Philippines: Third Largest English Speaking Country in The World
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7,100 Island Paradise in the Pacific.
Not everyone knows that the Philippines in the far east pacific is the third largest English speaking country in the world, after the USA and Great Britain. With more than 110million Filipinos trained from grade school to graduate studies, to speak, understand and write English, who can beat that?
The Philippines was colonized by Spain for 333 years. Folks, that’s a long long time, correct? And that’s why anyone who speaks Spanish or Portuguese gets confused why the dialect of Filipinos they can seem to understand but cannot have the hang of it–
So, where’s the English? In 1898, Spain lost to the American colonizers and stayed to be under the United States of America for nearly 50 years. That’s like covering one or two generations right?
While the Spaniards controlled the locals with ‘divide & rule’ dictum, the Americans wooed the locals with corned beef, chocolates, bubble gums, jeans and opportunities. That fits well to the peace loving Filipinos. That’s why it was so easy for American teachers to incorporate themselves to the smart locals.
The American governors were bent to make the Philippines their small paradise in the pacific hence those American soldiers who doesn’t want to go back home, stayed on and opened various business establishments. Country clubs were developed, business chambers were created and the style of governance was patterned after that of the United States.
The school’s language of instruction was in English which the locals found easy enough to follow vs the Spanish language in more than three centuries. Even Japan, in the few years they had the Philippines and want take it from the Americans during the world war II tried to in still to the locals the study of Nippon-go, but failed.
Now, the Philippines is a better, cheaper training ground for learning English to neighbouring countries in Asia & Europe who wants to learn the Queen’s language before travelling to either U.S.A. or London. Unlike the former British colonies of India, Singapore, Hongkong, etc who speak the English language with funny accents, the Filipinos can even do it with correct grammar, clear & unaccented.
Currently, outsourcing businesses are all over the country serving Fortune’s 500 companies. It is the most cost efficient alternative for multinationals. Filipino workers is the country’s best ambassadors of goodwill – they are all over the globe.
http://www.online-home-jobs.com/5717.html
china and india both have about two hundred million more english speakers than the philippines…so its impossible for them (the philippines) to be third.
ra
china and india?!~ you must be kidding. they have more population but definitely they do not speak english
yea~ archangel is correct. Are you against the survey or just can’t accept it?
hahahahaha rick .. i thought you are an indian or chinesz…
if we will the 3 countries 1st..phil…2nd..india..3rd..china..
this was according to my observation.. and it’s proven!!!
guys, the rating could be based on the writing skills, reading & speaking abilities plus comprehension… lots of other nationalities can maybe speak carabao english but cannot translate it to writing…:)
lets say china and india have a larger number of english speaker but if we look at as a whole, those numbers is too far from the total number of their population lets say china and india both have 20 population and 1o of those are english speakers in comparison to the philippines w/c only have 10 population but it has 8 eanglish speakers…. so, the analogy is so clear…… it is the philippines who is asia’s largest english speaking country. in fact! t.v. ads, most of the local celebrities and politicians and some t.v. programs in the philippines speaks english…….hhehehe!!!!!
is this source legitimate? who made the reseach study or where did you get this reference? We have to make certain that this is correct in order to use this for future studies.
I\’ve been to china and not everyone can speak or understand english! It\’s not logical to count how much million can speak it. Get the percentage of the entire population and compare it.
Check this wiki link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
With a population of approx. 94M (at least at the time of writing of this article) how can they have more than 110M English speakers?
As a linguist, I disagree with most of the author\’s arguments. First, how can you assume that all these Filipinos speak an acceptable command of English? Go outside Manila and try to speak to the locals with an American or British accent! Well, in Manila itself, their accent is heavily marked not to mention a grammar that deviates from the standard form. Second, it is the author\’s sociopolitical judgement to say that for instance, Indian English is a funny accent. Accept it or not, Indian English is a variety of English even more linguistically developed than the Philippine variety. So claiming that a certain variety of English sounds funny is inappropriate. Can you imagine how some Filipinos sound like to others if they speak English? Magdahan-dahan lang po sana tayo sa pagsusulat!
Nagmamahal, Ate Charo (wapak!)
and last but not the least, how did you come up with 110 Million Filipinos? Please do not write such figures without even citing your source. Marami kasing tao na mas bobo sa iyo na hindi man lang nagre-research bago magsalita, let alone bago magsulat!
Wapak! Ate Charo
Philippines is the 3rd…India is the 2nd in terms of the number of population that speaks English.
philippines..~!!chinese????idiot….!!
guys relax…!we should respect their commento,.,,ohh.ayan spanish na..the reason why hongkong.philippines,india,pakistan,singapore.etc…are the english speaking countries in asia ..is that before they have experienced communicating to the difff. nationalities whose the mother tongue is english…like in latin america..also known as south america…im just 5 years old..even i am the youngest among of us.i know how to respect the right of others..!!common…guys..if they do not believe on that statement…wag n natin silang pakialamanan…we have the freedom of expression….go philippines….do not worry…eventhough you are facing diff. problems right now….you’ll be on the lisT of THE RICHEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD…FILIPINOS..BE HARDWORKING!!gracias,,!!
Sawasdee try to be polite! oh my god. you said you’re a linguist, try to act as a professional.
–Sawasdee you sound bitter and disrespectful. Is that because Philippines is third place and you just can’t accept it? Hmm.Don’t mock the way the Filipinos speak english, at least we speak english with our own accent and we don’t fake british accents like some nationalities I know. How can you say that our command of english is unacceptable? Is bobbing your head while speaking acceptable?
You don’t have to put down the Philippines to make India look good..
Rick I’m from the Philippines where you got information yan do not know most of the Filipino’s wise to English words wherever you go even in public school or private school and almost three to five languages can take the words of the dialects of the Philippines
and the national laguage the Philippines is English, you must accept what the reality
When we heard the words of the Indian to English and we think that the word was incorrect grammar
Honestly i’m not lieng im just telling the truth
Why is the author bashing the Spaniards? Just in case you did not know Filpino is predominantly a blend of Spanish/Mexican and Asian culture…I’m Filipino, and could care less about chocolates, bubble gums, jeans, and all the Americans brought in the Philippines. With out the Spaniards there would be no Filpino culture…Im ot praising the Spaniards I’m just expressing the truth. Any how, you must be dreaming to think that Filipinos is an English Speaking country when we all know most of the Philippine population is not even fluent in English.
I affirmatively agree that the Philippines is the 3rd world’s largest English speakers after USA & UK, 1st place & largest in Asia considering Filipino language is the mother tongue..regardless of population who speak English, it is unjust to say that India is ahead to Philippines in terms of English speakers..being a Human Resources Executive in one company in Saudi Arabia, I found out that most Indian is a bit slow to speak & comprehend English well as per my observation during my phone & face-to-face interviews to the Indian job applicants..another fact I’ve noticed is the written English, most of the Indian CVs/Resumes & certificates are incorrectly composed, wrong grammar, punctuation & misspelled oftentimes unlike Filipino applicant’s CVs were mostly written perfectly and they speak English fluently w/ 100% comprehension…thus, to correct the records & statistics, Philippines is undeniable to be the 3rd best English speaker in the world.
Philippines!
60% can speak and write English
and 50% of 60% can speak and write fluently
40% “Fuck English!” they said
But Filipinos are great imitators. Has these vast of call center firms in the country. In any accent, name it, THEY HAVE IT.
Philippines!
60% can speak and write English
and 50% of 60% can speak and write fluently
40% \”Fuck English!\” they said
But Filipinos are great imitators. Has these vast of call center firms in the country. In any accent, name it, THEY HAVE IT.
Philippines!
60% can speak and write English
and 50% of 60% can speak and write fluently
40% Fuck English! they said
But Filipinos are great imitators. Has these vast of call center firms in the country. In any accent, name it, THEY HAVE IT.
Philippines!
60% can speak and write English
and 50% of 60% can speak and write fluently
40% -Fuck English! they said
But Filipinos are great imitators. Has these vast of call center firms in the country. In any accent, name it, THEY HAVE IT.
Philippines!
60% can speak and write English
and 50% of 60% can speak and write fluently
40% just native dialects
But Filipinos are great imitators. Has these vast of call center firms in the country. In any accent, name it, THEY HAVE IT.
The population of India is approx 1B and 10% of it can speak English. When it comes to the number of people who can speak English, India is greater than the Philippines. Although as for the percentage visavis to the the population, the Phils is bigger than India wherein it says 60% of the population (80M) speaks English. The world has to accept that Indian English is a variety of English thus Indians possess a distinguishing accent similar to the distinguishing accent of US, UK, and AU.
guys just accept the truth that Philippines is the asia’s largest english speaking country okay????? go go go Philippines….. I LOVE PHILIPPINES….
ps 1: the 110M figures of Filipinos includes those that migrated in other places but still consider the Philippines their home country..
ps 2: the spanish language is considered the most romantic in the whole world… and who says the indio is bashing the espanol? lets blame that to rizal..
ps 3: and yes, the pinoys are great imitators. why do you think the Usa; Brits; Aus firms wants to extend their offices here?
The PHILIPPINES is NOT an English speaking country! Period. As third would be, Canada, Australia, Or even South Africa, but pinoy English? Really? I laughed at this post. And btw, India’s level of English & education is way above this “philippines’” Seriously, I can speak for all native speakers here and say that pinoy English is a mutilation of grammar & pronunciation.
This article is largely infulenced by Wikipedia article of the same topic. Guys, believe what you want to believe but this is what appeared to be the case as per surveys and studies where Wikipedia based its report.
Check-out the site for confirmation or reference.
1st grader child in the philippines is able to speak & write english and filipinos have neutral accent compared to other english countries.
1st grader child in the philippines is able to speak & write english and filipinos have neutral accent compared to other english countries.
If you have been to China, and want to eat in a restaurant and speaks to the attendant in english they will just stare at you in confusion, to eat you have to point the foods that you like in the pictures they have. In the Philippines talk to a jeepney driver and english and youll have a conversation going in english.
are most of you guys here really thinking? let us not be offensive nor defensive but let us open our minds and be fair.this article is quite true as for my observation. I am working as a teacher here in one of the countries here in Asia and i have first hand experience with native English speakers from America and UK. And 95% of them agrees that Filipinos are the greatest English Speakers in Asia. Take this into consideration… why do Filipinos are very able to merge into people who speaks native English? In the international school where i work, all Filipino teachers can have a very good conversation with native English speakers while 80% of other nationalities like Chinese Thai cannot? Why can Filipinos teach in America even without being able to study in the US? like some of the other nationalities who needs to study in a country who speaks English as their first language.For Indians well they have good command and comprehension in English but still they are not that competitive globally and they do have a funny accent. This survey i think is also based in the general performance of the country globally
So I am still proud because in the Philippines we don’t need to have Native English Speakers as teachers to be able to compete globally unlike some countries.In fact some countries in Asia hire Filipinos to teach English 
Go Philippines! Go Filipinos!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
There are so many Koreans studying English in Philippines. And English in Philippines is similar to American accent. and if you search on Google, it\’s always Philippines!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
Honestly speaking, I dont see how this article can be trusted. There’s no proper citations of where and how e facts and figures used in this article were derived. If its based on Wikipedia, its a known fact everywhere it is not a reliable source. Anyone can write and edit e contents of it, and it is not accepted in most schools as a reference for their school reports/thesis (I studied in Singapore and Australia and am now doing my Masters in UK).
Besides, for an article to be trusted, it has to be unbiased in its content. The fact that this line exist, ‘Unlike the former British colonies…. who speak the English language with funny accents’ suggest that the author is already slanted in his/her thinking.
I will not comment on whether the Filipinos truly are great English speakers cos I might be biased too (in Singapore, domestic workers would have to pass an English test before being allowed yo work. I had 2 Filipino domestic workers who could not pass their English proficiency paper so we had to hire someone else. But unlike the author, I am not jumping into conclusion and declaring all Filipinos as being poor in English, just based in my experience alone). However, I do think it is highly unfair to judge accents that we’re unfamiliar with and label it as ‘funny’. How one speaks English differs everywhere, not just between-countries but also within countries (case in point: New Yorkers accent differs from someone in Texas).
@Luis Silva
If there is only a like button..
no it’s not,it’s the third largest english speaking country in “asia”!