :)

Rai.S. wrote:

Rose.Angelie wrote:

Not Language related but mine includes people who walk sooo slow (they're usually on their phone) in the middle of a busy street/corner/corrider/alley/pedestrian, aisle,etc.. and those that suddenly stop (while walking) without taking consideration/not minding the people behind them. Whenever this happens, I'd tell the person "EXCUSE MEEE" in a loud, sarcastic tone. Lol

It's okay to "lava walk" in a not-so-busy street, but not in a crowded place. It's irksome for people whose time is gold. :)

Group of friends walking like they're filiming an MV! Hahahahaha! It bothers me too.

People touching my pens. I feel like their body oils seep under my skin when I use my pen. :S

Jess.PWinkler wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Jess.PWinkler wrote:

My mom and my grand mother used to make between 700 to 1000 cookies every year for christmas @.@.... That's a tradition I've tried to keep, but I had a lower the amout of cookies or I'll go mad hahahaa

We just got an oven so I'm gonna try baking this Christmas! I bought 4 kilos of chocolates because I'll be making choco chip cookies and revel bars to be given to friends. :) I've never baked anythign before so I hope it works out.

YUM! Good luck:)!!! Try a small batch at first and see how it goes!

Thanks! I saved like 10 different receipes I found online and I'm thinkign how I'm gonna tweak them so I can make it my own. :D

I saw this and just had to buy it! Maybe I'll try learning Japanese next. :D

Jess.PWinkler wrote:

My mom and my grand mother used to make between 700 to 1000 cookies every year for christmas @.@.... That's a tradition I've tried to keep, but I had a lower the amout of cookies or I'll go mad hahahaa

We just got an oven so I'm gonna try baking this Christmas! I bought 4 kilos of chocolates because I'll be making choco chip cookies and revel bars to be given to friends. :) I've never baked anythign before so I hope it works out.

I remember seeing a clip before where they referred to "dialects of English". Maybe that's what Canadian English is.

leosmith wrote:

the vowels are the same as Spanish

Yep. We don't use the accent marks they do though. The only "special" character we have is n+~. Lol. I'm on my phone and just realized I can't type it.

Maybe the learning mats have it as a guide for learners?

We only have five vowels - a, e, i, o u. So everytime you see the letter "a" in any word, it sounds the same. Same goes for all the other vowels. The underlined parts were the correct stressed syllables but the diacritical marks didn't make sense to me.

Here are the closest equivalent soudns to English (Merriam-Webster Phonetic Alphabet)

Filipino a - sounds like Italian a. Ex: father

Filipino e - sounds like short e. Ex: net

Filipino i - sounds like short i. Ex: fit

Filipino o - sounds like circumflex o. Ex: saw

Filipino u - sounds like long u. Ex: pool

This is why a lot of Filipino speakers have difficulty with tense sounds -- our language only has 1 (Filipino u).

I still use pen and paper lists too but when I'm handling several projects, Asana is very handy.

I love how this video gives an insight into how the alphabet was created and stuff.

SGP wrote:

Maraming salamat sa iyo. More than what I even was expecting.

Walang anuman. Kung mag-aaral ka ng Filipino, maraming pwedeng tumulong sa'yo dito. :)

Re what Leo said, if you're planning to relocate to Visayas, go for Cebuano instead of Filipino. People from that region can speak better English than they do Tagalog. When I conduct training in that area, I have to train in straight English because a lot of the learners are more comfortable with English than they are with Filipino. But if you want to learn the language so you can communicate with random Filipinos you meet, Filipino is definitely the way to go.

Interesting. :) I mostly watch dramas these days from Netflix. That and torrents. I'll try this and see how it's linked to learning Korean. :)

Rai.S. wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

Nope. :) I'm not really into travelling and mostly just travel for work. Would love to go to Japan though. :P

Japan is interesting too, ikay. I wish you'll get to travel there soon. :)

My husband and I want to go there to eat and eat and eat. Cost of living is insane there so it'll probably be a while before we get to go. :)

SGP wrote:

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

Asana is a project management platform, I am on Asana for my article writing. You can create and build teams set projects share files deadlines etc and schedule easily

What if I was someone who is very communicative, but still prefers to work on certain projects on his own? I.e. without team work. Could it (Asana) still be useful?

You can use it for creating to-do lists. You can set it so you get email reminders for deadlines and stuff.

I've tried several project management tools (Bitrix, Trello, DaPulse) and Asana is the best one I've tried so far.

SGP wrote:

ikaymoreno wrote:

I grew up writign down things so it's helpful for me. I feel like I'm learning it twice when I write things down.

And I also grew up writing down things.
Still doing so for a number of purposes.
While also striving for balancing it, and not writing down too much.
Because one day I read that in some situations (not all), a piece of paper would act as an external brain cell.
And it would be one that isn't available all the time.
Then I verified this claim a bit ;), and at least for me, it really was like that too often.
So writing something down could either aid or hinder remembering it, it depends.

I'm so old school I design PowerPoint presentations on paper. Hahahahahaha! I used to do that because we didn't have a computer so I need to have my sh*t all planned out before I go out and rent a computer to write a report or create a PPT. To this day, I create my outlines for manuals and PPTs on paper before I work on it on my laptop.

That and my to-do lists are still on paper. :) I use Asana for most of my projects but I still have a to-do list on paper. 

 "How come there are so many Tagalog speakers here"?

- Referrals, I think. That several of the people who signed up from here wanted to sign up as teachers. :)

"Is there any (major) difference between the official language of the Philippines and the variant actually spoken there?"

- The Philippines is made up of about 7000 islands so we have a boatload of dialects. It's divided into three major regions though: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Tagalog is the dialect spoken in Metro Manila. This is in Luzon and is a defined cosmopolitan area made up of 16 cities, including our capital, Manila. Almost very Filipino can understand Tagalog. Almost everyone in Luzon (and even Visayas and Mindanao) can speak it well. I travel around the country a lot and the only people I've encountered who couldn't understand Tagalog were those who grew up in really far flung provinces. That and really old people who grew up speaking only their dialect.

The move to making "Filipino" the national language is more of for inclusion rather than because it's a separate language or dialect from Tagalog. People from Luzon are called Tagalog and so calling the national language Tagalog didn't sit well with a lot of people. 

I've lived here all my life and I honeslty can't think of a single difference (grammar, spelling, vocabulary) between Tagalog and Filipino. The only time I've ever seen people make the distinction is when we're talking about national languages. A lot of people still say Tagalog so someone is bound to correct them and say it's Filipino. I think when they called it Filipino, they also re-did the alphabet and included Western ones we didn't have. So I guess Filipino is the "standard" Tagalog you were referring to.

So if you want to speak to Filipinos from abroad, study Filipino. If you find Tagalog materials online, don't fret. It really is just the same thing.