In my recent video comparing Indonesian and Tagalog, I mentioned that Spanish has had a big impact on Tagalog vocabulary, since the Philippines was controlled by Spain for hundreds of years. An estimated 20% -33% of Tagalog vocabulary is of Spanish origin. This vocabulary is deeply Continue reading
How Similar Are Finnish and Estonian?
Finland and Estonia are situated a mere 80 km apart from each other across the Gulf of Finland. The languages of these two countries, Finnish and Estonian, were the same language (Late Proto Finnic) around 2000 years ago, but have grown apart since then. Continue reading
25 Basic Tagalog Phrases and Greetings
Who needs Tagalog?! Filipinos pretty much all speak English, right?!
Well, yeah, more or less. But when you’re visiting a country as social and fun as the Philippines, knowing some Tagalog will not only endear you to the locals, but inspire almost inexplicable positivity everywhere you go. Continue reading
How Similar is Hawaiian to Tahitian and Marquesan?
In this post we’re going to look at how similar three Polynesian languages are: Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Marquesan.
In the recent Langfocus video on The Hawaiian language, I mentioned that the original population of Hawai’i are Continue reading
The Most Closely Related Language to English
If I asked you to name two languages that people often say are similar, what languages would you name?
Maybe Spanish and Portuguese popped into your head. Maybe you thought of German and Dutch. Or maybe Hindi and Urdu. But what about English? Continue reading
