Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

by Joi Barrios

This is a straightforward and user-friendly guide to the Tagalog language. Tagalog for Beginners is the book to help you learn Tagalog (Filipino) on your own, efficiently and accurately--whether you're traveling to the Philippines for a vacation or a business trip, or you have ties to the sizeable Tagalog-speaking community in the U.S., or you're merely a language lover. From the fascinating history of Philippines' language to how you speak it, join skilled teacher Barrios on a guided introduction--with a practical focus. After journeying through the carefully-paced explanations, conversations, cultural info, and activities in Tagalog for Beginners, learners will be able to use Tagalog (Filipino) in a wide range of natural situations. From shopping for food to asking directions, from telling time to expressing how you feel, this book gives you the communication skills you need. The downloadable audio helps reinforce pronunciation and improve listening comprehension. Helpful suggestions guide heritage learners (those of Filipino descent but born outside the Philippines) on how to use the book most effectively for their needs. Key features : Accompanying downloadable audio. Realistic dialogues to bring the language to life. Activities and exercises to help you read, write, speak and understand. Notes on the Tagalog language and history. A specific section guides native (heritage) learners and instructors on how to use the book most effectively for their needs.

Genres: Language

720 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2010

About the author

Maria Josephine Barrios, popularly known as Joi Barrios, is a poet, activist, scriptwriter, actress, translator and teacher. Born in 1962, she completed her Ph.D. in Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines (UP). She taught at the University and also served as an Associate for Fiction at the UP Likhaan: Creative Writing Center. She has won various honors and awards, including the Palanca Award, the most prestigious literary award in the Philippines. During the Marcos dictatorship and the tumultuous years that followed, she became well-known as a freedom activist and rally poet. She has taught in Korea, Japan, and is currently working as a visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine.

Her works include Ang Pagiging Babae ay Pamumuhay sa Panahon ng Digma (1990); Bailaya: Mga Dula Para sa Kababaihan (1997); Minatamis at iba pang Tula ng Pag-ibig (1998); and Prince Charming at iba pang Nobelang Romantiko (2001).

Virgilio Almario, one of the best recognized literary critics and a scholar of Filipino poetry, has stated that Barrios is one of only four recognizable women poets in Philippine literature.

(from wikifilipinas.org)

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tagalog is one of those languages that lacks good quality learning materials. Most of the books out there only cover the basics or throw you into the deep end with no real structured learning process. Tuttle’s “Tagalog for Beginners” by Joi Barrios does little to remedy this issue, though it’s about as good as it gets.

The chapters do follow a reasonably clear progression from basic to more difficult, but the reading selections are all over the place. Many are way too hard for a beginner level and have all sorts of vocab that wasn’t covered in the chapter or the “useful vocab” lists that come before them. A good portion of the book is devoted to classroom activities, like full group songs or games and dialogue structures that don’t do an independent learner much good. I’d venture to guess that the vast majority of people using this book to study are doing so outside of a classroom, so this is sort of ironic. I ended up skipping over most of those sections.

There is some useful discussion of grammar here, but nothing thorough. The vocabulary is very useful, if a bit overly formal. The last couple chapters ramp up massively in difficulty, which is odd, and the second book “Intermediate Tagalog” loops back around to basic topics with more in-depth vocabulary. A highlight of the book is the cultural note sections. They get into some pretty interesting background of both the culture and the language, with a heavy emphasis on the Spanish colonial period. Some of the notes though, particularly at the end, got into some niche topics that were hard to care about (19th century newspapers…why?).

It’s a strange structure and it didn’t always make sense to me. That being said, there are far worse books for starting an in-depth study of Tagalog. This was the best that I found after trying a few. I would recommend it for self-study, just keeping in mind that the difficulty does suddenly spike and go back to normal at several points. It’s also better to supplement this with listening material that shows less formal/more colloquial usage.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike many current books and guides for learning languages this one contains a DVD with an audio component. It covers the modern version of Tagalog which is the national language of the Philippines. There are many exercises that aid the beginner.

[Jonina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joi Barrios had zero chill when she selected these reading comprehension sections. I absolute loved them even though I wasn’t expecting things to get so dark. But these were completely suitable for learning a language from a country like ours.

[Clarissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kindle version has a formatting error where some words run down the page instead of horizontally. I was so frustrated that I ended up buying the paperback. Unfortunately, I was unable to return the digital book.

[Orchid Bakla · Rating 5 out of 5]

What struck me most was the quick pace Barrios takes to immerse us in the Tagalog language and culture. Her language choice and cultural notes are the most modern and inclusive. She makes history by being the first author of a book of this kind to include the original gender continuum which is native to the Archipelago. Her book is very Tagalog, describes perfectly their care-free attitudes and usually joking personalities. I am so happy to be learning at a pace that works for me. And believe me I have been studying Tagalog for 20 years haha