I came across this chart during my research for my Teaching English Online series. It reflects a couple interesting things about the Philippines.
I guess the first thing that interests me, and should interest you if you are seriously thinking about moving to the Philippines is, look at the dates. This was posted in one of the top, big budget newspapers in the country just a few days ago, and the most recent figures are from the second half of 2008 … thus, in some ways, a year out of date. This is actually amazingly current for Philippine statistical information. Do not expect to see any sort of real time or near real time information in the newspapers or on line. Things just don’t happen that fast. (this can be more than a little bit annoying when the information you are looking for is perhaps your bank account balance … I have online access to my bank accounts and so far it has always been correct, to the centavo, but don’t make a deposit and then expect it to show up the same day … those electrons take along time to flow I guess.
The Second thing of interest in this graphic is, look at the spread. As an American, even making a conscious effort to suppress my “greatest country in the world” thoughts and discounting how many Koreans I see on a daily basis when I visit Zamabales, next door to HanJin’s huge new shipyards, I never would have guess that Korean visitors outnumber Americans.
Most “Norte Americanos” and European’s will be surprised at the proportions of Japanese and Chinese as well.
And Australians? Wow. Those fellows really get around.
Anyway,I thought the distribution of visitors was quite interesting, and those of us visitors/expats who use English as a primary language seem to be definitely in the minority … after all only one out of the top 5 visitor nations uses English as a primary language (yeah I know, Australia id number five, but the jury is still out them … I try to watch a lot of the programming on the Australian broadcasting channel and the announcers seem to speak English but some of the reality/drama shows I truly can’t follow. I’m sure some of my down under mates will chime in, but seriously as an outsider I fear Australia is in serious danger of losing it’s grip on English … sorry to say. Take up the slack, mates, please, we English speakers are definitely sinking…
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Hi Dave,
Interesting about the Koreans, and also about your comment on the English language. Did you know that the Koreans residing in the Philippines are attending English language training schools or hiring tutors? I know a couple Filipinas down there and they are both into teaching Koreans to speak English. I guess English is easier to learn than Tagalog.
Oh certainly I know they are here, John. It’s one of the few jobs I see foreigners get hired for “under the table” … no work visa, paid in cash, etc. As I frequently trumpet, though, no way would I go to some school and let some crook fleece both the students and me, i’d do it online, either for a commercial online company (of which there are plenty) or, preferably just do it for myself. I don’t think English and Tagalog have any part of the Korean’s decision .. they are here to learn English because their government told them to and they can see the writing on the wall. For the same reason China has declared they will become the largest English speaking country in the world and they are certainly making progress. Look around and see the articles I have written about the outfit in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, a town of perhaps 200 population. They employ thousands of teachers, online to teach hundreds of thousands of English learners. As the guy who started that school said in one interview, “Market? We have a market of at least three billion eager customers, we can not help but grow”.
Filipinos in many cases have made conscious decisions to abandon English, and the schools, after 20 years of _not_ teaching English as in atrocious shape. Japan, China and Korea however are vigorously pursuing English in a big way. Those of us who have learned English from day one have a skill thta many of us just take for granted. Also _some_ Filipinos still value English and make sure their children learn. In my wife’s family (her mom and dad started school under the American and Philippine flags before WWII, taught all their children English ist. Today’s generation, my two little nephews I write about often are the same way … they spoke nothing but English until they started pre-school. Anyway, it’s interesting.
Hi again,
I also notice the lack of numbers of European visitors. Is this because the Mediterranean is too close, or lack of advertising in European markets for Philippine vacations? I’ve never actually seen a Philippine holiday advertised here in Europe. Probably because of the cost of the airfare and no direct route. I know that my trips totalled more than 20 hours (not all flight time).
Well it really takes about the same time to get to the Philippines from major European hugs like Amsterdam, Rome, (flying east) etc. as it does from Major US cities (flying west. Actual air time around 14 hours, give or take. But yes, I was surprised by a., the number of Korean and Japanese visitors and b., the smaller than I would have expected EU nations. I’ve met some any Germans, Swedes, Fins, Turks, Spaniards, etc. that I thought thier numbers would have been more represented. Just shows to go that impr4essions are often a bit askew from actual numbers.
Hello Dave;
Those are some interesting facts. Koreans, I have noticed a lot more of them in the area, the Subic Freeport has Korean Food Stores now, so it must be correct. My friend teaches English to Koreans on the base and yet he speaks not a word of Korean! How that works I just don’t know, but as he’s been doing it for a year now. And my Granddaughter goes to a private school on base and many are Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. And the teachers are forced to teach in English, unlike some of the so called English speaking schools. I tried years ago to talk with my daughter’s English teacher, and she had no clue of what I was speaking about! Ya Gotta’ Love That!
Yes, the idea of teaching say Koreans without knowing Korean is something many can’t get their head around. But it’s the best way, actually. First of all, Koreans who haven’t had some English in school would be rare indeed. They just need help with pronunciation, usage that ‘sounds right’ and more than anything else, practice and confidence building. Any person who is pleasant ans patient who speaks English can do that. In fact the more Korean spoken in the class, the slower the pace of learning, for sure.
When I worked for an English School in Japan there were only two hard and fast rules … 1. no “romancing” the students and
2. absolutely no speaking Japanese.
I believe the boss was more concerned with rule 2.
.
As he explained during my interview/indoc, “the students are lazy and manipulative. Even if you just start the class with a friendly “konnichi wa”, they will grab onto that phrase and before you know it you’ll be speaking more than 50% Japanese .. it’s like a game for them … and especially for the students who are paid for by parents or employers? I’ll lose the tuition fees, so No Japanese!.
I responded with a little head bow and a quick “Hai!”, which got me a dirty look and nearly lost me the job before I was hired LoL.
Oxford in U.K. studied the English speaking world, and found the best spoken was in the United States, and Boston was at the top of the list.
Being from Boston and well spoken, “I’m gonna’ school house them folks, fer sure!” (sic)
Sounds good to me, I certainly won’t argue. I learned years ago that arguing with a Red Sox fan is a bit like teaching a pig to sing … it wastes your time and greatly annoys the pig