The Philippines is divided into 3 large island regions, which are Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. There are at least 80 different dialects in The Philippines and the languages of The Philippines have been heavily influenced by its occupation by foreign countries. The Philippines was invaded by Spain and this influenced not only the languages but the culture as well with a large proportion of Filipinos converting to Roman Catholicism.  Although Spanish was  the official language for over three centuries it is now rarely spoken.

During a further occupation of the country by The United States of America, the English language was imposed which led to an increase in the use of English and a subsequent decrease in the use of Spanish. The Philippines became independent from American rule on July 4th 1946 which ironically is American Independence Day, the day The US gained independence  from another English speaking nation - The United Kingdom. Filipino is currently the official language of the country although English continues to be taught in schools and continues to be the language of commerce.

Visaya, which is also known as Bisaya (because Filipino doesn't have the letter'V') is the name of the predominant language family in the Visayas region in the Philippines. The Visayan language family includes Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray. The terms Cebuano and Visaya are often used interchangeably to refer to the same language because Cebuano is the dominant language in Visayas but Cebuano is actually a different language. Cebuano (Sugbuhanon) originated from the Cebu province and is also spoken in large parts of Mindinao.

The official language of the Philippines is Filipino which is based on Tagalog. However, due to the ever increasing influence of the English language, not just in the Philippines but globally, many Filipinos can be heard speaking Taglish which is a mixture of the two and with the ever increasing influence of the internet and the increasing numbers of marriages between Westerner men and Filipinas (especially Americans & British men), English is becoming increasingly more and more important.