Young Filipino children are expected to solve mathematical word problems in English, which is not their mother tongue. Because of this, it is often assumed that Filipino children have difficulties in solving problems because they cannot read or comprehend what they have read. This study tested this assumption by determining whether presenting word problems in Filipino or reading them aloud to children in either language facilitated solution accuracy. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, reading word problems aloud did not seem to improve student performance (p greater than 0.10). In contrast, presenting word problems in Filipino significantly improved solution accuracy (p less than 0.0001) and led to differences in error patterns--children were less likely to use an inappropriate arithmetic operation when problems were presented in Filipino. However, the language of the problem had minimal effects on the more difficult Compare problem type. Finally, the benefits of using Filipino were more pronounced for low-achieving students who may have lower proficiency in English than their high-achieving peers (p less than 0.01). (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)