Learning the Tagalog Language
Tagalog is a member of the Indonesian sub-group of the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages. This group also includes Malagasy, Malay, Indonesian, and Javanese.
Tagalog is the first language of approximately 15 million people. The majority of these live in southern Luzon which includes Manila. The study of Tagalog is strongly encouraged by the Philippine government and approximately over 75 percent of the population understands the Tagalog language.
There are however 80 other languages and dialects spoken in the islands.
Tagalog was declared the national language of the Philippines in 1936. However in light of other languages, a compromise was reached in 1973 establishing Philipino as the national language. Philipino is based on Tagalog, but also incorporates elements of other Philippine languages.
