Maraming salamat po kayo! Medyo lang ang edukayson ko, pero suwerte ako talaga, kasi masyado malapit ang pamilya ko.

And I really hope I didn't embarrass myself with the above attempt, even given that Tagalog is the simplest, most sensibly-constructed language I know. I mean, what other languages are so easy that one can learn how to properly pronounce every word in the language using two rules that can be learned in one minute flat? "Ah, eh, ee, oh, ooh" and pronounce all syllables - that's it! (I think Hawaiian has the same rules, btw)

My wife once told me a joke: "What do you call someone who speaks three langauges?"

"Trilingual", I said.

"How about two languages?"

"Bilingual."

"How about only one language?"

"Um...monolingual?"

"No," she said, "American."

From that day I've tried to learn Tagalog as well as I can.