This is very common medium of communication thesedays to be able to reach out western people or those who are native english speakers like american, english or british, canadian and a lot more. Learning a second language is not very easy and simple. In fact, it involves embracing the culture, values and becoming aware of many things about the country.
When I was in South Korea, I just didn't learned how to speak, read, write and understand Korean which they called "hangul", but, I also have learned how to deal with the people (Koreans). I became aware of the values (family values, spiritual, moral, etc), way of thinking, social norms (how they are different from us Filipinos), culture (which is very important to them), and many more. When I was there, I felt like I was one of them.
In learning English language, it is just the same. You will be able to learn easily if you are eager and serious. Learning English is fun but you won't learn it over night. As they say, learning is a process...
People might wonder why Filipinos or people from the Philippines could be able to converse well in english. Why?
1. It is because english is taught at the very young age. The english language, writing, reading and listening are included in our curriculum (private and government school) from nursery to post graduate degree.
2. Most subjects like math, science, arts, social studies are in english.
3. Most documents like school ID, company ID, birth certificate, transcript of record, diploma and many more are translated in english.
4. Filipino teachers can speak english fluently, so we don't need a native speaker from other country.
5. We practice what we've learned in school by speaking English with our family, friends and guests.
6. At work, it is very much appreciated and required to submit a written report in English to the employer or director. In some offices, they required to speak English during their meeting.
The Filipino alphabet is similar to the English alphabet:
Aa,Bb,Cc,Dd,Ee,Ff,Gg,Hh,Ii,Jj,Kk,Ll,Mm,Nn,Ññ,Oo,Pp,Qq,Rr,Ss,Tt,Uu,Vv,Ww,Xx,Yy,Zz.
This make it easier for us, Filipinos to learn and speak english as a second language because the alphabet is almost similar to ours. We can pronounce the word correctly. If we're given a chance all, we can sound like a native speaker. Although we aren't all can speak fluently and with an American or British accent. However, we could be able to spell the word correctly, understand easily, read it and be able to speak in neutral accent.
Nowadays, in the Philippines, there are call center companies (customer service) nationwide. These companies are hiring and training Filipinos to work as a customer service representative (agent) with clients/customers in the United States or other english speaking countries.
I used to work as a customer service representative, two years ago in the Philippines. I would say that with proper training in English speaking skills, I would sound like an American. During our training, we were taught not only to sound American but to also embrace the American culture, attitude, way of thinking, values and many more. It was memorable for me to learn about the US State Capitals and how we say it correctly, the different time zones and familiarizing the US map.
English as a second language in the Philippines is very popular and it started long time ago. You might be surprised if you will hear a beggar or out of school youths who can speak and understand a little English.
And because of this, many other Asians like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc. who are spending money to go to school in the Philippines because of cheap tuition fees but good quality of education. Some of them are attending private tutorial and/or online classes.
