It is well known that the national language of the Philippines is Filipino and English is the official language.
However, since the country originally consists of many islands, the language varies considerably from region to region.
Cebu, where my wife was born, is represented by Cebuano, and Luzon, where Manila is located, by Tagalog, but in detail, there are said to be nearly 100 different languages.
Incidentally, Cebuano and Tagalog are as different as French and German.
Filipino is an artificial language based on Tagalog.
Classes in the Philippines are taught in Filipino and English, but the textbooks for science and math are in English.
Since university entrance examinations are conducted in English, the more educated people are, the more proficient they are in English. Therefore, it is said that English operational ability indicates hierarchy in Philippine society.
Wealthy people use only English at home. However, it is said that families of the wealthy, such as Spanish and overseas Chinese, still speak Spanish and Chinese.
That is why some of the children of wealthy people are not good at Filipino, and some students learn from the elementary level of their university language classes.
In our family, my wife's mother tongue is Cebuano, but I do not understand Cebuano at all. My wife sometimes teaches me, but I forget within three minutes. Therefore, we are in a language environment where English is the main language and sometimes Japanese words are mixed in.
However, my English is at the junior high school level, so it is often difficult for me to communicate with them.
My wife sometimes makes video calls with her sister and children in Cebu, but I have no idea what they are talking about because it is in Cebuano.
The children are still in the early grades of elementary school, so they are just beginning to learn English, so they can barely converse with each other.
They even call me "Daddy. Incidentally, it seems to be upper class in the Philippines to call their fathers "Daddy.
If you move to the Philippines, you will need to be able to speak English at a daily conversational level. It is not easy to learn Cebuano now, but it is necessary to be able to say a few words of greeting or "How much is this? I think it is necessary to learn such things at a traveler's level.
Teaching Japanese to children is even more difficult.
So, the official language of our family is English.
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Don't worry about the kids, they will learn English at school. The problem is me.
I'm going to study English a little harder.
