If you live in the Philippines, your life is impacted by Philippine Culture, even if you don’t realize it.
The culture of the Philippines is very much misunderstood by foreigners. All of us have heard of many foreigners who live in the Philippines and are very unhappy here. People are unhappy for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons why many foreigners are unhappy here is because they don’t understand the culture of the country. Because of this lack of understanding, they are unable to comprehend the things that happen around them.
Many people from other countries think that the culture in the Philippines is very similar to western culture. After all, the Philippines was ruled by the Spanish for 400 years, followed by nearly 50 years of American rule. Of course the culture would have been influenced by the west, and thus the Filipino way of thinking and acting would be very western.
Wrong.
It doesn’t take long of living in the Philippines to realize how wrong that thinking is. Many foreigners can’t quite figure it out, they only know that they are not happy with their life in the Philippines, even though they were very excited and so looking forward to making the move. What they fail to understand is that the fact is that the culture of the Philippines is very complex, and also very different from western cultures. It is not easy for foreigners to understand, even after years of living in the Philippines.
Because of the fact that so many foreigners are unhappy with their life in the Philippines, I decided to write a book to help them be able to gain happiness with their life in the Philippines. I actually wrote that book about a year ago and have been selling it, a very short and simple text, for Amazon Kindle. However, I recently beefed it up and made it available in Paperback and also as a greatly expanded eBook as well. My all new book on Philippine Culture is now available as either an eBook or a Paperback, and it is at a low price, just $14.99.
Buy the Philippine Culture Manual for Foreigners in Paperback from CreateSpace, and Amazon Company by clicking here.
Buy the Philippine Culture Manual for Foreigners in eBook from Expat Island Bookstore by clicking here.
At the time of this writing, I have lived in the Philippines for more than 15 years, and I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of Philippine culture, but it took many years to gain that knowledge. I even took lessons in Philippine Culture and applied what I learned to the writing of this book. In fact, I was able to gain a lot of understanding of Philippine culture because I had a private tutor who taught me how to speak Bisaya (one of the Philippine languages), and she also spent significant time explaining Philippine culture to me as part of the courses.
In this book, I lay out the tenets of the culture of the Philippines for you. I will also give you some real life examples of Philippine culture at play, and how I dealt with the various real life situations.
I truly believe that learning these cultural lessons is a big factor in enjoying a good life in the Philippines. If you try to live in the Philippines without an understanding of the things in this book your life will be a constant series of frustration, misunderstanding in dealing with Filipinos and a general unhappiness with living in the Philippines.
Hi Bob, I agree with you foreigners have to learn the culture of the Philippines to have
A better life here, I try to speak a little Filipino at the market I’m not very good at it
But the fact that you are trying helps and Filipinos appreciate that you have tried,
There are too many expats in Manila that look miserable, smiling doesn’t cost you anything, good luck with your book bob. Derek in pasig.
You really hit the nail on the head, Derek. Language and Culture are intertwined, and learning one or the other, preferable both has a huge impact on life, and will certainly turn a bad life around in a new country!
On each and every visit, I learn and experience a little more of the culture. Many times when I have experienced these things for the first time I think to myself ” that is something I read about on ” LIP ” and now it is happening right in front of me. I am still in the process of reading your ” Move To ” book Bob, This culture book sounds interesting and I think I will get one of those too. In both of these books, even though they may not be targeted at the tourist market, I think there is a lot of useful information that could apply to tourists and visitors that they will not find in tourist books and websites. For those that want to go further than just tourism.
The best someone can do, especially prior to a first visit is Know Before you Go !
Thanks for your kind words, Bob!
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO. I think that is super important!
I strongly recommend the movie “Heneral Luna” because you will see how culture and how Filipinos think influence the things they say and do (me included). I don’t know if have English translations in provincial theaters, but the one at Rockwell does.
Hi Norman – I was not aware that there were English versions, or even English subtitles. That is interesting to know.
You’re so right Bob. Here in OZ, I spend much of my non-business life surrounded by Filipino’s, and sometimes it’s a struggle. They understand how each other is thinking without having to discuss it. We plan a trip to the beach, and I’m all ready to go at 1pm, and I can see that they are looking for excuses to delay setting off. Of course, it’s the fear of the sun making their skin darker, and I still forget that. Even though some of them have been overseas for 20 years plus, and are positively pale and in need of a bit of sun on the skin, that thinking is still there.
And food; I have introduced so many Filipino friends to the finest foods in the world, at the finest restaurants, but still, there’s always a lust for smelly fish and fatty pork. I’ve concluded, because of this, that Filipino food must be addictive. Many of our Filipino friends are now senior doctors and nurses, some in the Cardio field, but still they can’t resist devouring great chunks of fat.
So it’s a different upbringing, highly resistant to change, and if that frustrates we foreigners, we need to take a chill pill and learn to live with it, because it’s not gonna change in our lifetime.
Hi Jim – Those are all valid points and experiences, no doubt. It is indeed a different upbringing, and we are all so influence by our childhood, no doubt.