Joe T. · Heritage learner and parent
Learning the language he hopes to pass on.
Joe’s story, in his own words.
The interview below preserves Joe’s original responses, including spelling and punctuation, as shared with Tahanan and featured on tagalogapp.com. Ages and references to app features reflect the time of the interview.
What made you want to learn Tagalog in the first place?
My mom is Filipina and I spent my childhood around my mom side of the family always hearing my Tita's and Tito's speaking in Tagalog. I'd always wanted to learn it but at the time my mom felt there was no need for me to learn it living in the US. For me, I had always wanted to learn a language as it's always a great skill to have and I figured as I got older what better first language to learn than my own culture. My wife's mom is also Filipina and I know have a 3 year old son, so it's made me want to learn the language so I can start teaching him phrases and getting him more acclimated.
What was your experience with Tagalog before you started using Tahanan?
Duolingo never had it. I didn't want to pay for online tutors, etc. I had tried the few apps that did offer it (Pimsleur mostly) and I did get a pretty decent foundation from that. It helped growing up hearing some high repetition words so I could pick up on some basic sentences relatively quickly but once people start talking more than one sentence I get hung up. It's also hard because a lot of apps are very limited to just quick vocab recall and seeing the same sentences I never really felt like it actually teaches you to speak any language.
What were some of the biggest challenges you had with learning Tagalog before Tahanan?
I know the best way to ultimately learn a language is immersion so I always ended up giving up after some time knowing that was the case. So I always felt like I was stuck in this beginner phase where I knew the same vocab and same novice introductory sentences (napakahirap noon!). I could never test it by talking to someone and feel I progressed. I will say I love that Tahanan is now coming out with Visaya although thats the other double edge sword. My wife's family speaks Pampangan, my moms family speaks visayan, and I am currently learning Tagalog, so there is a lot that gets lost in translation still because I'm being exposed to 3 dialects and it doesn't always translate over. That has made learning fluency harder.
How has Tahanan helped you make progress?
Tahanan basically solved for all those issues. It's not just vocab recall. I love that there is an AI calls component so you actually get to interact with something and work on listening comprehension and prononciation. On top of that I get to work with a live coach Darlyn who has been awesome at making my Tagalog sound more fluid (Maraming salamat po Darlyn!). On top of all THAT, there is now more listening exercises, the normal curriculum that involves listening, vocab, and putting sentences together. I've just never really seen a language app provide all the different tools you need to learning a language you usually have to outsource a lot of that.
What parts of Tahanan have been the most helpful for you?
For me it's all about immersion and what I didn't get from the other apps. Having Darlyn coach me back, those first lessons in each unit where you hear a conversation I love because I try to just listen and interpret vs reading along. I love the AI calls for getting even more reps on my speaking ability and proper sentence structure and recall.
Have you noticed any changes in your real life since you started learning? For example, understanding family more, having conversations in Tagalog, feeling more confident speaking, or anything else.
Funny enough it was on TikTok. There are these American Tiktoker’s who move to the Philippines and shock everyone with their Tagalog. One day I was just listening to one of their videos not expecting anything, and realized as they spoke Tagalog I could actually understand what they were saying! It was like I gained a superpower haha. I kept up with them for like 3-4 sentences before some of the vocab or sentence structure either got too fast, slang, or just beyond my current skill level but I was so excited to see I even kept up!
Is there a specific moment or accomplishment from your Tagalog journey that you're especially proud of?
Being able to both put multiple sentences together without thinking about each word and translating each word as well as hearing someone speak and hearing the story as it is told in Tagalog. I find the hardest part of learning a language is the skill transition of hearing someone speak and translating to English > then making sure you understood each word to just hearing the sentence and knowing what it is in Tagalog without having to add that extra step.
What would you tell someone who wants to learn Tagalog but is still on the fence about starting?
Just do it! Or at least if you are going to start, start with this app. And I don't mean that in a “let me promote this app just cause!” I am very picky about processes, and building systems for myself to learn new things to make sure I'm always progressing. And learning a language is no different. I've never seen something so robust that has every facet of learning you need to truly learn a language. If you are considering learning it's worth it! I know it can sound daunting but what I said was let me just commit for the next 3 months and then see if I progressed. If I felt like I did, then I'd keep going. At ngayon, pwede akong magsalita ng Tagalog! Madali lang!