Eurasian (mixed Ancestry) - Languages

Languages

Eurasians usually speak the native language of their home country, and may or may not speak the language(s) of an ancestral or parental ethnicity.

The overwhelming majority of all Eurasians with Filipino ancestry of the younger generations speak English as their first language, and have a basic command of at least one Philippine language, and at least one European language of their own ethnicity. Eurasians and some Filipinos of certain strata in society use a language code-switching, between English, Spanish, and indigenous Philippine languages, called Taglish or Bislish.

The Kristang and Macanese groups have formed their own languages. The Kristang language is a dialect of Portuguese influenced by Malay as well as Petjo, a dialect made up of Dutch words based on a Malay grammatical structure. The Macanese language is a Portuguese creole influenced by Cantonese, but now, most Macanese people speak Portuguese and Cantonese.

Intermixing between locals and colonials gave rise to the Ceylonese Portuguese Creole, the lingua franca on the island for over 400 years. Dutch was also in common use by members of the Burgher community on the island of Sri Lanka. The use of Portuguese was so dominant, that the Dutch also began to speak it. The modern lexicon of Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala are infused with words from Portuguese, Dutch and English.