List of regional languages of the Philippines

This is the list of recognized regional languages in the Philippines as ordered and permitted by the Department of Education (Philippines) under the Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE) strategy:^[1]

● Aklanon

● Alta, Northern

● Alta, Southern

● Atta

● Bikol

● Cebuano

● Chavacano

● Ga'dang

● Gaddang

● Hiligaynon

● Ibaloy

● Ibanag

● Ilocano

● Isinai

● Isnag

● Itawis

● Itneg

● Ivatan

● Kankanaey

● Kapampangan

● Kinaray-a

● Labin Agta

● Maguindanao

● Manobo

● Maranao

● Pangasinan

● Sambal

● Surigaonon

● Tagalog

● Tausug

● Waray

● Yakan

● Yogad

Objective

The Philippines' Department of Education decided to implement the program starting school year 2012. The Mother Tongue is primarily taught at kindergarten and grades 1, 2 and 3. The adoption of regional languages as medium of teaching is based on studies which tend to show that using the mother tongue as the language of instruction in the classroom literacy among Filipinos bolster comprehension and critical thinking skills of Filipino children in the school and facilitate learning of second language such as English and the Philippines' national language called Filipino. Filipino is Tagalog-based which means that speakers of Tagalog are speakers of the Philippine national language.

Other languages

There are approximately more than 175 languages and dialects in the Philippines which form part of the regional languages group. A few of these languages and dialects are spoken by in islands communities such as Abaknon in Capul island.

References