THE popular belief seems to be that there are only two languages in the Philippines (i.e., English and Filipino) and all the rest are mere dialects (e.g., Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, and the rest, including Chavacano, Kankanaey and T'boli). Thus, the common answer one would highly likely get when he asks Filipinos how many languages there are in the Philippines is two, not close to 200, which is supposedly closer to the recent count.

This misconception primarily stems from how most people — not only Filipinos, but many people around the world as well — think a language and a dialect are. To many, a language is that which has reached some level of national and/or social prestige through its extensive use on television and radio and in newspapers, magazines and books. As such, some people may sometimes not even consider Filipino or Tagalog as a language because of its minimal use in these media. They will consider Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and the like as merely dialects, those usually used in speech, in conversations, and rarely written, so much less, published.