Saturday, July 4, 2009

Nation of many Language

Filipinos are known for their talent in languages. This is exemplified by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, who knew 22 languages.

According to the findings of the Summer Institute of Linguistics of the University of North Dakota, there are 55 languages and 142 dialects in the Philippines. Dr. H Otley Beyer's work in 1916 listed only 43 major languages and 87 dialects.

Philippines is the only English and Spanish speaking nation in the whole Asia and have a literature written in the two foreign languages. This is the result of the three decades colonization of Spanish and American in the Philippines. In fact the Philippines is the third largest English speaking country in the whole world. English is still widely known in the country.

Unfortunately.. Spanish one of the beautiful languages of mankind, is a dying language in the Philippines. Presently it is spoken by only 2.1% of the Filipino people, mostly by the elite.

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