Philippine Spanish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Philippine Spanish |
|
|---|---|
| español filipino castellano filipino |
|
| Native to | Philippines |
| Native speakers | Native: 4,000 (2020) Proficient: 400,000 (2020) Total: 1 million (2014) |
| Language family | |
| Early forms: |
Proto-Indo-European
|
| Writing system | Latin (Spanish alphabet) |
| Official status | |
| Recognised minority language in |  Philippines |
| Regulated by | Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language |
Philippine Spanish (Spanish: español filipino or castellano filipino) is a special type of Spanish spoken mostly by Spanish Filipinos in the Philippines. It's like a unique version of Spanish, with its own special words and ways of speaking.
This Spanish dialect has some cool features that make it different from Spanish spoken elsewhere. For example, it uses the word vosotros (meaning "you all"), just like in Spain. But it also shares some things with Spanish spoken in Latin America, like seseo. This means that the 'c' before 'e' or 'i', and 'z' sounds like an 's', not like the 'th' sound in Spain. Philippine Spanish also has its own special words, influenced by local Filipino languages.
The Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language helps keep this language alive. About one million people in the Philippines know or speak some Spanish. Around 4,000 people say Spanish is their first language.
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Where is Philippine Spanish Spoken?
You can find Philippine Spanish speakers all over the country. Many live in big cities like Metro Manila. There are also smaller groups in farming areas. These include places where sugarcane grows, like Negros (around Bacolod and Dumaguete). You'll also find speakers in fruit-growing areas of Mindanao, such as Cagayan de Oro and Davao City.
Other cities with Spanish speakers include Cebu, Iloilo, and Zamboanga. Most native Philippine Spanish speakers are from the country's middle and upper class families.
How Many People Speak Spanish?
It's a bit tricky to know exactly how many people speak Spanish in the Philippines. The numbers can be very different depending on who you ask!
- In 2014, the Instituto Cervantes thought there were about one million Spanish speakers. This included people who knew just a little or a lot.
- In 2023, a professor named Maria Luisa Young guessed around 500,000 people spoke or knew Spanish.
- A 2022 report said there were about 460,000 Spanish speakers. But this number included people who speak Chavacano (a Spanish-based creole language).
- The 2020 Philippine census found that only 167 families spoke Spanish at home.
- Another estimate from 2020 said there were about 4,000 native Spanish speakers.
It's hard to get exact numbers because the Philippine government doesn't update these statistics often. The last good estimate was from 2008. It said about 6,000 people spoke Spanish as their first language. It also said two million Filipinos spoke Spanish as a second or third language. Plus, there were 1.2 million Chavacano speakers.
Many Filipinos are also learning Spanish for work. This might mean the real number of speakers is even higher now. Some Filipinos know Spanish well, but not as well as native speakers. These are called "semi-speakers."
The Future of Philippine Spanish
Philippine Spanish is not studied as much as other types of Spanish. People sometimes confuse it with Chavacano or just focus on Spanish words used in Filipino languages.
Some people worry that Philippine Spanish is an "endangered" language. Most speakers also speak English and other Filipino languages. There are not many native speakers under 40 years old. Also, many speakers now live outside the Philippines.
After the Americans took over the Philippines, English became the main language for government and schools. Later, a national language based on Tagalog (now Filipino) was developed. This caused Spanish to be used less and less. After World War II, English became very important. Spanish-speaking Filipinos mostly use the language at home. It's not used much in public because fewer people speak it. Some non-Spanish speaking Filipinos also don't like the language.
However, things are changing! More Filipinos are becoming interested in Spanish. The language is also becoming more popular around the world.
- Since 2009, Spanish has been taught again in some public high schools. It's now the biggest foreign language program in public schools. Over 7,000 students studied Spanish in the 2021–2022 school year.
- The business process outsourcing industry also helps. Spanish speakers can earn more money in this field.
Because of this, a new group of Spanish speakers is growing. Most of them learned Spanish as a second language. Some learn it to show their national pride. A smaller number are native speakers who learned Spanish at home from their parents.
How Philippine Spanish Sounds
Philippine Spanish sounds clear and traditional. It's like the Spanish spoken in Spain in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It hasn't been much influenced by other Spanish dialects from Spain. However, it does have some unique sounds because of its history. It was influenced by Latin American Spanish and local Filipino languages.
Unlike Philippine English, Philippine Spanish generally sounds the same across the country. There are not many differences in how people from different regions pronounce words.
The 'll' and 'y' Sounds
In Philippine Spanish, the 'll' sound (like in "silla" meaning "chair") is different from the 'y' sound (like in "yo" meaning "I"). This is similar to some parts of northern Spain. In most other Spanish places, these two sounds are pronounced the same. For example, "silla" sounds like "si-ya" in many places, but in the Philippines, it's more like "si-lya."
Younger speakers might pronounce 'll' a bit differently. Sometimes, 'll' at the start of a word, like in "lluvia" (rain), might sound more like an 'l'.
Long ago, it's thought that the 'll' and 'y' sounds might have been pronounced the same, like in Mexico. But by the late 1800s, speakers started making them different. This was like the fancy way of speaking in Spain at the time. Today, most people learning Spanish in the Philippines still keep these sounds separate.
The 's' Sound (Seseo)
Just like in Latin American Spanish, Philippine Spanish uses seseo. This means that the 'c' before 'e' or 'i', and 'z' sounds like an 's'. For example, "cerveza" (beer) sounds like "ser-be-sa". This is different from Spain, where 'c' and 'z' can sound like 'th'.
While seseo is still the main way to speak, some native speakers have started to make the 'c' and 'z' sound like 'th' sometimes. This is similar to what happened with the 'll' and 'y' sounds.
Newer generations learning Spanish are often taught the way it's spoken in Spain. So, they might start using the 'th' sound for 'c' and 'z'.
Hard Consonant Sounds
In Philippine Spanish, the letters 'b', 'd', and 'g' are usually pronounced as hard sounds. This is different from other Spanish dialects where these sounds can be softer. For example, "pared" (wall) might sound like "pa-red" with a hard 'd', or sometimes even "pa-rer" (like the 'r' in "car") because of Filipino language influence.
Philippine Spanish Words
Over time, Philippine Spanish has developed its own special words and phrases called filipinismos. Some of these words have even become part of Spanish used in other countries. Others have influenced local Filipino languages.
These unique words come from a few places:
- Words borrowed from Filipino languages or other foreign languages.
- Old Spanish words that are no longer used in Spain but are still used in the Philippines.
- New Spanish words or phrases created by speakers in the Philippines.
Since the mid-1900s, English has also had a big impact on Philippine Spanish words. This is similar to how English affects Spanish in places like Puerto Rico or the United States.
It's hard to keep track of all these filipinismos. Many are in danger of disappearing because Spanish taught in schools is often from Spain, not the Philippines. There's also no big dictionary that collects all these special words.
Words from Latin American Spanish
Philippine Spanish uses many words from Latin American Spanish, especially from Mexico. For example, words like metate (a grinding stone) and tiangue (a market) show this influence.
It also uses words like maní for "peanut" and hincarse for "to kneel." In Spain, they would say cacahuete and arrodillarse.
Words from Spanish in Spain
Most basic words in Philippine Spanish come from Spain. For example, they use patata for "potato," just like in Spain.
Sometimes, a word from Spain might have a slightly different meaning. For example, camarón means "shrimp" (from Latin America). But gamba (from Spain) is also used, but it means a smaller shrimp.
Some words from Spain and Latin America are used equally, like melocotón (Spain) and durazno (Latin America) for "peach." But for "apartment," only the Latin American words apartamento and departamento are used. The word piso (from Spain) is not used for apartments.
Words from English
English words have also found their way into Philippine Spanish.
- Some are common in Spanish everywhere, like planta for "plant" (instead of fábrica for factory).
- Some are also used in Spanish in the United States, like sugestión for "suggestion."
- And some English words are used directly, keeping their original spelling and meaning. Examples include avocado, jeepney, and overol (overalls).
Because many Spanish speakers in the Philippines also speak English, English pronunciation can affect how they say some Spanish words. For example, Europa (Europe) might sound like "Yu-ro-pa" (like in English) instead of the usual Spanish pronunciation.
Unique Philippine Words and Phrases
Many words and phrases are only used by Spanish speakers in the Philippines. Some of these have even been added to the official Spanish dictionary by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). Early unique words included caracoa (a type of boat) and barangay (a local village unit).
These unique words fall into different groups:
- Words borrowed from Filipino languages: For example, bolo (a type of knife) comes from the Tagalog word bolo. Baguio (for typhoons) is another example. These borrowings are mostly for plants, animals, and cultural things like food.
- Old Spanish words kept in the Philippines: For instance, aparador means "wardrobe" in Philippine Spanish, but in other Spanish places, they use armario. They also use aeroplano instead of avión for "airplane." And asking "What is your grace?" (¿Cuál es su gracia?) to ask someone's name is an old phrase no longer used elsewhere.
- Spanish words that changed meaning: For example, lenguaje means "national language" in the Philippines.
- New words created in the Philippines: These include words like abrazador (a cylindrical sleeping pillow) or abogadillo (a paralegal).
Many common filipinismos, like pandesal (a type of bread) and cundimán (a traditional Filipino song), are not yet in the RAE dictionary. People are asking for them to be included!
See also
In Spanish: Español filipino para niños
- Spanish dialects and varieties
- Spanish language in the Philippines
- Philippine literature in Spanish
- Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language
