Love Thy Native Tongue

Note: I wasn’t able to read the article posted by James Soriano. My sources are the articles that can be found on the following: http://www.abscbnnews.com/lifestyle/08/26/11/admu-students-essay-filipino-language-raises-online-firestorm and http://www.pinoytumblr.com/post/9404516076/language-learning-identity-privilege. He’s now a trending topic in twitter and in other social networking sites as well. At first I thought, here comes another asshole pretending to be someone more superior than anyone else. But then, I tried to set aside my personal opinion and decided to hear his thoughts. In some part of his article, the man obviously got a point, like when he said the following: “Filipino might have the capacity to be the language of learning, but it is not the language of the learned. It is neither the language of the classroom and the laboratory, nor the language of the boardroom, the court room, or the operating room. It is not the language of privilege” This one is a fact. I graduated from a public school (elementary and high school) where all of my Science and Math-related textbooks were all written in English. And as much as my teachers could, they taught the lessons using English as well. In most of the classes, in fact, the use of the English language is encouraged and in some cases the students will be charged a one peso fine for every Filipino word uttered. When I was in college, all of my major subjects in Agricultural Economics were also taught and learned in English, although in some of the discussions, the Filipino is also used. In fact even the thesis (defense and paper), being one of the requirements to graduate, were both expressed in English. And now that I am working, the English language has also served as the medium of communication with the other people in and out of the office. Working as a Project Development Officer in a government agency, I can’t recall writing or responding to a letter, memorandum and S.O that is not written in English. It’s like anything written in Filipino will be considered as an unofficial form of communication. Even the project proposals that I evaluate from time to time were all written in English. In my line of work, even if I am just a contractual employee, I have also attended meetings where in every person in the room tend to speak in English even if everyone in the room are all Filipinos (maybe in the hope of intimidating each other). During the workshops and seminars, the speakers proceed with their presentations using the English language and seldom use Filipino. It made me realized that the only time we speak in Filipino or tagalog is when everything is considered “unofficial” like talking to the person on the next cubicle, or upon seeing a friend on the hallway, while having lunch with friends, etc. Now I think that maybe the society should get half the blame on how James Soriano got the notion that the Filipino language is not the language of the privileged. This is a fact that can make some of us puke. And we can either accept that this is how things really work and this is how those in higher position communicate or we can start to make a stand and change the way things currently are. On the other hand, although the situation may again be realistic and true, I despised the author when he made the following nasty remarks: “It was how you spoke to the tindera when you went to the tindahan, what you used to tell your katulong that you had an utos, and how you texted manong when you needed ‘sundo na’” I also tried to imagine speaking to a vendor or to a jeepney driver in English and guess they would likely scowl at me thinking I’m such an arrogant brat and a show off (unless of course I came across with a few who will ride along or someone who is articulate enough to converse with me in English). But then again, did the author really have to make his statements in such a way that would degrade the already unfortunate state of his fellow men? Just saying.