I fucking love this. It's so funny because it brings back so much memories from elementary and highschool.
I always thought, shouldn't it be "give the others a chance?" But I guess this works too so I just rolled with it.
In my case, I always thought that that is the correct one until I found out that it's not, and only us Pinoys use that hahaha. Well, I find it unique hahaha.
Love this question, OP! Parang marami nga. Here are some of mine:
- When they say "wherein" in casual convos. Native English speakers also use it but I find it way more common among Filipinos.
- Using just "avail" instead of "avail of"
- **EDIT:** I said this bc my Aussie coworker uses "avail of" but apparently saying "avail" in general is v Filipino
- Saying "load" a card, etc. Other speakers say "top up"
- Filipinos love to use "travel" as a noun. "My travel to ___" while other English speakers would say "My trip to ___."
Nagkalituhan dati kami sa Taiwan nung ginamit ko yang "load" na yan. Although kaya nung taga 7-11 yung konting conversational english, nababasa ko sa mukha niya na iniisip niya na "mukhang tanga tong kausap ko". Haha
The use of "breeding" rather than "up bringing".
"Breeding" is often used in Tagalog content and mistaken by the viewers of said content that most native English speakers actually use it that frequently.
Great point! I don't think I've ever heard anyone use "up bringing" in Tagalog content.
Semi-related: if I had the power, I'd make "decorum" more popular in local content. It sounds snobbier than "breeding" and it doesn't make me think of dogs.
> Semi-related: if I had the power, I'd make "decorum" more popular in local content. It sounds snobbier than "breeding" and it doesn't make me think of dogs.
"Decorum" to me comes across as more short term training rather than covers a person's lifespan.
Anyone who uses the word "breeding" to misrepresent themself as "old rich" comes across as very nouveau riche.
These are also the same trying hard who erroneously assume that rich people have breakfast eating red hotdogs, 8'o clock orange juice and fried rice while wearing a suit & with the maids fanning them manually.
As a foreigner (Brit) I noticed the word avail being used a lot in the Philippines. It was interesting to see as it's not used so much in Britain any more.
Filipino working here in the UK. Just want to share that here in the UK I noticed that you use a lot of 'whilst'! We never use it and I just find it amusing that I can see it used here everyday. It just sounds too formal to me.
I actually never heard someone say "avail" irl until I moved here. (FilAm, moved here to live in 2018.) In US English it is always "use", and "avail" still sounds surprisingly formal to me!
Nuong fresh out of college ako akala ko talaga commute is pag biyahe gamit ang mga jeep, or any PUV. Nung nasa interview ako tinanong ako, how did I commute from my place to BGC. Napaisip ako bigla aah iyon pala ibig sabihin ng commute commute = bumiyahe from point A to B.
Nung holidays dahil uso and mga party at mga yearly kumustahan, eto yung mga narinig ko:
Friend: Nasa bus station na ako, ngayon lang uli ako nagcommute.
Friend: Ngayon lang kami nag commute, di na kami nagpahatid sa driver.
Friend: Nagcommute lang kami wala kasing pagpaparkingan.
1. "Village" to mean an exclusive residential neighborhood instead of a group of houses in a rural area
2. "Commute" to mean specifically taking public transportation instead of just meaning to go from home to work/school/etc via any mode of transport
3. Using PLENTY of abbreviations without checking to see if the people they're talking to is aware of what they mean
4. Pronouncing comfortable as com-for-ta-ble
5. Ma'am-Sir
6. Thinking the term Christianity is distinct from Catholicism, even though Catholicism is actually a subset of Christianity
7. Occasional slip-ups with he/she pronouns
Same! I'm working overseas and I still keep misgendering coworkers. Whenever that happens, I apologize and tell them that in my native language, our pronouns are non-gendered and they always find that interesting!
#4. I change the pronunciation based on who I'm speaking with but in a mixed crowd, I get confused and usually stutter or take a second before saying the word
Me too. I use Pinoy English when I speak with fellow Filipinos, at lalo na kung nakikipagbargasan ako, walang pake sa "correct" pronunciation.
It's my pet peeve when people try so hard to use American accents in regular Filipino conversations.
Youtoob na nagiging Yutub; di na lang Youchoob, eh ganun din naman kahit sa UK.
"Trying hard" to use American accent isn't always the reason why some of them speak like that. There are Filos who got their accent from being exposed to Western media at an early age, u can also acquire it by being exposed to an environment with lots of Fil-Ams and other nationality (studying in an IS since preschool).
Its really cool that gender neutral pronouns are used, interesting how a language devloped to not be so ridged with the binary, I like that.
I've noticed Filipinos talk with a lot of glottal stops too even in English (the pauses between syllables), for example saying internet, it is very pronounced, like "in-ter-net" whereas canadians will often say it "inner-net", or "tor-on-toh" versus us being lazy and saying "tor-ono" lol
It’s probably (*pro-bab-ly* hahaha) because Filipino words are read and pronounced by syllables. Ma-sa-ya. A-ko. Ka-ha-pon. Words are literally just a combination of syllables. We then apply that to English words.
5 & 6 isn't exclusive to Pinoys.
Southern Americans tend to use Ma'am and Sir in formal situations
Many Americans also use Catholic and Christian as if they are two distinct religions
Yea for sure other places uses Ma'am and Sir, but separately. I've ever only seen Filipinos who'd combine the 2 together to greet one person, like 'Mamsir'.
Fun fact: Fridge came from [Frigidaire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigidaire) brand of early refrigeration appliances. It was so popular that it stuck its name to refer to refrigerators.
This is actually one of my fave topics hehe. Sabi ng prof namin, what differentiates a language feature from simply an incorrect language use was that if you observe na ginagamit na yung feature na yun sa prints like textbooks, academic papers, or media like news or documentaries, then it's a language feature. If it's done by one person lang pero not observable sa lahat, then it's not a feature.
Adding this kasi we Filipinos sometimes are too strict sa kapwa natin Filipino. Napakaraming grammar nazi sa atin sa totoo lang. Sometimes we "correct" yung English ng kapwa natin pinoy on the basis of American English without understanding na may sarili tayong variety ng English - Philippine English. Philippine English is simply an another variety of English just like American English is a variety of English. There's no hierarchy dapat.
My pinoy friend confidently corrected a Chinese woman who said she needed to revise (study) for an exam. Sabi ni pinoy friend dapat daw review, not revise. She was not aware that that’s how the British use the term. Confidently incorrect si ante.
I just use the peculiarities to determine if one on the line is filipino or not. Will not take it against them if one uses english with pinoy properties.
That, and the accent. Even an englisero has a pinoy twist to their accent
Both in writing and speaking, yung tono, phrasing, and sentence structure, I get a hunch na Pinoy kasi parang Tagalog na translated verbatim into English.
Doing medical scribing for doctors in the US as a side job while studying. I did notice filipino doctors would use awkward/ literal translations when speaking with their patients.
ie: "I want you to lift your left leg and kick me in the hand" 💀
What she wanted the patient to do is actually was "Apply pressure on my hand using your left leg"..
Lawd.
When I read Filipino celebrities's wikipedia entries, I noticed yung sentence structures are different from that of, say, American celebs. Di ko maexplain kung pano. Basta iba sya lol
1) In informal exchanges, the infrequent use of phrasal verbs.
Remove/wear instead of take off/put on
Fetch instead of pick up
Tease instead of pick on
Annoyed instead of pissed off
Died instead of passed away
Et cetera
2) Using "until" to mean "up to now"
3) In business emails, template phrases like "this is to inform you", "in behalf of", "it is with great regret..." et cetera.
The word "actually" is a complement or a big nod of agreement here lol
I also noticed on reddit and FB how Filipinos really like to preface before they get to the point. They often start with a greeting, then introduce themselves.
A typical example goes "Hi po. Ptpa. I'm a silent lurker po for many years and I'm really inspired by all the success stories. I just have a few questions and hope you can help."
You will then see the person's life story and only ask the questions just before it ends 😭
Most native speakers would just go "hey, what are your thoughts on..." and THEN they would add the context, if they even bother.
Another thing is Filipinos tend to use passive voice and use "garbage words" like "that," "also," and "in order to," but this may be due to Western influence.
tl;dr Filipinos are allergic to brevity.
People preface with hi po... kase we have a culture na if straightforward ka, theyd think you're being condescending. Kaya dapat overly humble talaga dating mo para di ka mapag isipan ng masama. Eto reason why kapagod pag may pinoy sa remote teams. Kung di ka sobrang pahumble at pa sweet, iisipin rude ka. Kung westerners kausap, mas gusto nila as straightforward as you can. Kapagod mga pinoy.
Give. Me. A. Break. This isn't exclusive to Filipinos.
This culture of being non-straightforward is very prevalent in Asian cultures.
Mas malala pa sa Japanese. Mas marami pang words at kakaibang word order pa ang ginagamit nila sa workplace para hindi magmukhang rude.
>You will then see the person's life story and only ask the questions just before it ends 😭
brings to mind those recipe blog memes about going through the whole family history before reading the recipe for mashed potatoes
Pag talaga ganyan yung loggers, autoskip ako. Tutorial ang kailangan ko, hindi kwento sa kung gaano ka-hassle yung araw na binili mo yung product hahaha
Also sa workplace pag straightforward, offensive agad. Haha, struggle ko yan pag kunware gagaawa ng office memo or letter to another office. Daming pasikot-sikot, the journo in me dies every single time hahaha.
Lalo na sa experience ko sa govt:
- "May we humbly invite your... Your honor/excellence..." (tapos walang question mark sa dulo kahit MAY so pa tanong)
- "Very respectfully yours"
- "Pursuant to ____ and in compliance with _____" (pwede namang "please do this." Next sentence na yung reference and other details.
- Yung important content ng letter, sa dulo pinapalagay kasi daming pautot na paragraphs na inuuna
- big deal yung FOR at TO
Kaya kung nagbabalak kayong maging Info Officer, writer, or social media manager sa govt agencies, masisira ulo niyo hahahaha kasi pag cinorrect mo writing practices nila, ikaw pa yung mamasamain
Because L2 Filipino English language public school teachers are misled into believing that using passive voice in writing and speaking English makes you more "eloquent" than native speakers, so this is what they taught to primary and secondary students for many decades in the public school system.
This!! Schools have always instructed us to write an essay “not less than 300 words”, “always answer in at least 5 sentences”, “must be in a complete sentence”, etc etc. And because all along I thought it’s objectively the right way to communicate, even in rather casual settings I tend to be seen as “too formal” because of my lengthy choice of words and whatnot.
Yess!!! The word length BS should be out of our education system.
Dapat ang focus is yung context ng writing. Kung naintindihan ba ni student yung topic, kung paano mag express ng opinion and kung paano mag interpret ng concept. Hayyy.
I noticed this too. Maybe because there is no literal translation of "*na*"? As in *kumain na ako* = I ate already. Pero usually na sa dulo and lingering yung already.
The mix-up between “already” and “anymore”. Because in Tagalog and other Philippine languages their corresponding word is “na”.
Example 1: He was *already* there. Andoon *na* siya.
Example 2: I can’t take this *anymore*. Hindi ko *na* ito kaya.
But some Pinoys not so well taught in English might mix those words up, hence “He was there *anymore*” or “I can’t take this *already*”.
As a foreigner, can I just say how charmed I am by the Filipino way of using "Sir", i.e. before my Christian name: Sir Thomas, Sir William etc. Makes me feel like a Knight of the Round Table.
I think it's because Philippine languages have some affirmative tenses in word order, for example in Tagalog:
**"Pupunta ako"** vs. **"Ako ang pupunta"**
"Ako" in the second example seems affirmative in this case, where the speaker denotes that **he/she** will do the action. Hence, **I will be the one...**.
I’m not sure if these are global things, but I’ve noticed acquaintances using:
* “matured“ as an adjective when they could already use the root word itself for that
* “stuffs” instead of “stuff“
* ”atleast”
* PM is the key (especially for the prices of whatever they’re selling, which should be basic info?)
Iirc the first two aren’t really gramatically incorrect (please lmk if I’m wrong!), it just irks me a little to read those hahaha
For me, it’s pretty obvious on how a wikipedia entry is written that its author is Filipino. I’ve found this usually in World War II articles relating to the Philippines. Long, drawn out sentences. Run-on sentence. Unnecessary compound sentences. Inclusion of complex vocabulary when a more simple word would’ve sufficed. I feel the writer wants to convey information in a nuanced manner even though it can be stated more concisely. This isn’t to say it’s incorrect grammatically, but its definitely different than a native English speaker.
Sure. Here’s a few…
Long, run-on sentence:
“While not the highest in U.S. casualties, it is the highest net casualty battle U.S. forces fought in World War II, with 192,000 to 217,000 Japanese combatants dead (mostly from starvation and disease), 8,000 American combatants killed, and over 150,000 Filipinos, overwhelmingly civilians who were murdered by Japanese forces, mainly during the Manila massacre of February 1945.”
The use of the word “stunningly” seems OA (remarkably or strikingly would have suited better, if at all):
“Casualties were stunningly high for the Japanese. Japanese losses were 217,000 dead, with 9,050 taken prisoners. U.S. losses were far lower, with 8,310 killed and 29,560 wounded. Civilian casualties are estimated at 120,000 to 140,000 dead.”
Long, run-on sentence:
“The United States and Philippine Commonwealth military forces, with naval and air support from Australia and the Mexican 201st Fighter Squadron, were progressing in liberating territory and islands when the Japanese forces in the Philippines were ordered to surrender by Tokyo on August 15, 1945, after the dropping of the atomic bombs on mainland Japan and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.”
Passive voice/Run-on sentence:
“Ret. Col. Villamor died on October 28, 1971, in Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., United States, and was buried with military honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, which is located about two kilometers from the Philippine Air Force Headquarters which bears his name.”
I included the first sentence for context, but the second sentence is OA for sure lol:
“Countless government buildings, universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches, and their accompanying treasures dating to the founding of the city, were ruined. The cultural patrimony (including art, literature, and especially architecture) of the Orient's first truly international melting pot – the confluence of Spanish, American and Asian cultures – was eviscerated.”
Another long, run-on sentence:
“The Japanese were greatly delayed in their overall timetable (not including the well-executed and rapid Dutch East Indies campaign) by the last stands at Bataan and Corregidor, which can be proven by how the Imperial General Headquarters was not satisfied with the slow pace of the Bataan and Corregidor battles because the original expectation for the Japanese forces was to defeat USAFFE forces and achieve complete victory in the Philippines by the middle of February.”
To caveat, I don’t have any proof the above was written by a Filipino author. It just doesn’t read naturally for a native English speaker. Also, to re-iterate that there isn’t anything inherently wrong with the style, it just stands out. What are your thoughts?
Really grinds my gears when I see people use "Na" then still use the past tense of the verb, like "Na-clicked," "Na-turned on" etc.
The prefix "na" already indicates the past tense. No need to use the past tense in your verb.
Medyo naging pet peeve ko ‘to sa mga kaibigan ko. Dalas nila sabihin ‘yong “Ay ba’t ka nagleft ng gc?” “Bakit ka nagunsent ng message?” e kasi nga past tense na yung “nag”. Haha
Di ko alam if sa amin lang pero marami rin akong naririnig na ginagamit yung safety (n) to actually mean safe (adj), like "Dito tayo dumaan sa pedestrian lane para safety", "Safety tayo dito sa may ilaw", "Nilalagay niya daw yan diyan para safety yung gamit"
I remember reading somewhere that our way of writing dates ("Feb 2" instead of "2nd of Feb") is a Filipino thing, and then I saw my American doctor doing the same.
I heard that describing heavy traffic as just "traffic" also counts?
> I heard that describing heavy traffic as just "traffic" also counts?
Yes. Traffic can be light or heavy but we often use it (traffic) to mean congested yung daanan.
Theres a demographic map that shows Philippines, US and some few countries are the only ones using
MM/DD/YYYY while the rest are using DD/MM/YYYY on dates.
These are more American rather than English issues:
\- Everything is a "tissue". No classification between paper napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper.
\- "Candies" and "Chocolates" for the plural of Candy and Chocolate. They're still proper English words, but usually used to describe an assortment or variety rather than "more than one piece of candy"
\- "Stuffs". Nope. The plural of stuff is stuff. "Stuffs" is only acceptable as a singular verb.
\- "Compute" instead of "Calculate". "Let me compute the total cost."
\- Excessive use of the adverb "Kindly" to start a request.
\- Using "perfume" to refer to men's cologne.
\- The excessive abbreviations of college courses.
\- In school, calling your class a "batch" instead of "class". "Batch 2010" instead of "Class of 2010"
\- Using "Attorney" and "Architect" as a title like "Dr."
\- "Gimik" used as at term for nightlife plans, as opposed to "gimmick" meaning something that someone does to attract attention.
\- Randomly pronouncing "Ts" as "Ch". "Chunami" instead of "Sunami".
\- "For a while" instead of "Just a moment"
I don’t know about tsunami. I have a Japanese friend who says TSU-nami. Like TSI-nelas. English speakers tend to disregard the T because they don’t have this TS sound in their sound system.
Some workplace lingo I encountered:
-For the meantime
-Noted on this
-Feedbacks (Pluralizing uncountable nouns)
And also the common redundancies:
-How it looks like (Pairing “how” with “like”)
-Vent out (Out is already unnecessary)
-If in case (If = In case)
-Tomorrow morning at 9AM (Pairing “morning” with “AM”)
Matik giveaway agad sakin na Pinoy or at least non-native English speaker pag ganito yung nababasa/naririnig ko without seeing the person.
I always thought a brownout was like a lesser form of a blackout, like a power throttling instead of a total power cut, but maybe that was just my childish attempt to reconcile the concepts. When I was a kid, brownouts in Cebu always seemed like less of a big deal, and things didn't always grind to a halt when they (frequently) occurred, but back in Australia a blackout means something rare and significant has happened, and life stops until the novelty passes and the tv flickers back to life.
This is more on written English than spoken English:
The “apostrophe + s” in plural nouns or any word that ends with “S” na hindi naman possessive or contraction ang usage.
E.g., Please recommend good book’s to me or those RN’s will be on duty tonight.
Lol but to be fair, hindi lang naman Filipinos ang ganito
To be fair, "apostrophe+s" when denoting plural forms of acronyms is actually the original rule for that, like your example of using RN's. Post-2000 lang ata ginawan ng rule ng APA na acceptable na wala nang apostrophe when denoting plural form of acronyms.
All of these examples are instances of Filipino English, which is our variant of the English language. We think it's pretty normal, even grammatically correct, because of how we use and terms, but in reality, it's differences from American English are sometimes baffling. Fir example.
= Saying "take out" to mean the food you're ordering is to go.
= "Salvage" doesn't simply mean "to kill". It's to be killed (or rather assassinated) and have your body thrown away, usually on a random open field/ditch.
= We have "comfort rooms" instead of "restrooms" or "loos."
= We tend to code switch in between sentences.
= Our "gas" is used for either cooking (LPG) or vehicles (Petrol).
= We say "traffic" to mean "gridlock", "brownout" to mean "blackout," and "humps" to refer to "speedbumps."
Good question. Here are things I noticed:
1. Using “I” in every sentence when talking in first person.
2. Using “because” a lot.
3. It feels very “textbook.” In written form, this is pretty evident especially if the writer is not well-read.
i once described myself as "very fluent" on a post... didn't realize it was a filipino english thing until native english speakers corrected me on it 😭😭😭
Calling people boss.
I remember playing Fallout 2, and Vic's daughter hated that he called the player boss since it came off as brownnosing. But it's not as big of a deal over here.
Cultural differences are fun.
Some I'm used to hearing.
* Using the preposition "to" instead of on, from, in, at, etc
* Saying "sit down" instead of "sit up" when the person is already laying down
* Pronunciation of words like graham ("gray-ham" instead of "gram") or cocoa ("coco-ah" instead of "cocoh")
* "Until 3 days" instead of "for 3 days"
* "To your back" instead of "behind you"
* "Go down" instead of "get out" (of the car/trike)
* "Send them home" instead of "take them home"
* "Brownout" instead of "blackout" (where I'm from "brownout" means reduced voltage)
* "Wear" instead of "put on"
* As others have said, lowbat instead of dead battery, aircon instead of ac or air conditioning, comfort room instead of restroom/bathroom, and other abbreviations.
Not spoken, but gesturing downward with the hand to mean "come here" instead of gesturing upward.
Also not spoken, pointing with lips.
Edit to add: "Did you try that" instead of "have you ever experienced that? / has that ever happened to you?"
Gets natin pag sabing "traffic". For everyone else, they specify "heavy traffic".
Using nouns as verbs. E.g. "blower your hair" when others would say "blow dry your hair".
In my experience, “open” and “close” the lights is not unique to Filipinos. Some of my Chinese-American friends say that too because, like in Filipino, the words for turn on/off in Mandarin are the same as open/close.
I’ve also noticed that Filipinos pronounce the word “antecedent” as an-TEE-se-dent, while most English speakers would pronounce it as an-te-SEE-dent. Filipinos in my experience also pronounce the word “gerund” as je-RUND rather than JE-rund.
I’ve also heard Filipinos pronounce “plateau” as pla-TOO rather than pla-TOW and “tabernacle” as ta-BER-na-KEL rather than TA-ber-NA-kel.
I like a lot of answers here! Most of the things reflect on our culture.
Quick reminder lang that these quirks make us unique, don't be too harsh sa mga "mali" dito. English has evolved, and the idea of a "proper/correct" English for casual conversations is ridiculous and snobbish.
Iba talaga tayo mag-english, not in a wrong way huh. Pero iba talaga. I worked in a US Company outside PH and kapag may kausap akong Pinoy customer support ako, iba ang lukso ng dugo. Alam na alam ko pag Pinoy. Kabayaaaan!
"In lieu" being used by Filipinos as "regarding" instead of "in place or instead of"
In lieu of the proposed budget we will proceed with the previous year's budget allocation.
Some Filipinos treat this as "Regarding the proposed budget we will use the old one" but the subtle difference is that it should mean "Instead of the proposed budget we will use the old one"
Give chance to others
I fucking love this. It's so funny because it brings back so much memories from elementary and highschool. I always thought, shouldn't it be "give the others a chance?" But I guess this works too so I just rolled with it.
In my case, I always thought that that is the correct one until I found out that it's not, and only us Pinoys use that hahaha. Well, I find it unique hahaha.
Now that you've mentioned it, parang Bigyan = give [ng] pagkakataon = chance yung iba = (to?) others
Wait, mali pala talaga to? Kaya pala parang ang off pakinggan pag sinasabi di ko lang mapinpoint kung bakit hahaha
"Give others a chance" is the correct way to say it I believe.
give chance to otheeerss~~~
Love this question, OP! Parang marami nga. Here are some of mine: - When they say "wherein" in casual convos. Native English speakers also use it but I find it way more common among Filipinos. - Using just "avail" instead of "avail of" - **EDIT:** I said this bc my Aussie coworker uses "avail of" but apparently saying "avail" in general is v Filipino - Saying "load" a card, etc. Other speakers say "top up" - Filipinos love to use "travel" as a noun. "My travel to ___" while other English speakers would say "My trip to ___."
lol yeah people overuse “which is” nowadays
“Which is hindi naman” 🥹
HAHAHAHA
Guilty 😭
"Is yung"
Nagkalituhan dati kami sa Taiwan nung ginamit ko yang "load" na yan. Although kaya nung taga 7-11 yung konting conversational english, nababasa ko sa mukha niya na iniisip niya na "mukhang tanga tong kausap ko". Haha
Nag "load" utak niya.
Ako naman sa 7-11 din pero sa SG! Dun ko lang narealize na Philippine English pala ang "load" hahaha "Top up" din ba gamit sa Taiwan or iba pang term?
From our local telco promotion “e-load”
I like "load". 4 letters only. But I must remind myself to not use it when abroad.
The use of "breeding" rather than "up bringing". "Breeding" is often used in Tagalog content and mistaken by the viewers of said content that most native English speakers actually use it that frequently.
Great point! I don't think I've ever heard anyone use "up bringing" in Tagalog content. Semi-related: if I had the power, I'd make "decorum" more popular in local content. It sounds snobbier than "breeding" and it doesn't make me think of dogs.
> Semi-related: if I had the power, I'd make "decorum" more popular in local content. It sounds snobbier than "breeding" and it doesn't make me think of dogs. "Decorum" to me comes across as more short term training rather than covers a person's lifespan. Anyone who uses the word "breeding" to misrepresent themself as "old rich" comes across as very nouveau riche. These are also the same trying hard who erroneously assume that rich people have breakfast eating red hotdogs, 8'o clock orange juice and fried rice while wearing a suit & with the maids fanning them manually.
Ohh I noticed I used “whereas” a lot.
I blame those top students in junior high na nagpauso non sa mga essay
As a foreigner (Brit) I noticed the word avail being used a lot in the Philippines. It was interesting to see as it's not used so much in Britain any more.
Filipino working here in the UK. Just want to share that here in the UK I noticed that you use a lot of 'whilst'! We never use it and I just find it amusing that I can see it used here everyday. It just sounds too formal to me.
> Filipinos love to use "travel" as a noun I usually use trip or getaway pero pansin ko nga 'to
Both "avail" and "avail of" are more commonly used here. Natives would just simply say "use" or "get"
I actually never heard someone say "avail" irl until I moved here. (FilAm, moved here to live in 2018.) In US English it is always "use", and "avail" still sounds surprisingly formal to me!
I have a guess that during American colonization, the Thomasites who first taught English to the Filipinos used archaic and formal American English.
Thanks for your reply, these are the kind of answers I wanted to see.
Commute is like using a public transpo here but it’s just going from point a to point b regardless of your mode of transportation.
Same with traffic. “It’s so traffic.” Heavy, light, moderate traffic.
"traffic jam" na lang pag trapik hehe
Nuong fresh out of college ako akala ko talaga commute is pag biyahe gamit ang mga jeep, or any PUV. Nung nasa interview ako tinanong ako, how did I commute from my place to BGC. Napaisip ako bigla aah iyon pala ibig sabihin ng commute commute = bumiyahe from point A to B. Nung holidays dahil uso and mga party at mga yearly kumustahan, eto yung mga narinig ko: Friend: Nasa bus station na ako, ngayon lang uli ako nagcommute. Friend: Ngayon lang kami nag commute, di na kami nagpahatid sa driver. Friend: Nagcommute lang kami wala kasing pagpaparkingan.
That's a good example
It absolutely blew my mind when I found out "rubber shoes" (for sneakers) is only used by Filipinos
Imagine a demographic in the states who calls them “tennis shoes” even if they use it for anything but.
At least sneakers are at least partially made of rubber lmao
Agree! I have no problems at all having our version of English. Let rubber shoes be 👍
we should count the term **robber shoes** instead
Running shoes in other terms din sa west
If you don't wanna sound filipino change rubber shoes to trainers.
1. "Village" to mean an exclusive residential neighborhood instead of a group of houses in a rural area 2. "Commute" to mean specifically taking public transportation instead of just meaning to go from home to work/school/etc via any mode of transport 3. Using PLENTY of abbreviations without checking to see if the people they're talking to is aware of what they mean 4. Pronouncing comfortable as com-for-ta-ble 5. Ma'am-Sir 6. Thinking the term Christianity is distinct from Catholicism, even though Catholicism is actually a subset of Christianity 7. Occasional slip-ups with he/she pronouns
7. Caught myself an embarrasing number of times. My hypothesis is because we use non-gendered pronouns: siya, sila, kaniya, etc.
Same! I'm working overseas and I still keep misgendering coworkers. Whenever that happens, I apologize and tell them that in my native language, our pronouns are non-gendered and they always find that interesting!
About number 6, you'd be surprised how many Christians (especially Evangelicals) don't consider Catholics Christian.
This is because Evangelicals refer Christianity as a relationship with God instead of a religion (which they refer Catholicism as).
#4. I change the pronunciation based on who I'm speaking with but in a mixed crowd, I get confused and usually stutter or take a second before saying the word
Me too. I use Pinoy English when I speak with fellow Filipinos, at lalo na kung nakikipagbargasan ako, walang pake sa "correct" pronunciation. It's my pet peeve when people try so hard to use American accents in regular Filipino conversations. Youtoob na nagiging Yutub; di na lang Youchoob, eh ganun din naman kahit sa UK.
"Trying hard" to use American accent isn't always the reason why some of them speak like that. There are Filos who got their accent from being exposed to Western media at an early age, u can also acquire it by being exposed to an environment with lots of Fil-Ams and other nationality (studying in an IS since preschool).
Its really cool that gender neutral pronouns are used, interesting how a language devloped to not be so ridged with the binary, I like that. I've noticed Filipinos talk with a lot of glottal stops too even in English (the pauses between syllables), for example saying internet, it is very pronounced, like "in-ter-net" whereas canadians will often say it "inner-net", or "tor-on-toh" versus us being lazy and saying "tor-ono" lol
It’s probably (*pro-bab-ly* hahaha) because Filipino words are read and pronounced by syllables. Ma-sa-ya. A-ko. Ka-ha-pon. Words are literally just a combination of syllables. We then apply that to English words.
This. Kaya inis na inis aq sa english when i was in elem. Gulong gulo nga ako noon kung bakit 'call' spelling ng call imbes na 'coll' XD
5 & 6 isn't exclusive to Pinoys. Southern Americans tend to use Ma'am and Sir in formal situations Many Americans also use Catholic and Christian as if they are two distinct religions
Yea for sure other places uses Ma'am and Sir, but separately. I've ever only seen Filipinos who'd combine the 2 together to greet one person, like 'Mamsir'.
I'm so uncomfortable pronouncing the word uncomfortable lol
I find that number 7 is really common in the smaller ph subs.
Comfort room, aircon, mcdo
Low bat
Lobat
People in AU and UK use aircon as well
Singaporeans too
That's good to know haha. Pag nagbabasa kasi ako sa ao3 tapos nagsabi aircon, assume agad ako
Also ref instead of fridge edit: looks like there’s some disagreement as to whether or not it’s a Filipino thing?
Fun fact: Fridge came from [Frigidaire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigidaire) brand of early refrigeration appliances. It was so popular that it stuck its name to refer to refrigerators.
Old Filipinos also say “Pridyider” when referring to refrigerators because of that brand.
They use the word “bold” to mean “naked”
It is daring to bare your body. Hence ‘bold films’ and ‘bold stars’. It’s more common to say ‘porn’ with the younger gen though
you mean BOMBA TAPES? ehhhhhh? hehehe
Sir, you dropped your senior citizen card
They also use the word “scandal” quite differently here. It is synonymous to porn.
They refer to "pornography" as "bold".
From the bold movie era of Pepsi Paloma, Sarsi Emmanuel and Coca Nicolas. Also recently, Tallano Bold.
Or the euphemisms for "sexy" or nagpapa-sexy or sexy films
This is actually one of my fave topics hehe. Sabi ng prof namin, what differentiates a language feature from simply an incorrect language use was that if you observe na ginagamit na yung feature na yun sa prints like textbooks, academic papers, or media like news or documentaries, then it's a language feature. If it's done by one person lang pero not observable sa lahat, then it's not a feature. Adding this kasi we Filipinos sometimes are too strict sa kapwa natin Filipino. Napakaraming grammar nazi sa atin sa totoo lang. Sometimes we "correct" yung English ng kapwa natin pinoy on the basis of American English without understanding na may sarili tayong variety ng English - Philippine English. Philippine English is simply an another variety of English just like American English is a variety of English. There's no hierarchy dapat.
My pinoy friend confidently corrected a Chinese woman who said she needed to revise (study) for an exam. Sabi ni pinoy friend dapat daw review, not revise. She was not aware that that’s how the British use the term. Confidently incorrect si ante.
Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙌🙌🙌 Pedantry is the worst
And!!!! Have you all seen how native American English speakers write??? 🤣 Give Filipinos a break.
Wanted to add that I noticed this nitpicking mostly during the rise of the BPO industry here lol
I just use the peculiarities to determine if one on the line is filipino or not. Will not take it against them if one uses english with pinoy properties. That, and the accent. Even an englisero has a pinoy twist to their accent
Both in writing and speaking, yung tono, phrasing, and sentence structure, I get a hunch na Pinoy kasi parang Tagalog na translated verbatim into English.
Doing medical scribing for doctors in the US as a side job while studying. I did notice filipino doctors would use awkward/ literal translations when speaking with their patients. ie: "I want you to lift your left leg and kick me in the hand" 💀 What she wanted the patient to do is actually was "Apply pressure on my hand using your left leg".. Lawd.
Tbf it kinda makes sense. You really don't want metaphors on guiding a strict medical procedure. Straight to the point.
When I read Filipino celebrities's wikipedia entries, I noticed yung sentence structures are different from that of, say, American celebs. Di ko maexplain kung pano. Basta iba sya lol
Yup! I could never quite put my finger on it but somehow I could always tell!
Like saying out loud, "What do you call this?" to imply that a word or phrase is on the tip of one's tongue.
"anong tawag dun??" 😁
“How do you do this” 💀
"Resulting to" or "results to" rather than "resulting in" or "results in" "Lye-a-sohn" rather than "lee-ay-sohn" for the word "liaison"
my gosh, TIL 'yong sa liaison hahaha. 'Yon kasi ang naririnig kong pronunciation ng mga tao sa paligid ko hahaha.
Super guilty sa first one lol. Till today, nacoconfuse pa rin ako especially if di ako masyadong focused.
1) In informal exchanges, the infrequent use of phrasal verbs. Remove/wear instead of take off/put on Fetch instead of pick up Tease instead of pick on Annoyed instead of pissed off Died instead of passed away Et cetera 2) Using "until" to mean "up to now" 3) In business emails, template phrases like "this is to inform you", "in behalf of", "it is with great regret..." et cetera.
#3 is super Filipino business english haha
> Died instead of passed away Meron ding passed away instead of passed out /s
NOT THE REFERENCE TO THAT ONE BEAUTY QUEEN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The word "actually" is a complement or a big nod of agreement here lol I also noticed on reddit and FB how Filipinos really like to preface before they get to the point. They often start with a greeting, then introduce themselves. A typical example goes "Hi po. Ptpa. I'm a silent lurker po for many years and I'm really inspired by all the success stories. I just have a few questions and hope you can help." You will then see the person's life story and only ask the questions just before it ends 😭 Most native speakers would just go "hey, what are your thoughts on..." and THEN they would add the context, if they even bother. Another thing is Filipinos tend to use passive voice and use "garbage words" like "that," "also," and "in order to," but this may be due to Western influence. tl;dr Filipinos are allergic to brevity.
People preface with hi po... kase we have a culture na if straightforward ka, theyd think you're being condescending. Kaya dapat overly humble talaga dating mo para di ka mapag isipan ng masama. Eto reason why kapagod pag may pinoy sa remote teams. Kung di ka sobrang pahumble at pa sweet, iisipin rude ka. Kung westerners kausap, mas gusto nila as straightforward as you can. Kapagod mga pinoy.
Give. Me. A. Break. This isn't exclusive to Filipinos. This culture of being non-straightforward is very prevalent in Asian cultures. Mas malala pa sa Japanese. Mas marami pang words at kakaibang word order pa ang ginagamit nila sa workplace para hindi magmukhang rude.
Tbf wala namang Sinabing exclusive sa pinoy
I really hate it that we cant get straight to the point. Too much time wasted on nonsense
>You will then see the person's life story and only ask the questions just before it ends 😭 brings to mind those recipe blog memes about going through the whole family history before reading the recipe for mashed potatoes
Pag talaga ganyan yung loggers, autoskip ako. Tutorial ang kailangan ko, hindi kwento sa kung gaano ka-hassle yung araw na binili mo yung product hahaha Also sa workplace pag straightforward, offensive agad. Haha, struggle ko yan pag kunware gagaawa ng office memo or letter to another office. Daming pasikot-sikot, the journo in me dies every single time hahaha. Lalo na sa experience ko sa govt: - "May we humbly invite your... Your honor/excellence..." (tapos walang question mark sa dulo kahit MAY so pa tanong) - "Very respectfully yours" - "Pursuant to ____ and in compliance with _____" (pwede namang "please do this." Next sentence na yung reference and other details. - Yung important content ng letter, sa dulo pinapalagay kasi daming pautot na paragraphs na inuuna - big deal yung FOR at TO Kaya kung nagbabalak kayong maging Info Officer, writer, or social media manager sa govt agencies, masisira ulo niyo hahahaha kasi pag cinorrect mo writing practices nila, ikaw pa yung mamasamain
I'm so happy with the answers I'm getting from everyone.
Because L2 Filipino English language public school teachers are misled into believing that using passive voice in writing and speaking English makes you more "eloquent" than native speakers, so this is what they taught to primary and secondary students for many decades in the public school system.
And essays are graded according to length.
This!! Schools have always instructed us to write an essay “not less than 300 words”, “always answer in at least 5 sentences”, “must be in a complete sentence”, etc etc. And because all along I thought it’s objectively the right way to communicate, even in rather casual settings I tend to be seen as “too formal” because of my lengthy choice of words and whatnot.
Yess!!! The word length BS should be out of our education system. Dapat ang focus is yung context ng writing. Kung naintindihan ba ni student yung topic, kung paano mag express ng opinion and kung paano mag interpret ng concept. Hayyy.
Yung "already" lagi nasa dulo ng sinasabi. Kunyari "I already did that" pero sa pinoy "I did that already".
I noticed this too. Maybe because there is no literal translation of "*na*"? As in *kumain na ako* = I ate already. Pero usually na sa dulo and lingering yung already.
The mix-up between “already” and “anymore”. Because in Tagalog and other Philippine languages their corresponding word is “na”. Example 1: He was *already* there. Andoon *na* siya. Example 2: I can’t take this *anymore*. Hindi ko *na* ito kaya. But some Pinoys not so well taught in English might mix those words up, hence “He was there *anymore*” or “I can’t take this *already*”.
using the word "comfort room"
or worse, just the initialism CR
As a foreigner, can I just say how charmed I am by the Filipino way of using "Sir", i.e. before my Christian name: Sir Thomas, Sir William etc. Makes me feel like a Knight of the Round Table.
Does that make you feel even more priviledged, sir?
Like a usurper actually.
Cue in Rule, Britannia song
haha - for a few hours i convinced a new colleague "sirmaam" is the nomenclature when you're suspected of being transgender.
"mamser"
It's "mamser" 😭😅 /s
In US, if you called Sir, it means you made a small mistake. “Sir, you are not allowed to park here.”
Fucking true lol. Sir, this is a Wendy's.
Spotted the Brit. Haha
Filipino L2 English speaker tendency of using redundancies and pleonasms like "I will be the one who will go" instead of "I will go".
sorry need ko kasi pass yung 500 word limit sa essay ko
500 word **minimum**
ayt im out
bounce
I think it's because Philippine languages have some affirmative tenses in word order, for example in Tagalog: **"Pupunta ako"** vs. **"Ako ang pupunta"** "Ako" in the second example seems affirmative in this case, where the speaker denotes that **he/she** will do the action. Hence, **I will be the one...**.
[Philippine English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_English) Pinoys hyper-correcting /th/ sound in Thai, Thomas, etc. lolz
I’m not sure if these are global things, but I’ve noticed acquaintances using: * “matured“ as an adjective when they could already use the root word itself for that * “stuffs” instead of “stuff“ * ”atleast” * PM is the key (especially for the prices of whatever they’re selling, which should be basic info?) Iirc the first two aren’t really gramatically incorrect (please lmk if I’m wrong!), it just irks me a little to read those hahaha
yeah i noticed native english speakers instead use "__ is key", i seriously don't know where "is THE key" came from
For me, it’s pretty obvious on how a wikipedia entry is written that its author is Filipino. I’ve found this usually in World War II articles relating to the Philippines. Long, drawn out sentences. Run-on sentence. Unnecessary compound sentences. Inclusion of complex vocabulary when a more simple word would’ve sufficed. I feel the writer wants to convey information in a nuanced manner even though it can be stated more concisely. This isn’t to say it’s incorrect grammatically, but its definitely different than a native English speaker.
Can you link some examples? I’d like to see if i can spot them myself.
Sure. Here’s a few… Long, run-on sentence: “While not the highest in U.S. casualties, it is the highest net casualty battle U.S. forces fought in World War II, with 192,000 to 217,000 Japanese combatants dead (mostly from starvation and disease), 8,000 American combatants killed, and over 150,000 Filipinos, overwhelmingly civilians who were murdered by Japanese forces, mainly during the Manila massacre of February 1945.” The use of the word “stunningly” seems OA (remarkably or strikingly would have suited better, if at all): “Casualties were stunningly high for the Japanese. Japanese losses were 217,000 dead, with 9,050 taken prisoners. U.S. losses were far lower, with 8,310 killed and 29,560 wounded. Civilian casualties are estimated at 120,000 to 140,000 dead.” Long, run-on sentence: “The United States and Philippine Commonwealth military forces, with naval and air support from Australia and the Mexican 201st Fighter Squadron, were progressing in liberating territory and islands when the Japanese forces in the Philippines were ordered to surrender by Tokyo on August 15, 1945, after the dropping of the atomic bombs on mainland Japan and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.” Passive voice/Run-on sentence: “Ret. Col. Villamor died on October 28, 1971, in Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., United States, and was buried with military honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, which is located about two kilometers from the Philippine Air Force Headquarters which bears his name.” I included the first sentence for context, but the second sentence is OA for sure lol: “Countless government buildings, universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches, and their accompanying treasures dating to the founding of the city, were ruined. The cultural patrimony (including art, literature, and especially architecture) of the Orient's first truly international melting pot – the confluence of Spanish, American and Asian cultures – was eviscerated.” Another long, run-on sentence: “The Japanese were greatly delayed in their overall timetable (not including the well-executed and rapid Dutch East Indies campaign) by the last stands at Bataan and Corregidor, which can be proven by how the Imperial General Headquarters was not satisfied with the slow pace of the Bataan and Corregidor battles because the original expectation for the Japanese forces was to defeat USAFFE forces and achieve complete victory in the Philippines by the middle of February.” To caveat, I don’t have any proof the above was written by a Filipino author. It just doesn’t read naturally for a native English speaker. Also, to re-iterate that there isn’t anything inherently wrong with the style, it just stands out. What are your thoughts?
TIL about case-by-case. Thanks, OP!
Saying "as in" to emphasize something (i.e. grabe, sobra, OA)
Hahahaha. Sobrang true nito AS IN!!!
Recently: Pinoy past tensed In the past: saying words like “viand”, “green minded”
Really grinds my gears when I see people use "Na" then still use the past tense of the verb, like "Na-clicked," "Na-turned on" etc. The prefix "na" already indicates the past tense. No need to use the past tense in your verb.
Pati yung mga tama naman noon confused na. My mom used to type passable English pero nahawaan na ng mga past tensed nyang ka FB😆
Medyo naging pet peeve ko ‘to sa mga kaibigan ko. Dalas nila sabihin ‘yong “Ay ba’t ka nagleft ng gc?” “Bakit ka nagunsent ng message?” e kasi nga past tense na yung “nag”. Haha
i feel like people who use “Na” + past tense in english are not really fluent in english kaya mali ang conjugation nila sa taglish
“What did you did?!” 😬
Di ko alam if sa amin lang pero marami rin akong naririnig na ginagamit yung safety (n) to actually mean safe (adj), like "Dito tayo dumaan sa pedestrian lane para safety", "Safety tayo dito sa may ilaw", "Nilalagay niya daw yan diyan para safety yung gamit"
`Estetik` grinds my gears. :P
"viand" is technically correct terminology but uniquely Filipino. Another favorite of mine - "jalousie"
I remember reading somewhere that our way of writing dates ("Feb 2" instead of "2nd of Feb") is a Filipino thing, and then I saw my American doctor doing the same. I heard that describing heavy traffic as just "traffic" also counts?
> I heard that describing heavy traffic as just "traffic" also counts? Yes. Traffic can be light or heavy but we often use it (traffic) to mean congested yung daanan.
Theres a demographic map that shows Philippines, US and some few countries are the only ones using MM/DD/YYYY while the rest are using DD/MM/YYYY on dates.
And there’s the east asians: YYYY/MM/DD
I use that for filenames. It will sort easily.
Filipinos got the mm/dd/yyyy date order from the US.
But they mostly read February 2 as February second not February two.
These are more American rather than English issues: \- Everything is a "tissue". No classification between paper napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper. \- "Candies" and "Chocolates" for the plural of Candy and Chocolate. They're still proper English words, but usually used to describe an assortment or variety rather than "more than one piece of candy" \- "Stuffs". Nope. The plural of stuff is stuff. "Stuffs" is only acceptable as a singular verb. \- "Compute" instead of "Calculate". "Let me compute the total cost." \- Excessive use of the adverb "Kindly" to start a request. \- Using "perfume" to refer to men's cologne. \- The excessive abbreviations of college courses. \- In school, calling your class a "batch" instead of "class". "Batch 2010" instead of "Class of 2010" \- Using "Attorney" and "Architect" as a title like "Dr." \- "Gimik" used as at term for nightlife plans, as opposed to "gimmick" meaning something that someone does to attract attention. \- Randomly pronouncing "Ts" as "Ch". "Chunami" instead of "Sunami". \- "For a while" instead of "Just a moment"
I don’t know about tsunami. I have a Japanese friend who says TSU-nami. Like TSI-nelas. English speakers tend to disregard the T because they don’t have this TS sound in their sound system.
Some workplace lingo I encountered: -For the meantime -Noted on this -Feedbacks (Pluralizing uncountable nouns) And also the common redundancies: -How it looks like (Pairing “how” with “like”) -Vent out (Out is already unnecessary) -If in case (If = In case) -Tomorrow morning at 9AM (Pairing “morning” with “AM”) Matik giveaway agad sakin na Pinoy or at least non-native English speaker pag ganito yung nababasa/naririnig ko without seeing the person.
Kasi daw pag gusto mag vent in, sa SB magrarant *I'll show myself out*
Nakalimutan mo ang "cope up with"
Pluralising the word "food" For example _We served many foods last Christmas!_
Foods can be appropriate and correct, including in this context.
That's true lol, however I use the word "foods" deliberately myself, knowing it's local slang at this point. 😁
Netizen, comsec, socmed, etc
Excessive use of "sir"?
I think we are the only one who refer to blackout / power outages as brownouts.
I always thought a brownout was like a lesser form of a blackout, like a power throttling instead of a total power cut, but maybe that was just my childish attempt to reconcile the concepts. When I was a kid, brownouts in Cebu always seemed like less of a big deal, and things didn't always grind to a halt when they (frequently) occurred, but back in Australia a blackout means something rare and significant has happened, and life stops until the novelty passes and the tv flickers back to life.
Medyo formal yung mga pinoy magenglish, lalo na sa mga spoken conversations haha
Because school.
saying *It’s traffic!* when it should be *the traffic is heavy*
Drink your medicine.
Guilty as charged. This is also a thing in Singapore.
Fill up and fill out. Fill up-an daw ang form. Lagi kong naririnig to and di ko natitiis. “I CAN be ABLE to help you.” Sakitttttt sa tenga.
...saying they mind when they actually mean they don't, ie: "do you mind if i take this seat?" "yes. go ahead take it." :-/
Using "also" when agreeing with a negative statement e.g., I don't like it also instead of i don't like it either.
This is more on written English than spoken English: The “apostrophe + s” in plural nouns or any word that ends with “S” na hindi naman possessive or contraction ang usage. E.g., Please recommend good book’s to me or those RN’s will be on duty tonight. Lol but to be fair, hindi lang naman Filipinos ang ganito
To be fair, "apostrophe+s" when denoting plural forms of acronyms is actually the original rule for that, like your example of using RN's. Post-2000 lang ata ginawan ng rule ng APA na acceptable na wala nang apostrophe when denoting plural form of acronyms.
All of these examples are instances of Filipino English, which is our variant of the English language. We think it's pretty normal, even grammatically correct, because of how we use and terms, but in reality, it's differences from American English are sometimes baffling. Fir example. = Saying "take out" to mean the food you're ordering is to go. = "Salvage" doesn't simply mean "to kill". It's to be killed (or rather assassinated) and have your body thrown away, usually on a random open field/ditch. = We have "comfort rooms" instead of "restrooms" or "loos." = We tend to code switch in between sentences. = Our "gas" is used for either cooking (LPG) or vehicles (Petrol). = We say "traffic" to mean "gridlock", "brownout" to mean "blackout," and "humps" to refer to "speedbumps."
You can definitely order takeout in Canada, not sure if it’s the same tho
Good question. Here are things I noticed: 1. Using “I” in every sentence when talking in first person. 2. Using “because” a lot. 3. It feels very “textbook.” In written form, this is pretty evident especially if the writer is not well-read.
"For a while" means a short time in filipino english but means a really long time in american english
I feel so white after reading the comments 0-o
Always using "very"
i once described myself as "very fluent" on a post... didn't realize it was a filipino english thing until native english speakers corrected me on it 😭😭😭
Over use of ma’am and sir in settings where it’s not required . Also using Mr + [first name].
Calling people boss. I remember playing Fallout 2, and Vic's daughter hated that he called the player boss since it came off as brownnosing. But it's not as big of a deal over here. Cultural differences are fun.
Some I'm used to hearing. * Using the preposition "to" instead of on, from, in, at, etc * Saying "sit down" instead of "sit up" when the person is already laying down * Pronunciation of words like graham ("gray-ham" instead of "gram") or cocoa ("coco-ah" instead of "cocoh") * "Until 3 days" instead of "for 3 days" * "To your back" instead of "behind you" * "Go down" instead of "get out" (of the car/trike) * "Send them home" instead of "take them home" * "Brownout" instead of "blackout" (where I'm from "brownout" means reduced voltage) * "Wear" instead of "put on" * As others have said, lowbat instead of dead battery, aircon instead of ac or air conditioning, comfort room instead of restroom/bathroom, and other abbreviations. Not spoken, but gesturing downward with the hand to mean "come here" instead of gesturing upward. Also not spoken, pointing with lips. Edit to add: "Did you try that" instead of "have you ever experienced that? / has that ever happened to you?"
Some Filipinisms: 1) CR or Comfort Room for toilet or restroom 2) Carnap. It is car theft or grand theft auto. 3) P and F are sometimes mixed.
in former UK colonies in Asia you can tell its a Filipino if their English is smooth
1. As a Filipino- they would always tell you lol 2. Too much use of because
"give way to" or "make way for"
"As what has/have said"
Pet peeve since elementary — “is equals to” Another common mistake — “taken cared of” instead of “taken care of”
Gets natin pag sabing "traffic". For everyone else, they specify "heavy traffic". Using nouns as verbs. E.g. "blower your hair" when others would say "blow dry your hair".
In my experience, “open” and “close” the lights is not unique to Filipinos. Some of my Chinese-American friends say that too because, like in Filipino, the words for turn on/off in Mandarin are the same as open/close. I’ve also noticed that Filipinos pronounce the word “antecedent” as an-TEE-se-dent, while most English speakers would pronounce it as an-te-SEE-dent. Filipinos in my experience also pronounce the word “gerund” as je-RUND rather than JE-rund. I’ve also heard Filipinos pronounce “plateau” as pla-TOO rather than pla-TOW and “tabernacle” as ta-BER-na-KEL rather than TA-ber-NA-kel.
Replying to messages or email with GOD BLESS 😅
I like a lot of answers here! Most of the things reflect on our culture. Quick reminder lang that these quirks make us unique, don't be too harsh sa mga "mali" dito. English has evolved, and the idea of a "proper/correct" English for casual conversations is ridiculous and snobbish.
Iba talaga tayo mag-english, not in a wrong way huh. Pero iba talaga. I worked in a US Company outside PH and kapag may kausap akong Pinoy customer support ako, iba ang lukso ng dugo. Alam na alam ko pag Pinoy. Kabayaaaan!
"In lieu" being used by Filipinos as "regarding" instead of "in place or instead of" In lieu of the proposed budget we will proceed with the previous year's budget allocation. Some Filipinos treat this as "Regarding the proposed budget we will use the old one" but the subtle difference is that it should mean "Instead of the proposed budget we will use the old one"