There are a thousand and one ways to learn Tagalog on your own. Let me tell you the story of my sister and her husband. My brother-in-law is of Italian-French descent.

He is smart and charming, but tends to be an introverted kind of guy. My sister, a natural genius and embryologist, is a Filipina like me. They’re a beautiful, smart couple.

Some years back, she would complain that my brother-in-law even after years of marriage still couldn’t get simple Filipino jokes which would be as simple as “knock, knock” jokes. I kid you not. Despite being married to a Filipina, my brother-in-law’s Tagalog was practically zilch for years…

The one day, he decided to cut down his Nintendo time, and take his Tagalog immersion seriously by watching Filipino telenovelas.

At first, it was like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. He couldn’t understand 99% of it. But little by little he understood more and more. Filipino telenovelas just sort of grew on him.  Overtime, he would find himself following every twist and turn of the plot of Kadenang Ginto (literally the “Gold Chain”).

He would find himself roaring with laughter at the witty banters of the characters Romina and Daniella, the show’s main characters. But what really got him hooked was the smash-hit Ligaw na Bulaklak (translated as “Wildflower”) of Maja Salvador, and Nang Ngumiti Ang Langit (“When the Heaven Smiled”) of child star Sophia Reola.

It helped that my sister, like most other Filipinos rich and poor, are gaga over Filipino telenovelas. But since he started watching Filipino telenovelas, he’s come a long way.

What if you aren’t in the Philippines? If you are abroad, there are lots of ways you can find them online. But for telenovela-addicted Filipinos, by far the easiest way they get their fix is through a international subscription television network called The Filipino Channel or TFC where you can find the most popular ones with subtitles. Filipinos abroad are crazy about TFC.

So, here’s a run down of how you, like my brother-in-law, can supercharge your Tagalog skills.

To Improve Your Tagalog Speaking: Watch Filipino TV shows with Subtitles

Filipino TV shows contain Taglish (Tagalog sentences peppered with English words and vice versa). This is the Tagalog that is most commonly spoken in day-to-day interactions. On TV, you can easily pick up words and phrases and see the corresponding facial expression.

Why does watch TV lead to faster and better comprehension and mastery, as compared to say reading things off a textbook? Like my brother-in-law, once you really get mentally and emotionally involved in what you are watching, learning becomes natural. Watch long enough and the Filipino expressions you learned on TV just will start jumping out to you when you start conversing in Tagalog.

YouTube is also a good substitute. This website Talk Tagalog also has some video transcripts of some popular YouTube clips which you can practice your listening comprehension on. (Of course, Talk Tagalog also has it’s own YouTube channel and podcast too)

To Improve Your Tagalog Listening: Play Tagalog Music

Listening to formal Tagalog audio language courses are a good foundation, but there is only so much your rigorous language training you mind can take before the less intrepid feel bored. As this website’s tagline goes, we believe in ‘Learning Tagalog the Natural Way.’

Well, you’re in luck. Filipinos have long-running and intimate relationship for for karaoke and singing – a passion that perhaps is only exceeded perhaps by their love of selfies and food!

A Filipino village may be struck by earthquakes, floods, typhoons, or volcanic eruptions, yet the very next day they will roll out their karaoke machine.

You can try keeping a Tagalog radio station or a Tagalog playlist playing in the background while at work or while at home. Listening to Tagalog songs is a good way to learn without pressure while having fun at the same time.

While you do other stuff like eating dinner or washing the dishes, you can train your ears to catch Tagalog words and phrases. Sometimes hearing words as part of lyrics of a song can really help you out with the right diction, intonation and pronunciation.

Write down the stanzas in songs that have the most powerful impact to you. Read them out loud. Eventually you can sing the lines of the song.

When I was learning the Filipino (Tagalog) language in school as a subject (the same way an American school might teach English), I remember that my teacher made my classmates translate the lines of a song:

I WOULDN’T BE HERE   By Belinda Carlislie	WALA AKO DITO   Ni Belinda Carlislie
Chorus:	Koro:
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love you.	Wala ako dito kung di ka inibig.
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t care.	Wala ako dito kung di ka mahal.
I wouldn’t waste your time or my time,	Di sinayang ang ating oras
In a love that’s going nowhere.	Sa ating pagmamahalan.

This is something you might want to try as well. This Tagalog song translation can be sung to the same exact tune of the original English song.

See? It’s easy! Not only would you have learned a new set of Tagalog words, but you’d also have a song to impress your Tagalog-speaking girlfriend or boyfriend with.

If invited by Filipinos to a karaoke, jump at the chance. Remember that a little enthusiasm can make up for actual skill.  Be perhaps the greatest secret to Filipino karaoke singing is “kapal ng mukha,” literally thickness of face, meaning to lack a sense of shame or embarrassment.

Or, if that doesn’t come naturally to you (don’t worry it doesn’t to anyone), record your voice and listen to yourself to help you to identify your pronunciation weaknesses.

To Improve Your Tagalog Reading: Read Children Books or Newspapers

Read children’s books as these reading materials are especially written for a beginner’s level. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers, or books that have their language simplified for school age children. You can just later proceed to books for grown-ups when you are comfortable with the children’s books.

From graded books you may jump to newspapers to find passive constructs and sentences. Find for the general meaning first. There’s no need to worry about understanding every word. If you keep jumping around looking up new words to check their meanings you the moment you see them tend to forget the context they’re used in and break the “flow” in reading which is very essential in learning.

Scribble down the unfamiliar words to check them afterwards, and then go back to reread the part it was in.

To Improve Your Tagalog Writing: Take Down Notes and Keep Writing

Get a notebook, and write down every word you stumble across in every other exercise you are on. Google their meanings if you must. Periodically review what you’ve written.

Writing in Tagalog is a skill set in itself. To start, think about related ideas and thoughts without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then, think about the structure of your piece. After that, write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to someone else to check for mistakes.

To Improve Your Tagalog Confidence: Surround Yourself with Native Speakers

Learning Tagalog by yourself to build a foundation is necessary, which is good news for people who have an introverted side, like my brother-in-law.

Just by learning through your lonesome self, there will you will be able speak, write read and understand Tagalog some degree of skill. However, without testing out your Tagalog “in the wild” with real live native speakers, you’re missing the entire point of learning the language. In fact, this website TalkTagalog.com believes in speaking from day one.

A good flowing conversation in Tagalog is the goal. And this doesn’t have to be in person, if you don’t immediately have access to patient native speaker. You can start out with online or on social media. If you can carry a conversation going on written chat, this will probably help you be confident making forays into in-person meet-ups.

If you are afraid of having your grammatical errors constantly correct by Tagalog-speaking grammar Nazis, having this distance will help you come out of your shell. Don’t worry though, you’ll find out that 99.98% of Tagalog speakers will be more than happy to help you out in polite way. When you are corrected by the 0.02%, be thankful for it.

The best way to learn a foreign language is to make lots of mistakes, in person and in the most embarrassing ways.

There is no short cut to this. Get out there fast. Expose yourself to native speakers. To make it too hard on yourself. Make mistakes.

Combining the Easiest Ways to Learn Tagalog

Learning a language needs a whole host of skills. And there’s always a path of least resistance to each skill. Better still, each skill will help another. Reading helps writing. Writing helps reading. Listening helps speaking. Reading will also give you more opportunities to speak and write. You get the gist.

This website, TalkTagalog.com is one place to start. On this website there are a lot of lessons that you can read that cover all sorts of topics, from grammar to transcripts of actual news reports.

This site also has podcasts for you to listen to, as listening comprehension is always a huge stumbling block to Tagalog mastery. Start chipping away at this block! Also, keep the Tagalog music on.

As a practice, you can keep a notebook and write down the new words you come across on our platform and your interactions with native speaks and materials.

When you you speak the phrases you learn, speak them out loud.

As for confidence, we have several guides on TalkTagalog.com to jump start your skills to get to know people better, such as a guide to help you flirt in Tagalog or go on a date with a Tagalog-speaking beauty.

Learn doesn’t have to be all boring books and lesson. Learn the natural way. Ready? The ball is in your hands.