Learning Tagalog

On Friday afternoon, I decided I am going to learn Tagalog.

I only speak english and have wished for years that I could learn another language. I have considered Spanish, Italian, French....but mainly spanish. At work on Friday my co-worker Heidi and I began talking about how wonderful it would be to know more Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines. There is a very large filipino community here and Heidi and I decided it would be such an asset both at work and in the community to speak tagalog. She and I talked about the Rosetta Stone program, and when I got home that afternoon, I started on-line with learning Tagalog.

This format of learning (Rosetta Stone) is perfect for me at this time in my life. It uses pictures, words, phrases and lots of repetition. And it won't progress you until you've mastered the lesson. Very cool. I love the sound of tagalog...it has a nice cadence to it. And from what I hear there isn't any "r" trilling, which I can't do. Never have been able to, never will be able to. That was part of the reason why I was leery with learning spanish, I must admit.

The part which excites me the most is having a community of people right here with whom I can practice with. I can't wait to start talking to patients, co-workers, community members in simple tagalog phrases. It will be slow going and a long process, but I am excited!

As I am quilting, driving, cooking, walking, etc...I have various tagalog words and phrases running through my head...trying to get the annunciation right. It is SO FUN learning another language! I look forward to any chance I have to sneak on the computer for a few minutes and learn a few more words or phrases.

Zoya