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Is there any appetite or interest among Filipinos for learning Spanish? At the official level, there is some interest. The Philippines has its own Spanish Language Academy and is a member of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española. It and the USA are the only non-Spanish-speaking members. I think Spanish was an official language of the Philippines up to around 1973 or so... and now can be promoted, along with Arabic (?) on a voluntary basis according to the current constitution. The Philippines has also signed educational exchange agreements with Spain and Chile to develop teachers of Spanish in the country.
I picked up some teach-yourself Tagalog materials. The language is infiltrated by tons of loanwords from Spanish... like numbers, months, abstract nouns, and many, many others. According to Wikipedia, between 20% and 33% of all Tagalog words are derived from Spanish. Does this make Spanish easy (or appealing) for Filipinos to learn?... or does it even matter anymore (as in Filipino/Tagalog, English or other, Asian languages are more useful, more appealing to speak/learn)?
English is similarly loaded with words derived from French and, in the UK, Ireland, and Anglophone Canada, French is the #1 *foreign* language to learn. It used to be #1 in the USA, but has been overtaken by Spanish... but is still #2. French is just part of the English language's DNA, so to speak. It is relatively easy for English speakers to learn French because there are so many shared words in the two languages. Plus, England was conquered by the French (Normans) and was under French (Norman) rule for centuries. As a result, it is today the most Latin of all of Germanic-speaking Europe.
The Philippines is also the most Latin of all of Asia, with the possible exception of Timor-Leste. The Philippines is deeply Catholic, Spanish surnames abound (and not a few first names), and the Spanish influence on local/national traditions, food, and, again, local languages runs deep.
Is there any appetite or interest among Filipinos for learning Spanish? At the official level, there is some interest. The Philippines has its own Spanish Language Academy and is a member of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española. It and the USA are the only non-Spanish-speaking members. I think Spanish was an official language of the Philippines up to around 1973 or so... and now can be promoted, along with Arabic (?) on a voluntary basis according to the current constitution. The Philippines has also signed educational exchange agreements with Spain and Chile to develop teachers of Spanish in the country.
English speaking workers is now a major part of the economy. Many of those work in Arab countries. Outside of the Hispanic world and low skilled work in the US there is not much demand for Spanish speakers.
I would love to learn Spanish! It's the Latin of the Philippines. Old documents, Rizal's works and even the Constitution of the First Republic was in Spanish.
Because Arabic is like a "heritage language" for 5-10% of the population- the Muslim population. In fact, more Filipinos probably have an interest in learning Arabic (because of their religion) than Filipinos who want to learn Spanish.
Because the Islamic minority is strong enough to call for Arabic as well as having special considerations in the Family laws like being able to divorce when no other religions or secular group members can
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