Looking at the travails and triumphs of foreign language acquisition in non-English speaking countries among the multilingual OFWs

Abstract

The Philippines is home to more than 120 vernacular languages and two official languages, Filipino and English. In line with this, Filipinos are seen and assumed as fast learners of other languages, especially those Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) living and working abroad in non-speaking English countries. Despite exposure to bilingual or multilingual settings in the Philippines, it does not guarantee an easy grasp of learning a new language, for challenges and struggles inevitably affect many aspects of life.  Thus, this essay will help OFWs and language learners to prepare to acquire and learn the language of the host countries whose English is a foreign language, the government agencies responsible for the language training for the workers abroad, and to significantly contribute to the existing language acquisition corpora among adult learners.