Idioms in Tagalog

It used to be that the only people interested in knowing idioms in Tagalog were Filipino or at least living in the Philippines. These days, things have changed a little. You never know when you'll be lying in the hospital, looking forward to your sponge bath, only to find out that the nurses giving you the sponge bath aren't speaking English. In the United States, Filipinos make up an increasingly larger portion of medical nursing professionals. Some might find the lingual differences upsetting, but if they learn a few idioms in Tagalog, they will have something to talk about during their hospital stay. Plus, they can learn more than they ever have at a hospital before! You never know when you might run into a Filipino, so take the initiative. Broaden your horizons!

What's in a Name?

Tagalog has been called Pilipino, and is now officially called Filipino. Many still refer to it as Tagalog, but if you hear otherwise, don't let it freak you out. Languages that enjoy international appeal are often called or spelled differently from place to place. English, for example, has many names in many languages, and it always has. Furthermore, to continue the comparison of Tagalog to English, while English might be the lingua franca of much of the world, tagalog is the lingua franca for a significant minority wherever English is spoken. Hong Kong, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States all recognize Tagalog as a minority language no matter what name you give it. Meantime, around twenty countries have a minority population who speaks Tagalog, recognized or no.

Being as widespread as Tagalog is, it bears some further resemblance to English in that it is a dynamic and rich language full of quixotic quirks and colorful slang. Tagalog has borrowed much of its bones from other language, primarily Spanish, Malay, Sanskrit, and Javanese, historically. 333 years of Spanish occupation of the Philippines made Spanish clergymen the custodians of the language for some time, but now that it's on its own legs, it borrows where it can and must. These days, there are dialects adopting lingual shifts and tropes wherever geography has thrown them.More and more people are picking Tagalog up as a second language. Its demand is undeniable, and it's easy to learn.

Luckily, English-speakers won't need mandibular surgery to pronounce Tagalog words; the alphabet is Roman, and if you know how to pronounce the vowels in Spanish, picking up a couple idioms is a piece of cake. It pays to speak English as a first language sometimes.

Making Friends with Idioms in Tagalog

Here are couple of idioms to get you started winning hearts and minds in your Filipino community.

  • Magaan ang dugo, literally meaning "light blood," is someone who is easy to get along with. If you tell someone you're a Magaan ang dugo, they'll know you're good people.
  • May magandang hinaharap is a person with a bright future. If someone says this about you, you're well on your way to being taken out to dinner.
  • Makalaglag-matsing is what you give your dining companion: an enchanting look.
  • Ilaw ng tahanan is who you'll meet when you're taken home. Literally, it means "light of the house," which is a really nice way to say "mother."
  • Nagbukas ng dibdib is what you'll be when you're really serious; it means "man who has opened his heart," which means "the guy who proposed marriage."

If this all seems a little hard to process, imagine what it would be like if you didn't know these idioms in these situations!

Beware of These

If you hear any of these around you, you should either use all of the above positive idioms or go home. If the sponge-bathing nurses say any of these, you might want to switch hospitals or something.

  • Mahina ang loobis literally weak-willed. It means coward.
  • Balik-harapis a Benedict Arnold, a two-faced betrayer.
  • Bantay-salakayis a person who pretends to be good or an opportunist.
  • Halang ang bituka literally means "someone with a horizontal intestine," which is a colorful way of saying a person has no moral compunction.

Insist that you're a Magaan ang dugo and you might make it through such horribly slanderous talk.

Have Good Luck with a Good Heart

If you keep an open mind, you'll find that people will meet your slight knowledge of Tagalog idioms with smiles. Everyone finds it charming when a non-native speaker knows a few idioms in their language.

Here's a list of even more idioms in Tagalog, if you think you're up to it.

As for the nurses, make sure you eat your vegetables and get plenty of exercise, and you might skip the hospital visits altogether.