My husband and I are from Cocoa, Florida area. We began our lea

My husband and I are from Cocoa, Florida area. We began our learning process through a small private class back in November. This class lasted until March whereupon we 'graduated' with basic knowledge of Tagalog. Our 'guro' is Filipino. One thing we have learned is that there is no word for word translation for Tagalog to English. We also have learned that if you have a background in Spanish, which we did not, you will learn the language better. There are many different dialects in the Philippines but if you know Tagalog you can pretty much speak with folks. There are often many questions raised on 'why' does the word do this or why do some words conjugate differently. Our 'guro' and Filipino friends have said that you need to learn the language in the way it is expressed not by assembling words into sentences. Having the opportunity to associate, even on Zoom, with native speakers (who are 90% of the time more than happy to help you learn), is the best way to learn. I have a white board on the wall in our home where I post phrases we want to know. We also developed our own learning/quizzing system on an app or website called Quizlet. I watched a movie the other night on Prime called Kid Kulafu about boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao. It was very good, spoken in Tagalog with English subtitles. It helped because you hear everyday conversation in the language but can pretty much follow along in English. It is so important to learn the correct pronunciation. One other tool we use is jw.org. It is a Bible based website that can be translated into over 1000 different languages by just clicking on an icon in the upper right hand corner. I can split screen different articles (English/Tagalog) and read or listen to them in Tagalog. This is especially valuable because most Filipino's are spiritually oriented and so having a Bible online in Tagalog helps facilitate that for them. Still learning, but enjoying it. We have made so many good friends through the learning process. Filipino's are very family oriented and so are we. Beautiful people.