Thousands of Spanish loaned words exist in the Philippine dictionary, making Filipino language sound very much like Spanish. But while their meaning and pronunciation are almost the same, it spells much difference in the orthography. So if some Hispanic tries to read or write them, it can get a little tricky. The same goes when Filipinos try to understand Spanish words. Although Filipinos have advantage in learning Spanish due to familiarity in the vocabulary, the spelling part is a bit challenging.
Why Spelling Has Changed
Due to the absence of some letters from the Roman alphabet in the Filipino alphabet, which is more popularly called as “abakada,” the spelling of Filipino words borrowed from Spanish was changed. In 1930, Filipino scholar Lope K. Santos developed a Philippine alphabet with twenty letters only: five vowels and fifteen consonants. They are the following:
a, b, k, d, e, g, h, i, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y
The missing letters are represented by other letters in the Philippine alphabet. They are the following:
Replacement for letter “C”
- Instead of "c" it is usually spelled as “k" in Filipino
Examples: arco vs arko, ancla vs angkla, carne vs karne
- Instead of "ción" it is usually spelled as “syon" in Filipino
Examples: operación vs operasyon, negociación vs negosasyon, asociación vs asosasyon
- Instead of "ch" it is usually spelled as “ts" in Filipino
Examples: chocolate vs tsokolate, coche vs kotse, chofer vs tsuper
- Instead of “cc” it is usually spelled as “ks” in Filipino
Examples: accidente vs aksidente, elección vs eleksiyon, inyección vs iniksyon
Replacement for letter “F”
- Instead of "f" it is usually spelled as “p" in Filipino
Examples: favor vs pabor, frutas vs prutas, fresco vs presko
Replacement for letter “J”
- Instead of "j" it is usually spelled as “h" in Filipino
Examples: Julio vs Hulyo, tarjeta vs tarheta, viaje vs biyahe
Replacement for letter “Q”
- Instead of "que" it is usually spelled as “ke" in Filipino
Examples: queso vs keso, querida vs kerida, parque vs parke
Replacement for letter “V”
- Instead of "v" it is usually spelled as “b" in Filipino
Examples: ventana vs bintana, vaso vs baso, vaca vs baka
Replacement for letter “X”
- Instead of "x" it is usually spelled as “ks" in Filipino
Examples: experto vs eksperto, exclusivo vs eksklusibo, experiencia vs ekspiryensiya
Replacement for letter “Z”
- Instead of "z" it is usually spelled as “s" in Filipino
Examples: taza vs tasa, mestizo vs mestiso, zapatos vs sapatos
Letters in the Spanish alphabet are also replaced by letters existing in Philippine alphabet:
Replacement for letter “Ñ”
- Instead of "ñ" it is usually spelled as “ny" in Filipino
Examples: España vs Espanya, piña vs pinya, compañía vs kompanya
Replacement for “ll”
- Instead of "ll" it is usually spelled as “ly" in Filipino
Examples: calle vs kalye, cuchillo vs kutsilyo, silla vs silya
* Exception: caballo vs kabayo
Replacement for “rr”
- Instead of "rr" it is usually spelled as “r" in Filipino
Examples: Inglaterra vs Inglatera, hierro vs yero, terrorismo vs terorismo
Other noticeable differences:
- Instead of "io" it is usually spelled as “yo" in Filipino
Examples: Dios vs Diyos, radio vs radyo, colegio vs kolehiyo
- Instead of "ie" it is usually spelled as “ye" in Filipino
Examples: Griego vs Griyego, nieve, niyebe, pieza, piyesa
Exception: hielo vs yelo
- Jabón vs sabon
- Reloj vs relo
- Soldado vs sundalo
- Entiende vs intindi
- Tacón vs takong
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