⌛ Common Expressions For Philippine Travel

More than ninety percent of the population in the Philippines may be fluent in English but just to be sure, you feel that it would be better if you learn a few common expressions in Filipino, hoping that they’d prove to be useful in emergency situations.

The Filipino language is quite easy to learn because its pronunciation is easy to master and its grammar structure is very similar to that of English. A lot of its words have also been borrowed from other languages such as English, Chinese and Spanish so if you’re a foreigner from any of those countries, you may find some Filipino words sound very familiar to your ears.

Well, anyway, as promised, I’m here to teach you common and helpful expressions in Filipino that could prove to be handy when you finally travel to Philippines. And without further ado, here they are:

Greetings – This is a very important aspect of interaction to Filipinos because for them, exchanging greetings is a way of showing your respect and care towards the person you’re talking to. Courtesy is greatly valued by Filipinos and when you travel to the Philippines, you’d no doubt realize this for yourself. And so, here are a few greetings you should be familiar with:

Kumusta po kayo? – This means “how are you” in Filipino and is a typical greeting used when you get to see any Filipino whom you expect to see regularly in your stay in the Philippines.

If a Filipino, on the other hand, says this to you, the proper reply would be “Mabuti naman, at ikaw?” which means “I’m fine, you?”. A variation of the first phrase is “kumusta ka/kumusta ka na?”.

Magandang Umaga/Hapon/Gabi/Araw – These phrases respectively mean good morning / afternoon / evening / day. You can use these greetings the way you use them in English.

Situational Expressions – We expect that when you travel to the Philippines, you won’t be just lying in your hotel room and enjoying the blast of the air-conditioner. We assume that you’re going to dine, shop, tour, swim and complete a number of other tasks. Here are a few expressions to help you as you complete your itinerary.

“Magkano po ito?” – This is what you could say when asking for the price.
“Paki ulit po ang sinabi ninyo.” – This is what you could say when you want somebody to repeat what he or she has said.

“Hindi po ako nakakaintindi ng Tagalog” – This just means that you’re unable to understand Tagalog.

 

well 90% speaking English fluent is stretching the truth by a mile tbh

I ran into this site for some basics and a good laugh as well

LEARN TAGALOG @ Tagalog Lang

it seems to be set up for the usual visitor :D