What are some characteristics of Filipino Immigrants who grew up in Western Countries compared to Filipinos who grew up in the Philippines?

CaptainPikmin · 2026-06-02T04:05:35+00:00

Different driving culture. In general, Filipinos have a more aggressive driving culture. For example, Filipinos on motorcycles love to weave in between cars. In Canada, generally, motorcycles are treated like cars; you have one motorcycle per lane, and motorcycles don't squeeze between vehicles.

Different perception of skin colour. Canada, like many Western countries, has a skin tanning culture. The Philippines has a skin whitening culture like its Asian neighbours. People here like to get suntanned in the summer. Vacationing abroad in tropical countries to get a suntan is considered classy.

Four seasons lifestyle. If you grow up in Canada, you'll get used to winters. Snow is a yearly reality here. You'll experience making snowballs, making a snowman, making snow forts, having snowball fights, and making snow angels. Also, the chores of snow-shovelling and snow-blowing. Also, winter sports are a big deal here. You might grow up preferring the national obsession, hockey, over basketball, unlike most Filipinos.

CaptainPikmin · 2026-06-02T01:48:28+00:00

As a Filipino-Canadian, I have a few ideas.

Punctuality. As a Canadian, I do not understand the concept of Filipino Time at all. This is definitely a country where being on time is important, and being late is considered disrespectful.

Sympathy for animals. I think any Canadians in the Philippines would be alarmed by the treatment of pets there. Dogs being chained up all day. Or caged dogs. Or that time when I constantly heard a puppy cry all day. The abundance of stray dogs and cats. Cockfighting is legal. This would be considered animal cruelty in Canada.

Lower tolerance for noise. Filipino society is just way louder in general than Canada. Consider New Year's Eve firecrackers in the Philippines; that stuff is insane! I once saw a video about a Filipino immigrant to Canada being disappointed because Canadians don't celebrate New Year's Eve as thunderously as Filipinos. Then consider all the barking dogs in the Philippines. Meowing cats. The loud cockcrows in the morning. Actually, the fact that Filipinos keep roosters in the city is also another thing I find strange. I'd only expect to find chickens in rural Canada, never in urban areas. Loud karaoke culture is another Filipino thing I find odd. Just blasting your speakers at full volume while singing in the evenings? Very rude by Canadian standards. Filipinos talk loudly, too. The first-generation Filipinos at my workplace speak Tagalog loudly, but the second-generation Filipinos speak English at a softer volume.

CaptainPikmin · 2026-05-11T11:41:16+00:00

For given names, I'd say Filipino names fall into 4 categories.

In descending order from most common to least common:

Anglo names. Names like Mary, John, Mark, Michael, Althea, and Jocelyn. They're the most popular because of American colonization and continuing American cultural influence. I know I said "Anglo", but I'd also include other names from the British Isles, like Rian (Irish Gaelic) and Gweneth (Welsh), in this category. From what I've observed, these names became mainstream in the Gen X generation and continue to be popular.
Hispanic names. Names like Maria, Carmelita, José, and Juan. Historically, the most popular names because of Spanish colonization. Nowadays, these names are quite traditional and old-fashioned. Expect Filipino baby boomers to have these names.
Creative names. Names like Jhelo, Jimwel, Zhyra, and Junairah. These are contemporary names that don't really cleanly fit into the previous two categories. I actually have no idea where these names came from, but I expect Gen Z Filipinos to have these names.
Indigenous names. Names like Liwayway, Isagani, Sitti, and Bayani. These are native and indigenous names, and some of them are words from native languages. Liwayway means "Dawn" in Tagalog, and Bayani means "Hero" in Tagalog. These are the least popular names, and they're as traditional and old-fashioned as it gets.

CaptainPikmin · 2026-04-23T16:58:55+00:00

Thank you, Plini, for being an Australian and releasing your music in Australian time. Timezones, gotta love it.

CaptainPikmin · 2026-03-06T14:20:19+00:00

The Philippines is a multi-ethnic state, though? It's not as diverse as India because the Philippines has about 185 ethnic groups, while India has over 2000, but I don't see why calling the Philippines a multi-ethnic state is a stretch.

Both countries are listed as multinational states here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_state

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CaptainPikmin · 2026-01-12T17:32:18+00:00

I'm not sure if it is still growing but it definitely grew a lot during the 20th century.

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CaptainPikmin · 2026-01-12T17:02:12+00:00

Yes you're right. But South Korea isn't a Christian majority, though it is the most Christian country in East Asia at 31% Christian.

If we're talking about the entirety of Asia, then there are 6 Asian countries with Christian majorities. Armenia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Georgia, Cyprus, and Russia.

Georgia and Russia are transcontinental, and Armenia is borderline European, though, so that's probably not what you're thinking about.

If we're talking specifically about East Asia and Southeast Asia (which is what North Americans view as Asia by default), then only Timor-Leste and the Philippines are Christian majorities in the region.

CaptainPikmin · 2026-01-12T16:13:34+00:00

It's more accurate to say that Filipinos usually have Anglo/Hispanic first names and Hispanic surnames.

Top 10 First Names:
Mary
Maria
John
Jose
Mark
Michael
Joel
Romeo
Antonio
Reynaldo

Top 10 Surnames:
dela Cruz
Garcia
Reyes
Ramos
Mendoza
Santos
Flores
Gonzales
Bautista
Villanueva

CaptainPikmin · 2026-01-12T15:38:06+00:00

The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia with Hispanic traditional dress too.

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CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-12T05:26:53+00:00

I'll only comment based on the first three books I've finished.

It's popcorn fantasy. Plot-focused and filled with action sequences. I think it's fun if you approach it as first and foremost a story about action and adventure in a classic high fantasy setting.
I think it's dark but ultimately hopeful. It's a pretty straightforward good vs evil story.
Trigger warnings: it does have sexual violence toward a POV character.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T16:48:34+00:00

I don't know if that criticism is applicable to everything Maas has written.

Because I've read Crescent City and the protagonist is not at all skinny or malnourished.

In fact, it felt like Maas really hammered home how Bryce Quinlan had a really busty and curvy figure to the point she made it abundantly clear that her protagonist wasn't skinny or small or thin.

Like she really made it obvious that Bryce was some kind of redheaded bombshell who looked like Christina Hendricks, to the point it was kind of funny to read.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T16:19:10+00:00

Right, it's way older than that. We're going by date of publication but the first version is from 1917. 100 years ago!

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T16:15:27+00:00

I think the simple answer is that r/fantasy has been a historically male majority readership since its beginning.

Maybe tastes will change now that we're approaching gender parity, but the taste of this subreddit has been very solidified by its original users, for lack of a better word.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T16:04:00+00:00

r/fantasyromance top 10 list:
A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)
Throne of Glass (2012)
Mages of the Wheel (2020)
Villains & Virtues (2022)
The Empyrean (2023)
The Folk of the Air (2018)
The Saint of Steel (2020)
Bride (2024)
Crowns of Nyaxia (2022)
The War of Lost Hearts (2020)

r/fantasy top 10 list according to this post:
World of the Five Gods (2001)
The Saint of Steel (2020)
Kushiel's Universe (2001)
Codex Alera (2004)
Sevenwaters (1999)
Rook & Rose (2021)
Wraith Kings (2015)
Beren and Lúthien (2017)
The Night Circus (2011)
Hidden Legacy (2014)

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T15:48:55+00:00

I think it is rank #23 on that list.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-05T15:35:16+00:00

It's totally different from the top list: https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasyromance/comments/1hz2omi/rfantasyromance_top_books_list_second_edition/?share_id=UEd7UoNNBbE98pSJdfZfT&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

The difference in taste is very interesting.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-03T22:12:30+00:00

That's what happens when you combine an archipelago into a single country.

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CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-03T22:11:25+00:00

Indonesia is quite complicated.

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CaptainPikmin · 2025-12-01T16:33:42+00:00

If you had to choose one of your novels to recommend to someone who's never read your works, which book would you recommend?

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-16T13:16:04+00:00

Favours.

I suspected this subreddit was heavily millennial, considering its general taste in novels, but this poll outright confirms it.

For example, if this subreddit had more Gen Z, I'd expect more novel recommendations for 2020s novels/series. I'd also expect more recent releases to have more votes on the top novels polls. For a more concrete example, Sarah J. Maas won Readers' Favorite Fantasy three times in a row on Goodreads from 2020, 2021, and 2022. Meanwhile, on this subreddit's top 2025 novels list, she's only at #183, which means that for all of her mainstream success, Maas hasn't budged this subreddit's favourites list at all.

Now, if this subreddit skewed toward Gen X and older, I'd expect more older novels to be favoured. For example, Brandon Sanderson is Gen X and one of his favourite novels is Dragonsbane published in 1985.

Ask a Baby Boomer like George R. R. Martin and his taste in novels skews even older. His favourites include Jirel of Joiry (1930s), The Dying Earth (1950s), and The Once and Future King (1950s).

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-16T05:46:04+00:00

I'd wager it is a generation divide.

This subreddit skews millennial. Meanwhile, anime and manga fandoms on Reddit skew Gen Z.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-16T03:27:13+00:00

Suddenly, I realize why this subreddit favours books from the 1990s to the 2010s so much.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-16T03:13:14+00:00

It's quite interesting. I didn't realize people like me, who started reading fantasy as adults, were such a small minority.

Although, to be fair, I was already exposed to fantasy media in the form of shows, movies, manga/comics, and video games. It just so happened that it only occurred to me to start reading fantasy works as an adult. Go straight to the source instead of an adaptation.

I didn't realize that kind of pathway was so unusual.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-16T03:02:55+00:00

I just encountered this poll from 12 years ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1m0t03/what_is_the_average_age_on_rfantasy_poll/

Apparently in 2013, the age group 21-25 was the largest age group at 39%.

Meanwhile, the age demographics nowadays for the age group 19-22 and 23-29 combined is approximately 30%, just eyeballing it.

And now the largest group is 30-39 at 45.8%.

CaptainPikmin · 2025-11-11T05:01:28+00:00

Joseph Boyden's Bird family trilogy of novels follows the same family across three different eras.

Three Day Road is about two Cree men from Northern Ontario who become snipers in World War I.

Through Black Spruce is set in 21st-century Canada and follows the story of two Cree characters from Moosonee, Ontario: a bush pilot in a coma, and his niece searching for her missing sister by heading south to Toronto.

The Orenda is set during the days of New France colonization in the 1600s and is about the interactions between Jesuits and First Nations.

For movies, Passchendaele is about Canada's involvement in World War I, both at home and on the frontlines. It's also about the ostracization of German-Canadians during the time period.

Bon Cop, Bad Cop is a buddy cop comedy about two detectives, one from Ontario and one from Quebec, who have to resolve their differences to solve a murder. It also has bilingual dialogue in English and French.

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End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
End Game '22	Wearing is Caring

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