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The San Diego Union-Tribune

Filipino, Tagalog have some differences


October 28, 2004

So just what is this language called, anyway?

It's been Filipino for the past 17 years.

Some Filipinos call their language Tagalog in casual conversation, but there are some distinctions between it and Filipino.

"From a teacher's point of view, if you call it Tagalog, you're missing eight letters," said Ed Lim, a teacher of Filipino language at Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista.

Not only does Filipino's 28-letter alphabet exceed Tagalog's but it borrows more heavily from other languages than Tagalog does.

The question of what to call the national language goes back to 1937, when the National Language Institute was founded. It selected Tagalog as the basis of a new national language. There are more than 100 languages spoken in the Philippines, but Tagalog is one of about half a dozen major languages and the one most widely used in Manila, the capital.

In 1959, Tagalog was renamed Pilipino in an attempt to shed the language's ethnic ties and gain it broader acceptance nationwide.

The country's 1973 Constitution named Pilipino and English the official languages of the Philippines.

The name Filipino is codified in the 1987 Constitution, which states: "The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages."

Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637;

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