How does the Filipino language sound ? Listen to the music video below of a Philippine song produced by Troy Laurete, a Filipino American musical director , who is currently Arianne Grande’s current musical director. ( Beyonce’s and Lady Gaga’s , too, I heard ) The original song is sung by Regine Velasquez, a Filipina singer. To make it relatable to Americans, I ‘ve chosen this video that’s sung by an American singer, Pia Toscana.. ( I guess she’s Laurete’s celebrity friend ) Pia Toscana is amazing. Her Tagalog pronunciation is flawless. Just my guess,she speaks Italian ……maybe this is the reason why her pronunciation of Filipino language is flawless. Spanish speakers can pronounce unaccented Filipino, as well.
Filipino love ballads are beautiful. So check out the video below. ( I can imagine Whitney Houston singing this, RIP Whitney Houston. )
The title of the song is ” Kailangan Kita” ( I Need You ). Music is part of any culture. Be curious, be entertained.
Am a Molecular Microbiology student, love to read books, and I play the violin. 
dreamsending
renxkyoko
renxkyoko's space 
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 2:02 am
Letters are basically pronounced at their “value”, right? A is Ah. Not Ay. Do you have tonic accent? On part of the word? Or some words in the sentence?
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 2:14 am
I’m not exactly sure what a tonic accent is.
And yes, your righ, letters are basically pronounced at their “value”.
For example, in Filipino alphabet….
ah…. eh…. ih ( pronounced like “ee” ) …oh ( not Ohwww) … then uh ( pronounced like double oo, as in goon.
The title of the song ” Kailangan Kita” is pronounced ka- ih-la-ngan kih- tah.
The “ng” sound is a bit tricky. One has to exercise pronouncing nga, nge, ngi, ngo, ngu.
It’s not hard , though. The English word SINGING has the same sound as the Filipino “ngi “… si – nging.
Filipino language is straightforward…. PRONOUNCE AS SPELLED.
Actually, Filipino language ( Tagalog ) is one of the top 10 easiest language to learn.
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 2:24 am
Salamat for the quick update. 😉 (Only word I know, I need to progress.)
I suspect the ‘ng’ could be similar to some sounds in Africa: like inhaled? Dog is Swahili is mbwa. pronounce hm-bwa. cat is mpaka. hm-paka.
There are languages where the k is like clicking your tongue.
Love it. Maybe I will learn Tagalog some day. (Is Diwa = princess?)
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 2:34 am
Diwa is ” in spirit ”
Diwata is fairy
Priincess is prinsesa.
The letter ” NG ” is not inhaled. It’s like the NG in SiNGing., Singer , also in song. I think but not sure, it’s nasal.
Singing…. nga, nge, ngi……nging,…. singing.
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 10:09 pm
Salamat, salamat. I only have a dozen taglog words written down and I got them mixed up. LOL. Diwa is new to me. Diwata was the name of a blog by a Philipino young woman who seems to have disappeared. Princesa is Spanish. (Written down)
‘ing’ duly noted… have a nice Sunday, “Mercedes”. 😉
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 2:29 am
Tonic accent. Spanish has three “accents”, i.e stress on a syllable. “Agudo”, stress on the last syllable. (French stresses all words on the last syllable, which gives it its flat, monotone sound). “grave”: stress on the one before last syllable. “Esdrújulo”, middle syllable. Roughly. So in Spanish the key syllable varies from word to word, which gives a sing-song melody to the sentence.
(Now I understand Mandarin or Cantones have several tones. Like 7 different kinds of o’s. very difficult.)
Cheers.
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 2:45 am
Right ! ! Now I know what tonic accent is….
Yes, Filipino words have tonic accent ! !
For example :
BAKA …. COW, stress on the first syllable
Baka….. Maybe or could be, stress on the last syllable.
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 10:13 pm
Haha! “baka” comes from Spanish “vaca” (bakà?). In Spanish, V and B are pronounced practically the same. “vaca” (similar to the French ‘vache’) would be pronounced almost as “baca”. fascinating. Love it. (I now have a Tagalog teacher)
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 11:05 pm
There’s a joke ….
What kind of meat is in the dish ?
Baka baka?
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 11:13 pm
A good joke. Depends how well you know the butcher?
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 11:16 pm
Beef…. karne de baka, he he
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 11:26 pm
🤣
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 2:15 am
PS…. Does it sound very strange ?
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 2:24 am
What would sound strange? The pronunciation or the ease of learning? (Plus for me if there is a lot of Spanish sprinkled , the better)
Adios, “Socorro”. 😉
have a great week.end. 🙏🏻
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 2:55 am
Oh, okay. Filipino language is composed of about 45 % Spanish words, or, of Spanish origin. Filipinos tell time in Spanish. Almost all the stuff in a Filipino house are in Spanish… tenedor, cuchillo, la mesa, silya ( cilla ) abre lata ( can opener) bentana ( window) Cama, ( bed) , plato, baso ( glass ) , kusina ( kitchen, cucina ) Bano , ( pronounced banyo … bathroom ) Cuarto ( bedroom, ) sala ( living room ) suelo ( floor ) pinto ( door) pintura ( paint ) etc. etc. etc.
Posted by equinoxio21 on April 24, 2021 at 10:19 pm
Again I love this. I think I would have a good time in Philippines, learning the language.
Again there are telling details. Baso (glass) comes for “vaso”, but again , the v is pronounced B. Bano, comes from baño. where the ñ is pronounced ni. Ño = nio. Ña = nia.
Thank you again for taking the time. You’ve doubled my Tagalog vocabulary in no time.
Posted by Ken Dowell on April 24, 2021 at 11:50 am
Beautiful
Posted by renxkyoko on April 24, 2021 at 1:28 pm
It is ! Philippine ballads can be made as theme songs in any romantic drama movies or something. ^__^
Posted by Yelling Rosa on May 4, 2021 at 7:18 am
Nice song and performance.
Kita means in Finnish ‘mouth’, ‘throat’.
Take care 🙂
YR
Posted by renxkyoko on May 4, 2021 at 8:01 am
Thanks for the info. Now I know one Finnish word. ( I watch Finnish movies on Netflix, mostly detective/crime series. )