Department: Yamada Language Center
Number of Users Worldwide: 87 million
Offerings: LT 199 - Self-Study Program
Tagalog is classified as an Austronesean language and is spoken by more than 90 million Filipinos in the Philippines. The primary language in the central and Southern regions of the Philippines, Tagalog has been spoken historically in and around Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is the basis of the national language, Filipino. Linguistically, Filipino and Tagalog share the same syntax, morphology, and phonology. The word Tagalog derives from the word “taga”, meaning “from”, and “ilog”, meaning “river”; thus its original meaning is “river dwellers”. (Domigpe & Domingo, 2015)