I highly recommend that anyone who wants a greater understanding

Tama tama! Movies always impress me with the efficiency of Tagalog. You can also feel the emotional connections that are "BLEACHED" out of grammar discussions. And if you pay attention to the English subtitles, you realize how truly contextual and flexible natives express themselves. There are a bunch of great youtube videos here too with subtitles added through the substantial efforts of @jkos. I don't know of a more consistent and deeper resource than this websiite.

How. I watch these and understand nothing. I’ve been to the Philippines, my wife is Filipino. I can’t understand a thing. So, I am curious how you are even able to learn by passive reception.

@JoshuaC Passive watching will not work. If you are serious. You literally need to watch for context and lookup every word you don't know. It's better done with movies that have Tagalog subtitiles so you can at least see it. Try "Learning Languages with Netflix" plug in for chrome. Might change your life.

@JoshuaC Refold.la has a very lengthy roadmap about immersion learning. I would advise doing as @AMBoy says and looking up words as well as recording them.Some people use old fashioned notebooks, some use digital flashcards, some even use the built in flashcards on tagalog.com. Many ways to skin a cat.I would also advise going through the frequency lists here. Tag2k and the old Tag1k (which is kind of an easy one to do as it uses no verbs) and whilst doing so listening and reading Tagalog content of choice.Going through a beginners course for a good foundation is also very helpful!

@JoshuaC I feel that... Tagalog is trickier than its reputation.Verbs are difficult. All anyone ever discusses is Aspect and Focus. WTHW? When we speak English...CAN WE SPEAK ENNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGLISH!!Tense and Pronoun use. That is 2 hours...I can teach you all the core ideas you need in 2 hours. Take a you a bit longer to sink it into your brain, but 2 days, DONE.Blah blah blah...the rest of your life...you will hear nothing else. Aspect / Focus. GRAMMERISH!THEN its gets hard...what are all these affixes. What are they used for? Who knows? Who can speak about for longer than 3 minutes. Search the best texts and you are fortunate to unearth maybe 3 or 4 sentences at best. Mighty thin for so much effort?No one knows. Ask. Ask your wife. She knows in her puso (heart). She knows in her bones. Talk about it. NOOOOOOOOO WAY. IF she can, I want to talkto her.And most people don't WANT you to know.And most people don't WANT you to TRY...very hard.So...my best advice...you better feel in your PUSO somewhere...a connection. AFFIXES are AWESOME. Why do you LOVE your WIFE. AFFIXES are a big part. ASTIG! Pero...secretoooooooooo... I feel you...

@AMBoy thanks for the explanation and practical steps. Since I don’t have Netflix, I’ll just look at the material here and see what it’s like. Maybe I can create a YouTube playlist.

@akosikoneho thanks for taking the time to reply. I didn’t know what Refold.la is, so I had to look it up in the browser. I’ll check it out. I am currently going through LearningTagalog.com material (only on lesson 4, a VERY beginner, I am), which I supplement with this site-mostly using the dictionary to look at conjugations and examples.
I’ll look into the Tag1k and 2k.

@akosikoneho I looked further into Refold.la I saw a quote there by Steve Kaufman. I’ve wanted to try his system but they don’t have Tagalog. So, I am interested now is looking further into Refold. Thanks for the help!

@JoshuaC I'm on mobile so thid rrsppnse will be brief, but as far as an alternative to the Kaufman tool, tagalog.com has its own built in reader tool.If you click the left hamburger/menu selection and drop down, it should be labled "reader". Quite a few preloaded beginner convos from seasite if you sort by the beginners tag.

LearningTagalog is as good as any starting materials. You can progress to advanced beginner / pushing intermediate. Then learning materials will feel frustrating. Books are too formal, out of date with modern Tagalog, or focused on structuring Tagalog towards easing Filipinos towards ESL notions (for example active passive notions) in English that are ill-fitted for Tagalog. Dig in hard to root core meanings and all affixes (noun and adjective as well as verbs). Verbs forms are highly nuanced but no substitute for just mastering the base forms (-IN, MAG-, -UM-, MA-, I-) straight away.

Props to post of @ThatLucas with a great Verb Guide...get you way down beginner path...most foreigners never get close to this mastery.www.reddit.com/r/Tag alog/comments/k5zc1i /basic_tagalog_verb_ guide/

@JoshuaC I encourage you to try to speak Tagalog with your Filipina wife as often as you can. She is the best Tagalog learning resource you have at your disposal. It will take time, but the more you have conversations with her in Tagalog, the more you will begin to understand and appreciate the language. All other Tagalog learning tools are just icing on the cake. Remember, patience is a virtue. You've got this!!!