Tagalog is an easy language to learn for most people. For starters, it’s based on the Latin alphabet. Also, significant parts of Tagalog are based on Spanish and English. And in informal situations, many Filipinos speak “Taglish”. So if you speak English, you are already partway there.
Look for a Tagalog teacher with good reviews. Also, you want to make sure your teacher has a quiet workspace and fast, reliable Internet and stable electricity. While it’s easy to take these for granted, they are less common than you think in parts of the Philippines.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask specific questions about the teacher’s methods, course materials, and resources. And the results they have been able to help their students achieve. Also, to further help prospective students decide, I offer a free trial mini-lesson to qualified students to help them get a feel for whether or not we would be a good fit.
Filipino is a standardized form of Tagalog. The languages are very similar. And many Filipinos use the term Tagalog and Filipino interchangeably. And most Tagalog teachers will be teaching Filipino, even if they refer to it as Tagalog.
It’s generally accepted that the best way to learn Tagalog is with a private Tagalog tutor. A tutor will devote 100% of their focus to each student. And provide individual attention to make sure their student learns in the way best and most effective for that student.
The time it takes to learn Tagalog depends on a number of factors. Variables include the student’s desire to learn. Their aptitude for learning. And how much time the student devotes to practice. The method of learning and the quality of the teacher is also important.
In general, I have found that it typically takes between 10 – 20 lessons for a student to learn basic Tagalog. And between 20 – 40 lessons for a student to learn conversational Tagalog.
Of course, these timeframes are assuming the student is engaged in the lessons and practicing between lessons.
Regardless, learning Tagalog one on one with a private tutor is widely considered both the best way to learn Tagalog. And the fastest way to learn to speak Tagalog.
Online Tagalog lessons are both convenient and effective. Actually, I taught Tagalog lessons online before offering in-person lessons. And virtually 100% of my students that switched to online lessons have been happy with the results.
There are 3 Reasons – experience, results and reviews.
We have improved the lives of hundreds of students by helping them learn Tagalog. Our list of accomplishments includes providing Tagalog lessons to students as diverse as expats from over 40 different countries, business executives, high ranking foreign embassy personnel, and many fellow teachers.
Also, we have been retained directly by a number of leading Philippine companies including International School Manila, Sprout Solutions and Shopee to help their expat employees learn Tagalog.
Finally, we have dozens of reviews from happy students who improved their lives through our Tagalog lessons.
There are a number of things to consider when looking for an online Tagalog tutor. Several important factors are as follows: Make sure your online Tagalog tutor is experienced. Just because someone can speak Tagalog doesn’t mean they are a good Tagalog teacher. Also, make sure your online Tagalog tutor has a quiet, private space to teach and a strong, stable Internet connection. And look for good student reviews too.
This is an important enough decision that I devoted an entire blog to the topic, choosing the right Tagalog tutor.
For starters, our Tagalog lessons were designed from the start for online learning. And while I previously provided in-person Tagalog lessons, when the pandemic forced us to convert to 100% online Tagalog lessons, the student feedback and learning results were both overwhelmingly positive.
Here’s more information on why learning Tagalog online is a great choice.
We stopped offering in person lessons due to the pandemic. And our students have seen such great results that at this time, we have no plans for resuming individual in person lessons. We can however provide outcall, in person lessons in BGC and Makati for groups of 4 or more students.
We currently offer online group Tagalog classes for self formed groups. (Typically, a family, group of friends or a company offering group Tagalog classes for expat employees.)
We are also in the process of forming a scheduled, group online tagalog class. The course will be oriented towards Tagalog for Beginners and will consist of 30 lessons, each one hour in length. At the conclusion of the course, students should be at a basic conversational Tagalag level. We expect the course to begin in September of 2022. Click here for more information and to pre-register for the course.
