It is spoken as a first language by 26.3 million people. Tagalog is closely related to many other Filipino languages, including Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, the Bikol languages and the Visayan languages. Native Tagalog speakers reside predominantly in the central area of the Philippines....
However, the roots of Spanish have not totally left the Philippines, as a third of the Filipino language is made up of 4,000 “loan words” derived from Spanish words. This heritage is clear from the start, as the word “hello” (kumusta) is derived from the Spanish phrase “how are ...