Good luck Catherine. I am in the same boat ! Mabuhay ! If you are serious, there are a few Filipinos on Italki who are happy to help. There are also a lot of Filipinos in the UK. (nurses especially). Try and socialize with them, but don't be upset if they laugh (they always do when a foreigner tries to speak tagalog !) It is also ok to use a lot of english words in your tagalog (it is called Taglish, and it is widely spoken even amongs themselves)

It is a rea lyy hard and confusing language, hard to learn and even hard to teach. Don't be afraid to commit mistakes or sometimes to be laughed at, those that laugh are actually being endeared to you because it is endearing to them that someone would try to learn the language. YOu don't really think on it too much, you just get the hang of it. YOu catch it. You do this only by listening to alot of tagalog speakers and conversations. It's really hard, if not impossible to make a comprehensive book aabout it. It is caught, not studied in a scholarly way. Also, it is a very emotional and relational language. Emotional coz it is laden with connotations and implications. ANd emotions. Relational coz you and the other tagalog speaker must have a mutual understanding, or a shared understanding of what you two are talking about. You should have shared experienceswith them because tagalog assumes that without explaining too much or being overly correct, yolu understand what they are trying to talk about or what it is they are communicationg...like "pakiramdaman"...or "alam mo na yun", or kindatan or something. To do that, you should have common and shared experiences with them. One way that FIlipinos have shared experiences and develop the language is by watching tv. Watch the tv shows which most Filipinos watch and talk about them. Or learn from these shows. Then you will understand a tagalog speaker the next time you talk to him. And speak better Tagalog.

I have been studying Tagalog for 2 years now, and I found that speaking with other people frequently has helped a lot. I also bought Rosetta Stone, which is an amazing program. There are a lot of people on this website that can help as well! If you need any help, feel free to message me.

I'm also studying Tagalog (started two months ago) as I recently made a lot of friends in the Philippines. But I live in China and soon will return to the US. I bought some study books for foreigners (the I'd Like to Speak Filipino series by Victoria Carlos) with my friends and I call/text them whenever I have a question (which is often). I'd also recommend the Tuttle book company as they have a few resources as well. Having a teacher would be best, but if you are on a budget (like me) and wanna self study, my best advice would to use your family to clarify things you don't understand and treat the language like a puzzle of sorts. Though I'm a linguist and this is something I do for my degree as well, look for patterns, make lots of guesses as to why things are the way they are, and don't worry about your mistakes at all cause with such a confusing language you're gonna make a lot! My friends are constantly laughing at my awkward Tagalog as they correct it, but it's great for learning. And it'll make it slowly make more sense. :)

Tagalog is not an easy language to learn especially grammar. Some words are long with prefixes, suffixes and infixes. Many are in passive voice, not in active. It is not easy even for us Filipinos who studied Pilipino (Tagalog) grammar since first grade until university. Getting a dictionary is not easy either because some words are not found as words are just too deep. You have to be very serious in learning Tagalog. My suggestion is for you to find a teacher who is really knowledgeable and can help you. If you live in Manila, then that is the best place to practise.