then later to countries in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines or Indonesia. English Just like most other Filipinos, the vast majority of Chinese Filipinos who grew up in the Philippines are fluent in English, especially Philippine English (which descends from American English) as taught in schools in the Philippines. They are usually natively bilingual or even multilingual since both English and Filipino are required subjects in all grades of all schools in the Philippines, as English serves as an important formal prestige language in Philippine society. Due to this, around 30% of all Chinese Filipinos, mostly those belonging to the younger generations, use English as their preferred first language. Others have it as their second language or third language, being natively bilingual or multilingual together with Filipino and sometimes one or more other Philippine languages. Filipino and other Philippine languages The majority of Chinese Filipinos who were born, were raised, or have lived long enough in the Philippines are at least natively bilingual or multilingual. Along with English, Chinese Filipinos typically speak Filipino (Tagalog) and, in non-Tagalog regions, the dominant regional Philippine language(s), such as the Visayan languages (Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, etc.) spoken in the Visayas and Mindanao. Many Chinese Filipinos, especially those living in the provinces, speak the regional language(s) of their province as their first language(s), if not English or Filipino. Just like most other Filipinos, Chinese Filipinos frequently code-switch either with Filipino or Tagalog and English, known as Taglish, or with other regional provincial languages, such as Cebuano and English, known as Bislish. This frequent code-switching has produced a trilingual mix with the above Philippine Hokkien, known as Hokaglish, which mixes Hokkien, Tagalog and English. However, in provinces where Tagalog is not a native language, the equivalent dominant regional language(s) may be mixed instead of Tagalog or along with Tagalog in a mix of four or more languages due to the normalcy of code-switching and multilingualism as part of Philippine society. Spanish During the Spanish colonial period and subsequent few decades before its replacement by English, Spanish used to be the formal prestige language of Philippine society and hence, Sangley Chinese (Spanish-era unmixed Chinese), Chinese mestizos (Spanish-era mixed Chinese Filipinos) and Tornatras mestizos (Spanish-era mixed Chinese-Spanish or Chinese-Spanish-native Filipinos) also learned to speak Spanish throughout the Spanish colonial period to the early to mid 20th century when its role was eventually eclipsed by English and later