The Philippines and the Spanish language

Linguogeographic notes

In 1542, two islands of the archipelago, which would receive the name of the Philippines later,—Leyte and Samar—were named Felipinas after Philip (Felipe) II, the king of Spain at that time. After that, the name of “the Philippines” (Las Islas Filipinas) was extended to the whole archipelago.

Up to 1989, for almost 400 years, the Philippines have been a Spanish colony. But before the start of the 21^st century, most Spanish people had been kicked away from the archipelago, and the Spanish language had left with them. Today, only 3% of Filipinos speak Spanish, particularly its local version. The influence of Spanish can still be noticed, but it isn’t even recognized as an official language: the official languages of the Philippines are English and Tagalog.

The correct English name of this country is the Philippines or fully the Republic of the Philippines. Wrong names: Phillippines, Phillipines, Philipines, and any other variants with F (Filippines).

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