Instituto Cervantes Manila will open a new lecture series exploring the influence of Spanish on Filipino languages with a talk titled “Vínculos lingüísticos: El español en el filipino” (Linguistic Links: Spanish in Filipino) on February 11, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at its Intramuros branch.
The lecture marks the inaugural session of Charlas de la Academia, a series presented by the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española, and will be delivered by its director, Professor Daisy López. The talk revisits the deep linguistic ties between Spanish and Filipino, shaped by centuries of shared history.
Founded in 1924, the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española continues to promote the study and use of Spanish in the Philippines through research, education, and public lectures. In this session, López will focus on Hispanicisms in Tagalog, highlighting how Spanish words and structures became part of everyday Filipino speech.
From commonly used terms such as mesa, silya, sapatos, and bintana to numbers, expressions of time, and surnames, Spanish has left a lasting imprint on Filipino vernacular languages. These borrowed words remain actively used today in daily conversation, media, education, and governance.
Beyond vocabulary, Spanish influence extends to linguistic patterns, naming conventions, and discourse styles. Rather than displacing native languages, Spanish blended with them, resulting in a linguistic identity that is uniquely Filipino.
The talk highlights how language serves as a living record of history, offering insights into the Philippines’ multicultural heritage and its continuing evolution.
Attendees are encouraged to register in advance through this link: https://forms.office.com/e/BT2y3V3VFg
The event is presented by the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española and Instituto Cervantes de Manila, in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, AECID Philippines, and the Intramuros Administration. The Instituto Cervantes de Manila (Intramuros branch) is located at 385 Calle Real, Plaza San Luis Complex, Intramuros.