Question: why does filipinos know english ,but not understand a

As of my work experience..you should speek slowly and give some gape in your conversation... Like .
I. Want. To ask. A question....
Instead of I want to ask a question..Try this may be it helps you

Filipino kids learn English in school from first grade onward ... so almost EVERY filipino knows English to at least some degree. But often their teachers have a strong filipino accent ... (although some are simply PERFECT ... but unfortunately not all of them, especially in the rural areas) ... and so this is what the kids learn. Therefor it is hard for some of them to understand foreigners, even when they are talking to native speakers. As with any language: you should make sure you speak a "clean" English ... if you speak Jordi or a midwestern american dialect, then maybe even a NATIVE English speaker will not understand you at all.And otherwise I agree with @Malikp: speak slowly and give a lot of breaks. If people dont understand you, then people may pretend they understand you nevertheless ... because admitting that they dont will make them think they "lose their face" ... so make sure they REALLY understand you .... before you continue to talk to them the way you do ...

@slowgo where are you from? If you have a strong "accent" (e.g. Australian, Southern US), non-native speakers will have a hard time understanding you. (Even Americans can have a hard time understanding Aussie or Kiwi accents)Filipinos are more used to the "Hollywood movie" kind of English.Also, stick to "standard English". Filipinos will not understand what "dough" and "10 grand" will mean

@Bituingmaykinang i am from america ,, live here in sjdm philipines ,, like i say most filipinos know english ,, my problem is thet do not understand english , when i have to ask them what i need at the store of some kind ,,, i went to allhome hardware to get nails one day ,, and end up having get piece of paper and draw a tiny nail for them to understand what i want ,, i now carry a small padof notebook paper with me to stores
thank you ,, salamat

@slowgo
There is a good solution to this problem…build up your vocab so you can also say it in Tagalog as well as English…it will take a while, but if you’re living there, it makes a lot of sense.

@Jimmy329 lol midwestern English is “clean”.

@slowgo yeah, but where in America? New York? Midwest? South-Deep South?As a long-term California resident, even I have a hard time understanding people from the Southern US due to accent.Have you considered that you are using terms that are only used in the US or your local area in the US? In the Philippines, the type of English that people will understand the most is Philippine English.And no, salvage in the Philippines does not mean "to save". It means someone who was brutally killed.Adapt instead of expecting Filipinos to adapt to you.

@PinoyTaj Wait til you hear someone from Georgia or Louisiana. It makes the Texan accent more "bearable"

@Bituingmaykinang Eh lived in Alabama for 3 years only takes a few weeks to get used to the deep south accent.

First of all, I can assure you that most Filippino people - especially in Luzon - speak and understand English very well. Their English has usually some filippino accent ... but its is clear and the extent of their vocabulary is sometimes amazing. I suppose you are not a native English speaker ... just as me ... I am no native English speaker as well. I have travelled a lot in the phils and people did understand me almost always with no problems at all ... so there must be another reason why they dont understand you. And only you can really know, what might be the reason for that ... so I will refrain from speculating about it. As @jkos has mentioned: if you have problems to communicate in English, it might be a good idea to learn some Tagalog ... which is widely spoken in Luzon ... but that will probably take some time an effort ... And it may not always work if you travel to other islands than Luzon ... as some people do not speak or like to speak Tagalog, especially in rural areas ... Visaya, Waray, Cebuano ... just to mention a few ... ! Or people have strong accents ... like in Mindano, where they tend to change vowels a lot (eg. aku instead of ako )So I hope you will get along well in the phils ... people are reallly friendly and helpful and they will try to understand you, if you just give them a chance to do so ...

@Malikp if i speak much slower i'd be stoped talking

@Bituingmaykinang im from north carolina usa
i not even know that language of 10 grand , ect , so i speak regular english ,,,
oh , yea they say i speak slang

@jkos like i mention to others ,, im working on phrases , like a freind told me to start on thats been here 15 yrs

@PinoyTaj im north carolina

@Bituingmaykinang whats Philippine English.