Filipino is spoken by over 82 million people. As the official national language of the Philippines, it is based on Tagalog and serves as a common medium across regions with different native tongues.
Hiligaynon (also known as Ilonggo) is spoken by around 9 million people, primarily in Western Visayas, including Iloilo and Negros Occidental. It is one of the major Visayan languages in the Philippines.
Both Filipino and Hiligaynon belong to the Austronesian language family and share similarities in vocabulary, sentence structure, and pronunciation. They generally follow a verb-subject-object (VSO) or subject-verb-object (SVO) structure.
Both languages use the Latin alphabet and are written phonetically. However, Hiligaynon preserves regional expressions and grammatical forms that differ from standard Filipino.
Culturally, both emphasise respect for elders, family, hospitality, and oral traditions. Hiligaynon speakers often use "man", "gid", and other particles to express politeness and nuance, similar in role to Filipino’s "po" and "opo."