The document provides information comparing the English and Tagalog languages. It discusses some key differences between the two languages, such as Tagalog having fewer consonant sounds than English, verbs being regular tense rather than having different forms, and sentences following a VSO rather than SVO structure. It also presents examples of errors made by a Filipino student named Rica in learning English, and provides instructional implications and strategies for addressing challenges like past tense formation and differences in word stress between the two languages.

1. Language
Comparison
English vs Tagalog
Celeste Holovacs
Wilkes - 502

2. The Philippines is an
archipelago in South-
East Asia. The nation
consists of 7,107 islands
located between the
Philippine Sea and the
South China Sea, on the
eastern edge of Asia.
Tagalog is an
Austronesian language
with about 57 million
speakers in the
Philippines, particularly
in Manila, central and
southern parts of Luzon.

3. Tagalog Background
Tagalog pronounced (ta-GA-log) serves as the basis of
the Filipino language, the national language of the Philippines.
The two languages are basically identical. However, there is a
significant political and social history that underlies the
reasons for differentiating between Tagalog and Filipino.
The current constitution of the Philippines maintains that
Filipino is the country’s national language. Today, Filipino is
considered the proper term for the language of the Philippines,
especially by Filipino-speakers who are not of Tagalog origin.
Many Filipino-speakers acknowledge Filipino’s roots by
referring to the Filipino language as “Tagalog-based.”
http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Tagalog/

4. Student Background
 Rica is an eleven year old sixth grade student
who has been in the United States for four
months.
 She came from Pampanga Luaon, an island in
the Philippines.
 She is currently at an independent reading
level of grade four and instructional reading level
of grade five.
 The primary language spoken in her home is
Tagalog.
 She attended public school five days a week
where English was a core subject.

5. English and Tagalog Comparisons
English Tagalog
Five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, short Five vowel sounds, a, e, i, o, u,
and long sounds all short, long vowels are
nonexistent
21 consonant sounds, Nine 16 consonant sounds - b, d, k,
English consonants do not g, h, l, m, ng, p, r, s, t, w, and y.
occur in Tagalog: /v/, /j/, /z/, The consonants have only one
voiced and voiceless th, sh, dz, sound each, most notably the g
ch, z. always pronounced as the hard
g, never soft
Language is written left to Language is written left to
right right

6. English and Tagalog Comparisons
English Tagalog
Present, past, future tense, Almost all verbs are regular
and there are several tense.
different forms of these
tenses
English has linking verbs No auxiliary or linking verb
like: am, is, are, was, were
English words are not Highly phonetic language,
always pronounced the same most words are spelled like
way it is spelled. they sound

7. English and Tagalog Comparisons
English Tagalog
Pronouns indicate gender: Pronouns do not indicate
he, she, we, they, his, her, us gender. Siya means he or she
Nouns do not require an All nouns, even proper nouns
article require an article.
Plurals are made by adding The plural word is preceded
“s” or “es” by "mga" i.e. "mga apple"
means "apples“ and "the
child" would be "ang bata";
"the children" would be
"ang mga bata".

8. English and Tagalog Comparisons
English Tagalog
Sentence structure is SVO Sentence structure is usually
VSO
Focus is placed by voice, Focus of the sentence is done
important words are by placing a marker in front of
emphasized the word that is the focus.
marker comes before a noun.
Ang, ng, and sa are markers.
Three degrees of adjectives Three degrees of adjectives

9. Below are some errors made by Rica:
• The teacher gived us the test.
• The tall boy growed two inches over the summer.
• I have these last time, instead of I had these last
time.
• The baby toys instead of the baby’s toys
• The boy books instead of the boys’ books
• Him exchanged the tickets instead of he
Most of Rica’s errors were developmental. However, she
also made interlingual errors which should be addressed.
Rica had the most problems with verbs especially in the
omission of past tense. This was understandable since
Tagalog verbs are of the regular tense.

10.  In Tagalog, verbs start with verb roots. To create
tenses, an affix is added to the root. To make verbs future
tense, the first two letters are repeated.
 For example, the verb jump is “Talon”. Future tense is
“TATALON” the T and A is repeated.
To turn a verb to past tense, insert “UM” between the
first and second letter of the word. Past tense of Talon is
TUMALON.
 To turn a verb into present tense, combine the future
and past tense rules. Repeat the first two letters, and then
add “UM” between them. The present tense of Talon is
TUMATALON

11. INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Addressing past tense difficulties:
− Have students tell you what they did the night before
− Have students tell you about a TV show they watched
− Have students fill in correct past tense verbs in sentences
−Give students sentence starters like “ Last night….. or
Yesterday…..
− Show students pictures and have them write sentences in past
tense
− Use tongue twisters such as: Swan swam over the sea. Swim,
swan, swim! Swan swam back again. Well swum, swan!

12. The word order in Tagalog is different in
than English. In English one would say
"The house is beautiful." which is translated
into Tagalog as "Magandá ang báhay."
which literally means "Beautiful the house."

13. INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Sentence structure difficulty:
 Write individual words on index cards representing
various parts of speech
 Color code each part of speech the same color
 Start with simple sentences
 Work collaboratively to build sentences by picking
words from index cards

14. Tagalog usually stresses the last syllable. It also
uses glottal stop which can be stressed. The
diacritical marks are used to show which vowel
should be stressed and which vowel should be
accompanied with the glottal stop and which
should be the combination of both the stress and
the glottal stop.
This is very important because the meaning of a
word can be changed if you don't make the stress
or glottal stop correctly.
suka - vomit These could be a real
sukà – vinegar problem if mixed
bága - live charcoal up! 
bagà - lungs

15. INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
− Introduce IPA - to capture accents by showing students
how a word should be pronounced. Students would not
have to depend on hearing the words to learn them.
− Cooperative Learning Groups – to build confidence
with speaking
−Read stories that are familiar to students

16. Whether we as teachers have an ESL class, a special needs
class, or a regular population class, it is important to meet
the diverse needs of all students. Activities must be geared
to all learning modality styles.
General ELL strategies:
− Bring in magazines that interest the student or junior
scholastic and have students read and discuss
− Read various types of literature aloud
− Be aware of and respectful of the student’s culture
− Use Dialogue Journals
− Introduce vocabulary that has meaningful context

17. Reyes, R. (1997). About the Tagalog language. In A handbook
and grammar of the Tagalog language. Retrieved from
http://tagalog.ryanreyes.com/tagalog.htm