Tagalog (pronounced [tɐˈgaːlog]) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. It is the most spoken Philippine language in terms of the number of speakers.
Tagalog, in its standardized form, Filipino, is the principal language of the national media in the Philippines. It is the primary language of public education. As Filipino, it is, along with English, a co-official language and the sole national language. Tagalog is widely used as a lingua franca throughout the country, and in overseas Filipino communities. However, while Tagalog may be prevalent in many fields, English, to varying degrees of fluency, is more prevalent in the fields of government and business.
Tagalog is a Central Philippine language within the Austronesian language family. Being Malayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages such as Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East Timor), and Paiwan (of Taiwan).
It is closely related to the languages spoken in the Bicol and Visayas regions such as Bikol, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, and Cebuano.
Languages that have made significant contributions to Tagalog are Spanish, English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Sanskrit, Old Malay and Tamil language .
Filipino, the national language of the Philippines, is the de facto standardized variant of this language. It has heavy borrowings from English. Other Philippine languages have also influenced Filipino, which is caused primarily by the migration to Metro Manila by people from the provinces.