Interesting stuff about Philippines...

[nigel]

The Philippines is the worlds 3rd most English speaking country.

California was founded by a Filipino called Antonio Miranda Rodriguez.

An antibiotic known as Erythromycin, was discovered by a Filipino doctor called Abelardo Aguilar.

In 1974 a Filipino called Eugenio Torre was the grandmaster winner of a chess
competition held in Nice, France.

The flourescent lamp was invented by a Filipino scientist Agapito Flores, from
Cebu.

A one chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz a Filipino inventor.

A Filipino band called Rocky Fellers from Manilla were succesful in America
during the sixties.

A Filipina singer called Josephine Roberto (also known as Banig) once beat
Christina Aguilera in a star search competition.

There is a supermodel from Philippines, her name is Anna Bayle.

University of San Carlos in Cebu City, is older than Harvard University and is
the oldest University in Asia. University of Santo Tom, in Manila is Asia's
second oldest.

Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo, was the first Filipino to
recieve a Pulitzer prize, he was also the first Asian man to become UN
president.

Jose Rizal could read and write when he was just two years of age! When he grew up he could speak twenty languages!

Please add your own interesting stuff...

[Tiggers0608]

Plus the first moon buggy that landed in the moon with amstrong ... sorry forgot his name but his from MAPUA

[lbechner]

Hi Nigel,

I live in the Philippines and am a professional trainer here for the past three and a half years. There is no way they are the third most English speaking country. At least not anymore. The schools here have gone downhill so much so fast. They aren't even teaching English in most of the schools anymore. The biggest problem I have to deal with here is most of the employers insist on training their people in English and US standards but most, though college educated, can't do it. Worst of all, most don't care either. It's a cultural thing here. Great people trying to make their way in the world, but they've lost touch with the fact that most of their international clients (no matter what country they deal with) want everyone to speak English and speak it well.

My company prepares many overseas employees and the biggest complaint we get is that the employees we send can not and will no speak English with poor etiquette and lack of knowledge of the culture they are sent to work in coming in a close second. Many have been put on a plane and sent right back for additional training. If they don't make it, they lose their jobs. I see it every day. Now the company won't hire anyone unless they can clearly read, write and speak English. That limits us severely. We even sponsor the local schools to teach English but it will be a few years before we see fruit from the investment.

[Arthur Little]

Hi Nigel,

I live in the Philippines and am a professional trainer here for the past three and a half years. There is no way they are the third most English speaking country. At least not anymore. The schools here have gone downhill so much so fast. They aren't even teaching English in most of the schools anymore. The biggest problem I have to deal with here is most of the employers insist on training their people in English and US standards but most, though college educated, can't do it. Worst of all, most don't care either. It's a cultural thing here. Great people trying to make their way in the world, but they've lost touch with the fact that most of their international clients (no matter what country they deal with) want everyone to speak English and speak it well.

My company prepares many overseas employees and the biggest complaint we get is that the employees we send can not and will no speak English with poor etiquette and lack of knowledge of the culture they are sent to work in coming in a close second. Many have been put on a plane and sent right back for additional training. If they don't make it, they lose their jobs. I see it every day. Now the company won't hire anyone unless they can clearly read, write and speak English. That limits us severely. We even sponsor the local schools to teach English but it will be a few years before we see fruit from the investment.

I am not in a position to quibble with Nigel's statement regarding whether or not the Philippines ranks 3rd among the world's English-speaking nations. What I would say, however, is that my wife taught in a Government High School for twenty-two years and assures me that a Department of Education memorandum strictly imposes a condition whereby the English language is the medium of instruction in ALL curricular subjects. Indeed, more than a year ago -with the job market in mind - the Dep.Ed. undertook a random inspection of school campuses nationwide in order to monitor the students' level of competence in speaking English.

[joebloggs]

wikipedia lists the phils as the 5th.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ing_population

[Mrs.JMajor]

you beat me posting it Joe,hihih thats what hubby said....

First is -United states
2nd -india
3rd -nigeria
4-UK <<<<<<<<<< so wondering the england is 4th considering its english land
5-Phil

lbechner, which part of batangas you are now ??

[joebloggs]

you beat me posting it Joe,hihih thats what hubby said....

First is -United states
2nd -india
3rd -nigeria
4-UK <<<<<<<<<< so wondering the england is 4th considering its english land
5-Phil

lbechner, which part of batangas you are now ??

there's more of the top 4 than brits
those countries are either made up of scousers deported 200 years ago or from the british empire

[Mrs.JMajor]

there's more of the top 4 than brits
those countries are either made up of scousers deported 200 years ago or from the british empire

tom said youre right, wow i learn lots of things from him,he is soo smart and you Joe,sitting next to me while working on his computer and i keep disturbing him about the forum

[MarBell379]

A lot of this depends on how 'english speaking' is defined. There are many more english speaking Philippinos than tagalog speaking english people anyway, but an awful lot don't practice their english and like anything, it goes downhill very quickly when not practiced.

My gf speaks better english than some english people I know, despite not yet finishing high school. She can beat me at scrabble on a good day!

[Pepe n Pilar]

As to population UK is smaller compared to USA & India. The British Empire established all those countries.

USA - 250 M
India - over a billion
UK - 60 M

[lbechner]

I'm in Batangas City and work in Bauan. Like the other respondent said. If it goes un-used and unpracticed it goes away. I've sat in on some of the classes here and though most of the teachers do pretty good, they really don't reinforce the importance of it and speak in English all the time so it doesn't get reinforced.

[aromulus]

First is -United states

And what kind of English would that be....???

[Piamed]

As far as I can determine from published data:

Country......................No English speakers
1) United States...............251 million
2) India............................90 million
3) Nigeria..........................79 million
4) Britain...........................60 million
5) Philippines......................43 million
6) Germany........................36 million
7) Canada..........................25 million
8) Australia.........................17.3 million
9) Pakistan.........................17 million
10 France...........................16 million

Source: October 08.

One would think China will feature prominently within the top 10 shortly. I also think the figures should be higher for India and Nigeria. Depends on the criteria used to determine one is an English speaker or not.

[Jay&Zobel]

lol... you might find that Philippines will be in the Top 1 if all Overseas Filipinos will all come back to the Philippines Makes sense right? hahaha

[Arthur Little]

Good point, Jay & Zobel!!

[nparvus1202]

Agapito Flores inventing florescent light is a myth. Edmund Germer is credited as the inventor. Flores only introduced the bulb to Manuel Quezon but it was already been manufactured by GE.

[keithAngel]

I am not in a position to quibble with Nigel's statement regarding whether or not the Philippines ranks 3rd among the world's English-speaking nations. What I would say, however, is that my wife taught in a Government High School for twenty-two years and assures me that a Department of Education memorandum strictly imposes a condition whereby the English language is the medium of instruction in ALL curricular subjects. Indeed, more than a year ago -with the job market in mind - the Dep.Ed. undertook a random inspection of school campuses nationwide in order to monitor the students' level of competence in speaking English.

The problem I encountered was that the "English" that's being taught is either grammatically flawed or that the students only need to appear to understand and the teachers are never challenged ,to do so would jeopardise the child at least thats a Cebu perspective

[keithAngel]

. Depends on the criteria used to determine one is an English speaker or not.

I reckon a good test of fluency is to be able to have a phone conversation ,where you both understand whats been said/agreed in the target language

[pinayingermany]

[QUOTE=MarBell379;126994]A lot of this depends on how 'english speaking' is defined. There are many more english speaking Philippinos than tagalog speaking english people anyway, but an awful lot don't practice their english and like anything, it goes downhill very quickly when not practiced.

I really agree with you Marbell-100 % and i should know ,i myself experienced that

lol... you might find that Philippines will be in the Top 1 if all Overseas Filipinos will all come back to the Philippines Makes sense right? hahaha

Good point, Jay & Zobel!!

Yap , and according to wikipedia...
"The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country, with a population of about 90 million people.[4][6] Its national economy is the 46th largest in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$ 327.2 billion (PPP).[9] There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.

and heres another interesting fact about our beloved country,the Philippines is a former colony of Spain, and the United States, the Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being East Timor. There are also a number of minority religious groups, including Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Multiple ethnicities, and cultures are found throughout the islands. Ecologically, the Philippines is one of the most diverse countries in the world...so
MABUHAY and GOD BLESS US ALL!!!
No matter what,negative or positive...IM PROUD TO BE A FILIPINAY!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

I was born in the Philippines and i want to die there,(but since nobody knows when)at least my remains should be buried along with my forefathers,and when i told this to my hubby 16 yrs ago he just frowned and said im GAGAbut i made kulit and now he knows i really mean it ,so if ever , my remains will be cremated and sent back home(coffin and all is expensive i researched that already)morbid thoughts,huh?sorry but then again MABUHAY!!!

[mickcant]

Hi all,
I can only speak on a personal level, about how English is spoken by Filipinos in general, but I was very surprised when I was in touch with my now wife by web camera and telephoning just how good her English was.
We British in general expect other people to be able to speak English while we make hardly any effort to speak in their language.

I have made a list of sayings so that I can add a little of my wife’s home language in emails and text messages, if only to show I am trying, I do not always get it right but I do try.

I do enjoy the sometimes different way English comes over from her because our way of speaking it here in the UK is as different in regions as it is in the Philippines.

I found on my first visit to the Philippines that the level of English was very good.
All the best,
Mick.

[somebody]

A couple of the Wifes friends Teach English at call centres and I have to say in a face to face conversation even with someone acclimatised to Phliinglish after a week or two over there. Many of them still fail to hold a in depth conversation.
The only ones who could were friends or realtives who had either lived abroad or worked in Companies with non Phills.

My Wife was Taught in English and went to a very good private school in phill where like many they were forced to speak English at all times. Even in breaks and were fined if speaking tagalog. The Friends who Teach English also went to the same school.

Having spoken to some of the teachers and Children in their last year there (ie should be fresh in their minds) we had problems communicating. With out me instead of speaking in a BBC news presenter like voice I had to mimic a Phill.

A two degree holding "English speaking" phill based friend of the wife could not understand the Wife on the phone when she said Easter not Easteeer.

Of course far higher basic levels than many Brits but still I think many may speak american rather than English.

I spoke to a phill gentleman on a Amazon helpline, a few years back although technically he spoke "English". The difference in the use of words ie Sidewalk, auto and other words in the conversation he used and ones I used confused him. I am sure would confuse many in the UK who are not aware of the different words used in the US.

[joebloggs]

my misses is half way thru a 10 day plab2 course (medical course) there are 30 other foreign docs on the course. everyone of them has IELTS academic and got at least 6.5 or 7 for each part, their from countries such as Libya, Nigeria, Russia,Pakistan. and the lectures on the course are all Pakistani consultants who have worked for the NHS for many years.

everyone of them has to speak only English in the exam, most if it all the docs have been asked to repeat nearly everything they say to the lecturers because they cannot understand what their saying, except for my misses who always spoke excellent english

let her be one of those who passes first time

[RickyR]

Despite the Philippines being great for many things, many of the items on the list are myths including the founder of california, english speaking statistics etc.

Now the Philippines hospitality and people, nobody can argue about them being fantastic.