Comments by "Angry Kittens" (@AngryKittens) on "BBC News Mundo" channel.

  1. 1. The natives of the Philippines were immune to European Old World diseases. Everyone survived first contact. Unlike in the Americas where most Native Americans died to diseases and were replaced or assimilated by European settlers. So the different cultures and languages of Filipinos were more or less intact during the Spanish colonial period. 2. The natives of the Philippines already spoke dozens of different native languages. Spanish was only a lingua franca during the colonial period, so people from different parts of the country can understand each other. It was rarely the home language. So when English andTagalog replaced it later, the need for learning Spanish disappeared. 3. The ties to Latin America were cut after various independence movements in the 1800s. Plus in Mexico, they used to call Filipinos "Chinos" or "Indios", which is why today Mexicans have this mistaken belief that early Asian settlers in Mexico were Chinese or Indians. 4.The ties to Spain were cut in the early 20th century because Spain basically destroyed itself in the Spanish Civil War, orphaning their former colonies. 5. The nail in the coffin was in the 90s. When Spanish was removed as a subject from schools. The last generation of Filipino Spanish speakers also died in this decade. Which is why you can still meet Filipinos who say their grandparents spoke Spanish (as a second language), but almost no one today speak Spanish in the Philippines. 6. Just because the language is gone, doesn't mean the Spanish influence is gone too. Filipino culture is still distinctively "Hispanic", quite similar to Latin American countries, but with an Asian/Austronesian twist.
    3
  2. Soy Filipino, y estoy aprendiendo Español tambien. Como una forma para recuperar las partes perdidas de nuestra cultura.
    3
  3. ​ @sunwukong7567  Gracias. Soy de la isla de Mindanao, y mi lengua materna es el Bisaya. Tengo solo seis meses aprendiendo Español. Es muy divertido. El vocabulario de Español es facilisimo de aprender, porque muchas palabras son iguales en Español y Bisaya/Tagalog. Pero la gramatica es muy diferente.
    2
  4. ​ @jmgonzales7701  No use? Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after English. Preserving our culture. Maintaining ties with similar cultures. Are these not good reasons for you?
    1
  5. For me, Portuguese is like the romantic sleepy version of Spanish.
    1