Conversational Tagalog being taught in Neepawa

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Published on Monday, March 13, 2017

By Miranda Leybourne

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Tagalog, the Austronesian language that is spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by nearly every Filipino citizen, is now being taught in Neepawa.

With the influx of Filipino immigrants to the area over the last few years, ArtsForward in Neepawa decided, after hearing enough requests for it, to offer a conversational Tagalog class.

The first 10-week program just ended, but according to Rrain Prior, Director of Programming at ArtsForward, another course will be offered after spring break, due to continued high interest in it.

“A lot of people are interested in [learning] basic conversational elements,” she explains. “Counting, saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’, just for interests sake and to be more welcoming to our community.”

Prior goes on to say that the interest from the community in learning Tagalog really shows how Neepawa has rallied around its new residents.

“I think it really just shows how welcoming Neepawa is becoming to our new population...we are a very quickly growing community and I think it’s wonderful to see that we are embracing this new population.”

Rosario Myla Ignacio, who works at Settlement Services and is herself a Filipino immigrant to Neepawa, teaches Tagalog to the students who enroll in the course. She says she is very pleased with the interest people in Neepawa have shown in Filipino culture.

“It’s just so lovely to hear that people would really go to that extent that they would want to know about the language,” she enthuses. “Anything that would really make two cultures understand each other better is really a great help.”

According to Ignacio, the lessons start with information about the Philippines in general -- culture, landscape, climate and more -- before moving on to learning the language. The course costs $5 and is open to people of all ages.