Buwan ng Wika: Celebrating Native Languages
Celebrating the National Month of the Filipino Language 🇵🇭
Happy August, fam! This month we celebrate Philippine culture, heritage and identity through its languages — a celebration known as Buwan ng Wika.
Did you know the archipelago has more than 170 dialects? The national language, Filipino (which is based on Tagalog), plays a key role in unifying the archipelagic nation of the Philippines.
‘Loboc Floating Restaurant’ Loboc, Philippines, 2017 — © Austin Nicomedez
Why are native languages so important?
Celebrating native language is crucial for retaining and commemorating culture, diversity and knowledge all over the world.
Native languages need to be protected. Languages affect how we think, connect, learn and behave. They're the basis of our personalities and cultures. Language helps us fight for rights, peace and inclusion. Language creates diversity.
The more languages we have, the more diverse society is. Diversity is interesting, beautiful, and educational. Diversity gives us compassion for our differences and cultural learning opportunities.
Enabling and promoting indigenous languages empowers the communities that speak them. Mother tongues are a bridge to freedom of speech, self-expression, equality and respect. Education and knowledge is more effective if a child can speak their native language.
If a language is lost, so too is tradition, philosophy, and thousands of years of knowledge encoded in its vocabulary. The more languages that thrive, the more challenged our minds and hearts. Through language we recognise and celebrate identity.
India and Claire wear colourful Igorot ("Mountaineer") beads in tribute to the Kalinga women.
What are the official languages spoken in The Philippines?
As an archipelago of over 7,600 islands, The Philippines has almost as many languages. English and Tagalog/Filipino are its two official languages (the country has the third-highest population of English speakers in the world).
Taglog isn’t universally spoken, but it’s the best known. Spanish was the country’s official language for centuries until the early 20th century when, under US occupation, English was introduced into the national curriculum and became a national language alongside Spanish in 1935.
Whilst Tagalog and English are the two official languages, there are eight recognised regional languages.
‘Sinulog’ Cebu, Philippines, 2020 — © Hitoshi Namura
8 Most Spoken Regional Languages in The Philippines
1. Tagalog
Derived from tagá-ílog (“river native”), Tagalog in its standardized form is officially named Filipino and is the national language of the Philippines. It's highly influenced by Spanish and English, as well as Chinese and Arabic.
Examples of the Tagalog language:
morena • (brown-skinned)
2. Cebuano
Cebuano, also known as Bisaya, is the most widely spoken Visayan language. Most Cebuano speakers are in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Biliran, Leyte, Eastern Negros and Mindanao.
Examples of the Cebuano language :
matahum • (beautiful)
3. Ilocano
Ilocano, also known as Ilokano and Iloko (“people of the bay”), is the third most-spoken native language in the country after Tagalog and English. The Ilocanos Ilokanos, or the Iloko people, are the third biggest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.
Examples of the Ilocano language:
nailulongan • (earthly)
4. Hilgaynon (Ilonggo)
Hilgaynon, colloquially known as Ilonggo, is the second-most widely spoken language in the Visayas. The Hiligaynon people (mga Hiligaynon), also called the Ilonggo people (mga Ilonggo) or Panayan people are a Visayan ethnic group whose first language is Hiligaynon.
Examples of the Ilonggo language:
sáot • (to dance)
5. Kapampangan
Kapampangan is predominantly spoken in the province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac. The Kapampangan people (Pampangueños or Pampangos) are the sixth largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines.
Examples of the Kapampangan language:
sampaga • (flower)
6. Waray
Waray, native to Eastern Visayas, is the fifth most spoken native regional language of the Philippines. The Austronesian language is spoken by the Waray-Waray, also called Waray or Samaran or Samareño. The Waray people are a subgroup of Bisaya people - the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the country.
Examples of the Waray-Waray language :
kalibutan • (earth)
7. Bikol
Bikol or Bicolano languages are a family of Central Philippine languages spoken mostly in the Bicol Peninsula in the island of Luzon.
Examples of the Bicolano language :
hararom • (deep)
8. Taglish
‘Taglish’ is the unofficial mish-mash of Tagalog and English you’ll hear in Filipino communities worldwide. It's the code-switching used by Titas, Titos, Nanays and Tatays worldwide — especially in the US and UK. If you know, you know!
Examples of Taglish:
Pakí-pass ang rice! • (Please pass the rice!)
What languages do you speak? Share with us, so we can celebrate you too 👐🏾