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Saying a Philippino is Asian ethnically is like saying all people from the USA can trace their ancestors to Europe. The Philippines has a broad mix of different ethnic groups and mixes along with languages. Why many Philippinos identify themselves as Asian may have more to do with Geography or perhaps pride?
I was born in the Philippines (Metro Manila specifically) and people tell the time and count currency using the Spanish words ALL THE TIME.
Most of the time you'll hear someone say isang daang piso (100 Pesos), but for smaller amounts you almost always hear treinta pesos (30 pesos) cincuenta pesos (50 pesos) etc.
You'll hear them say "decada setenta/ochenta" when referring to the 70s or 80s. And in telling time, it's rare to hear someone use the full tagalog equivalent. You will almost always hear "a las ocho y media", "a las doce" etc.
that was my point actually.. they mix the numbers and dont exluslively count in Spanish.. but this doesn't make them hispanic
@minibrings ... interesting comment.
But what the issue here is ... what is "Asian" about you?
I can "look" European, but if my culture is Spanish, and my diet is Spanish, and my spirituality is Spanish based ... then guess what? I'M SPANISH!
I think you have much to be proud of.
You said your parents are from the Philippines. Have you ever been there?
Perhaps you're more, "American" than anything else?
I'm a good example of why its difficult to determine what is a Filipino. I'm of mixed heritage, like many filipinos. My dad is from Manila. He is Chinese-Spanish-Filipino ancestry. Looked more Chinese. BUT he spoke Spanish as a kid as his grandmother (abuela) ONLY spoke Spanish.. Dad actually had a Spanish passport, BUT he considered himself Asian first and could not relate with the Spaniards he met in Madrid (aside from a common language). My entire family spoke Spanish exclusively at home (as well as English and Filipino) until grandmother died. An extended family dinner included relatives that looked more chinese to those who looked white with vaguely asian eyes. I have a brother who could pass for Spanish another that looked more Chinese (but not quite).
Mum is from Honolulu and she is Hawaiian-Irish-japanese ancestry.. but talking about my Hawaiian ancestry is out of scope for this thread.
Point in this is.. perhaps its not that easy to pin-point what exactly is a Filipino - they could be Asian, Hispanic or Polynesian. It would depend on the family dynamics. This is due to the mixing of cultures and races. Look at my dads family - Spanish (white), Chinese and indigenouse Filipino. I'd have to say all 3.. and cannot select one!
Some Filipinos define themselves as Asian and others as Pacific Islanders. Others, Hispanic.
Which do you associate them with?
Interesting topic given that, just last week, I asked my Filipina GF this exact question. Her answer, "I'm Filipina first, Asian and Pacific Islander second."
I've never met a Filipino who claims to be Hispanic, although I have met several who do speak Spanish, or at least know several words in that language.
Regardless of what Filipinos consider themselves, fact remains that they are such nice, accomodating, and hospitable people.
What does ASIAN means? - It usually define a person whose country belongs to Asia right? but does Asian mean a race or ethnicity. What is the meaning of a Race? and what is the definition of Ethnicity to the Race?
There's a lot of sub-group continents of Asia which we usually call - Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia and Central Asia. So we call this sub-group Asians right? We have to check each individual countries are they all have the same races? is Central Asian & South East Asians have the same race.
Example: Kazakhstan (Central Asian Country) & Philippines (South East Asian) = Are they racially the same.
ASIAN usually define Geographical Location of a country NOT a race because Asian can be mix with other Races or Ethnicity but people mix this & they only focus on Northeast, East and South East People. Asian didn't originate in China, Japan or any other countries that locates on that area because it's Geographical definition. Asia has 48 countries. Philippines belong to Southeast Asia which on Physically feature have similarities with our fellow South East Asian neighbors because we have Malay Ancestry like those in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia & we also have similarities in Language with Austronesian people Pacific Islanders and our fellow Asian neighbors too used the same. Some Filipinos look like Northeast Asian like in China, Korea and some Vietnamese, Some Filipinos mixed with Arabian or Middle Eastern from West Asia because of Filipino Muslim trading before Spaniards came to colonized the country and until now there is still intermarriages from different parts of the world. Some Filipinos may look like mixed with Western like in Europe or America because of Colonization and Intermarriages to the other countries. You can find 50,000 Amerasian (America & Asia mixed) in the Philippines due to former US Naval Based same with Vietnam and Japan where there was a US Bases where their father mostly left them.
CULTURE - More than 80% of the population is Catholic which has different customs & tradition & here you'll see the Hispanic Influences and Filipino Muslims they also have different tradition & customs they follow and other Filipino ethnic groups like Ifugao (Igorots they are not christian or Muslim) so these group has different custom & traditions too which they follow. We have like almost hundred of different Ethnic Groups. Filipino-Chinese communities usually celebrate Chinese New Year not all Filipinos celebrate that although Chinese has influence some Philippine culture like in Food too.
Being FILIPINO means a unique race mixed with different backgrounds. You cannot just put in 1 as long as you will call them FILIPINO that makes them 1.
Tagalog our national language is Austronesian with Spanish Loanwords sometimes you'll hear similar words with Arabic Language from West Asia (Middle East Countries) like the word Kalas. Other Dialects are Austronesian Language origin.
Maybe, A lot of you don't know that Middle East country belongs to ASIA which located in the Western Continent & their country also included in what we usually do every 2-3 yrs The ASIAN Games. Asians can be seen with Caucasoid, White Caucasian, Mongloloid (Which some define this an offensive term - it means slanted eyes), Malay, Austronesian Look etc. Each individual have their own ethnical backgrounds.
Philippines is a diverse country from Culture and People that some people hardly understand. We claimed ourselves as ASIAN because we are located in ASIA & this is NOT a Race, Ethnicity or the definition of a Culture.
So what is Hispanic Means? is this a Race, Ethnicity or Culture? but the basic core origin of course is Spain which is the main connection. Some Ethnic groups in these Hispanic communities doesn't classify them as one & believe it's not a race or ethnicity definition. Hispanic is mixed with different ethnicity & race as a people. Why some other people saying Latino is for those people who speak Latin or with the ethnic origin from Europe like Italy & France etc. who should be the one to claimed as Latino?
Example:
Native Americans who speak Spanish from Mexico & they are Mexican citizens. Are they also Hispanic?
Some of them used Spanish Surnames too right? Is the Philippines, the only nation that adapt Spanish Surnames without Spanish Ethnicity during the Spain Colonization?
According to Wikipedia:
"Hispanic" is also used by people in the United States who are of Hispanic American origin (Hispanic and Latino Americans). Cultural elements (Spanish names, the Spanish language, Spanish customs, etc.) and people known as Hispanic can also be found in other areas that were formerly part of the Spanish or Portuguese Empire, such as in Equatorial Guinea in Africa or in the Spanish East Indies and Brazil (Portuguese in South America).
The term has also been used to denote the culture and people of Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas countries formerly ruled by the Spanish and Portuguese Empire, usually with a majority Hispanophone population. Collectively known as Hispanic America, this region includes Mexico, the majority of the Central and South American countries, and the Spanish-speaking island-nations of the Caribbean.
Filipinos probably could be considered the most Hispanic out of all Asians, but I still don't think of them as Hispanic mainly because they have no Spanish genetic ancestry and don't speak Spanish.
Filipinos probably could be considered the most Hispanic out of all Asians, but I still don't think of them as Hispanic mainly because they have no Spanish genetic ancestry and don't speak Spanish.
You can only considered Hispanic through our Culture for Filipinos because it's part of our Culture, Customs and Tradition some of us may claim that Hispanic Ethnicity because 3% of that 92-94.60 Million of that Population has Hispanic Ethnicity.
It doesn't only runs through our Catholic Religion the Hispanic Culture. 1st the name of our country Philippines was named after King Philip II of Spain. Most of our Literature was originally written & used by our National Hero in Spanish like "Noli Me Tangere" & "El Filibusterismo", From traditional games like "Hampas Palayok" (Philippines) similar to the Pinata of Latin American, cockfighting games etc., Spanish Surnames, Street Names & Provinces, From our National Costumes for us "Filipiniana (Female) & Barong Tagalog (Male)" , Music and Dance etc. We used Spanish by reading the clock or even Calendar months and a lot more of influences...
Even the bread we eat Pandesal, Pandecoco, Spanish Bread lol I read that some tagalog words came from New Spain which is Mexico now (Mexican Native Language) like the word "Tata" - Tatay, "Nana" - Nanay etc.
The early Filipinos are Malays. And Malays is the dominant ethnicity if you come to the Philippines. Sure they have Spanish last names, but racially they are Malays.
I read somewhere that Malays is a sub-type of Mongoloids (Asians). But there are also some studies claming Malays is a sub-type of Pacific Islanders due to the similar language of Tagalog, Cebuano, Bahasa, and many Pacific island languages.
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