# The Filipino's Distorted View of the English Language



## TheFuhrer02 (Jul 4, 2012)

This was originally posted in my blog last 16th April 2012. Link to my blog is in my signature.

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The evening of April 15th 2012 saw the Binibining Pilipinas 2012 competition and all the people and things involved therein trend worldwide on Twitter. It was a prestigious event that sought to crown the most beautiful of all the beautiful women the Philippines has to offer, with the whole nation watching it happen.

The participants wowed the crowed with their stunning smiles, their elegant prowess and charming looks. It was a tight race, until they opened their mouths and started to speak come the question and answer portion. Suddenly, Twitter was full of sneers and jests on the language of the contestants as they spoke hilariously incorrect statements that would make their English teachers cry. I tell you, if speaking grammatically incorrect sentences in public was a contemptible offense, then senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago would have cardiac arrest lashing rebukes at the beautiful contenders.

And that's the problem with the majority of Filipinos. They see the English language as a sort of _Ilustrado_ mark, thinking that speaking the language somehow makes the impression that we are better intellectually, socially and economically. Inversely, we cast a wary look at our own language, having the belief that speaking it somehow degrades our status in the community.

First off, there is nothing wrong in having a preference towards the English language. After all, it is pretty much the lingua franca of the world, and to hone oneself to its usage is commendable. However, there is no problem with our native tongue, either. We should in fact, embrace it, as it is our own language. To distance ourselves from it is highly absurd. _Isa lang ang salita natin. Kung mamatahin natin 'to, hindi ba parang minata na rin natin 'yung sarili nating pagkakakilanlan?_ (We only have one language. Wouldn't casting disdain on our own tongue be tantamount to casting disdain on our identity as a whole?)

Its a real shame that we think this way.

Now, I won't go way out of my head here and say we should use Filipino every time and to abstain from using English, for that'd be ludicrous. As I pointed out, English is the trade language of the world and to not use it would be a blatant, ignorant mistake. However, I exhort Filipinos to use our own tongue if we can not say what we mean and mean what we say in the foreign language we want to use, whether it is English or not. _Sa madaling salita, kung hindi ka marunong mag-Ingles, huwag kang mag-Ingles. Hindi 'yun makakabawas sa pagkatao mo. Kung hindi mo rin lang masasabi ang gusto mong sabihin, mag-Filipino ka na lang. Mas maganda nga 'yun pakinggan kasi masasabi mo at maipaparating mo talaga ang nasa isip mo, kaysa mag-Ingles ka para mag-mukhang mas magaling o mas nakatataas sa mga kausap mo._ (In other words, if you don't know how to speak English then don't tire yourself doing so! It'd be better for you to use your own tongue as you can say what you really mean and bring this across to your listener in a clearer way, than use English to make an impression that you know a lot more than you really do.)

We should get rid of that mentality. What does your speaking a foreign tongue do if you don't know how to speak it? It will only make you a laughing stock and an incompetent fool in front of your listeners and make them think that you're worse than you really are instead of better. How's that for an impression?


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## Sam (Jul 5, 2012)

We're way ahead of you on this one, Fuhrer. The English forced the Irish to stop speaking Gaelic centuries ago. Now only approximately 500,000 of the 5,000,000 people in this country can speak fluent Gaelic. 

Very well-written article. Held my attention from start to finish. I hope you can persuade you friends to continue using their native tongue. Give them some literature on the near-extinction of the Gaelic language (in Ireland) if they're still sceptical.


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 5, 2012)

It's terrible isn't it, the English are to blame for all the ills of world.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Jul 5, 2012)

Sam W said:


> Very well-written article. Held my attention from start to finish. I hope you can persuade you friends to continue using their native tongue. Give them some literature on the near-extinction of the Gaelic language (in Ireland) if they're still sceptical.



Thanks for the comments. I sure hope those literature you cited could knock some sense into some of my friends. 



Bloggsworth said:


> It's terrible isn't it, the English are to blame for all the ills of world.



Well, not exactly. The English are a fairly good people in my book, definitely smarter than Americans (of the United States, in case garza comes peeping in. ^_^)


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 5, 2012)

Sam W said:


> We're way ahead of you on this one, Fuhrer. The English forced the Irish to stop speaking Gaelic centuries ago. Now only approximately 500,000 of the 5,000,000 people in this country can speak fluent Gaelic.
> 
> 
> > Except, of course, it was the Spanish first, then the Americans who left their linguistic mark on the Phillipines, the English were never a presence - I think "_They see the English language as a sort of *Ilustrado* mark..._" rather gives the game away there.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Jul 5, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> Sam W said:
> 
> 
> > We're way ahead of you on this one, Fuhrer. The English forced the Irish to stop speaking Gaelic centuries ago. Now only approximately 500,000 of the 5,000,000 people in this country can speak fluent Gaelic.
> ...



Yup. But we never use Spanish publicly. To be able to speak Spanish here is but a skill, a cool talent (Roughly only 1 out of 20 Filipinos can speak fluent Spanish, as far as I know). But to be able to speak English seems to be the class way to deal with things. We tend to use English, or rather, its American (US) version in every thing we do that we think is formal or important. Our own language, for us, is the language of the streets, or the language of informality. Even our politicians use English (US) in their legislative hearings, executive speeches and state of the nation addresses.

In fact, a 2001 revision of our alphabet was made to accommodate the letters C, J, and Z, among other letters, in order for us to be able to merge the American language with our own. For example, the English word "soldier", when translated into Filipino, can now be "soljer", the spelled pronunciation of the original word. The new word is now considered to be Filipino, even if an actual Filipino term exists for it, specifically, "sundalo".

Interesting since the Spaniards colonized us for more than 300 years, whilst the Americans have only colonized us for roughly 20 years. The use of the term "Ilustrado" is a reference to national hero Rizal, who used the term "Ilustrado" to mean the middle class. I referenced him since he was the one who said, "The man who couldn't love his own language is worse than slimy fish."

Yet again, you're right, Mr. B. The Spaniards colonized us first before the Americans.


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 5, 2012)

TheFuhrer02 said:


> Yet again, you're right, Mr. B. The Spaniards colonized us first before the Americans.



My bone was with Sam W, who implied that the British were responsible for the language problem in the Phillipines. The Americans arrived in numbers in 1945 as a consequence of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, bringing with them as much of America as they could conveniently carry - The American army brings its own shops and services, creating US enclaves within their military bases, but inevitably America leaked out to the local population along with bubble gum, nylons and Hollywood films. I can recall in the late 40s and early 50s following American servicemen across Parker's Piece in Cambridge crying out "_Got any gum chum_?" The UK was still under rationing, so 2 old penniesworth of sweets a week was our allowance, so free gum from America was a treat.

If we're going to get all historical, should we English complain that the Normans tried to force us to speak French in, and after, 1066?

Talking of affected languages, is Tagalog surviving well, or is it dying out?


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## Sam (Jul 5, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> My bone was with Sam W, who implied that the British were responsible for the language problem in the Phillipines.



I never implied such a thing. 

I made a humorous observation that Fuhrer's problems with the English language are only recent, while the Irish language has been moribund since Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland in the 17th Century. It's called a contrast. 

Quit putting words in my mouth, please.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Jul 5, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> If we're going to get all historical, should we English complain that the Normans tried to force us to speak French in, and after, 1066?



A bit off-topic but: Interestingly, I'm using this part of history in a novel I'm currently working on. Battle of Stamford Bridge then Hastings, right? Cool. 



Bloggsworth said:


> Talking of affected languages, is Tagalog surviving well, or is it dying out?



Tagalog is surviving when it comes to colloquial setting. It is still the language used in everyday conversation. But in all our school and office works, English is the mandatory language to be used. Using the native tongue in official settings, like school and work, is greatly frowned upon. Congress ratified this by making a law stating the English should be the medium of instruction in schools, believing this would increase the quality of education in the Phillippines. More recently, a representative of Lower House congress here in the Philippines motioned that his fellow colleagues use English instead of Filipino to maintain formality of their deliberations. It's rather weird.


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 5, 2012)

TheFuhrer02 said:


> A bit off-topic but: Interestingly, I'm using this part of history in a novel I'm currently working on. Battle of Stamford Bridge then Hastings, right? Cool.




Just remember, it's not the Stamford Bridge that Chelsea play at!

As a matter of interest, English is not an official language in Great Britain....


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## TheFuhrer02 (Jul 5, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> Just remember, it's not the Stamford Bridge that Chelsea play at!









Nice one, Mr. B!


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## ppsage (Jul 5, 2012)

The U. S. invaded the Philippines in the Spanish-American War (~1900) and purchased them from Spain after for $20M then fought a long and bloody war of colonial insurrection. After WW2 came independence but close military and economic alliance (not necessariyl democratically endorsed) with U. S. to present. They are a major base for the presentation of U. S. military and economic power in S. E. Asia (again, not necessarily democratically endorsed.)

The name Philippines derives from King Philip of Spain and was applied to the islands in the 16th century.

Wikipedia lists 5 native Philippine languages with more than 3M speakers and over 150 that are still extant, which seems to me to have some bearing on the choice of a common tongue for broadcasting and perhaps is a serious ommision in the article. It doesn't say if the (presumably) young ladies were given a choice or required to answer in English. Although I haven't researched, I sort of assume there are still active seperatist movements in the islands and that speaking (and advocating for speaking) a particular native language might end up being a political statement. Much as it was in colonial Ireland albeit without the complication of multiple languages and with an external foe.


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## writersblock (Jul 6, 2012)

After reading your article, I can totally relate to what your talking about. Having been born in an African country, I witnessed my generation fully embracing what we call the "western values" including language and dressing and completely discarding our ancestors "primitive" values. If you couldn't speak proper english in high school and college you were considered an "illiterate villager". Alot of people became very self consicous of their tribal languages and even when they could speak English it had to be free from accent for people to consider you "educated". All that said, I am glad English came to my life because it has allowed me the comfort of easy intergration wherever I go in this world. Globalization has made it almost manadatory to be English speaking if you want to be successful on an international level and I am glad that my mother insisted that I speak like the white people on TV. However, that will never take away the joy I get when I meet a fellow compatriot in a foreign country and we sit and have a beer and chat away in our mother tongue!


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## Ddesmond (Sep 28, 2012)

Fuhrer, I wonder if you noticed the irony of writing that piece (mostly) in English.
I'm an American of Irish ancestry (Hi Sam, if you run in to any Desmonds in Cork, tell 'em I said Howdy :-D) who has taken the time and effort to learn other languages.  With this experience I can only say that learning different languages for any nationality is a positive thing and the desire to learn new languages is not created by the the new language itself.  If this event were held before 1898, contestants would try to demonstrate their skill at speaking Spanish, and if were held 500 years before that, the in language would be Arabic.
Thank you for the insight into Phillipine society.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Sep 29, 2012)

First off, I agree. Learning different languages is good. It expands the potential of that nation to communicate with others, expanding with it cultural knowledge, trade possibilities and other positive results. However, I see no irony. Majority of my readers are English speakers, so I am compelled to write in that language. Further, and more importantly, my main point was not to discourage the use of English (I actually encourage it. To quote my own piece, "English is the trade language of the world and to not use it would be a blatant, ignorant mistake."), but to not use it if you can't say what you mean with it.

My article was pinpointing the mentality of the Filipinos in using the English language, not simply the use or non-use of it.

EDIT:

P.S. Thanks for dropping by. Its cool to have an exchange of ideas once in a while.


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## Divus (Sep 30, 2012)

We Brits take a lot of stick for having tried to teach the world to speak English as a universal means of communication.    The language is a very flexible one and the simple version is easy enough to learn especially when techniques of non verbal communication are included.
Even my horse learnt to understand the lingo but sadly I could never persuade her to speak it. 

At an English Public school I was taught to speak in five languages and to write in four but, sad to say, these days as a very old man,  I have to revert to sign language or pidgin when in France or Germany.   That to me illustrates the strength of the language.     

It occurs to me that sometime later this century maybe more of you young folks are going to have to learn a smidgin of either Mandarin Chinese or Hindi.   That might prove to be a lot more difficult than it was for me to learn Russian with its Cyrillic script.


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## Ethan (Oct 26, 2012)

Sam W said:


> I made a humorous observation that Fuhrer's problems with the English language are only recent, while the Irish language has been moribund since Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland in the 17th Century. It's called a contrast. Quit putting words in my mouth, please.




 It wasn’t until the mid 1300s (Some 300 odd years before Cromwell)when oppression against Irish Gaelic resulted in the language being banned in the court system and in commerce. But you may as well blame him for that as well! 



Around 10% are fluent speakers. Estimates suggest it is the first language of around 2 or 3% of the population. 


The Irish government has been less than candid about the state of the language and a recent government study (leaked to the media) gave the language another 20 years at the present rate. The language really only serves a *symbolic* function, The idea that the language is doing well is a pious fiction. Aidan Doyle's book states that for "propaganda reasons" the Irish government wildly exaggerates the number of speakers as well as the unreliable census reports. People with little Irish reporting themselves as Irish speakers. _"There are not more than 10,000 native speakers left, most of then over the age of 40"._ The reasons given for the decline of Irish are: 

- Modern communication and suburbanisation of the last Gaeltachtaí 

- A large influx of English-speaking vacation-home owners 

- Competition from video, internet, mobile phone :SOURCE WIKI ANSWERS.
Having lived there most of my life, I know three people who speak the language fluently, two of whom are over fifty years old and the third had to learn it as an aid to her Uni course. (Irish studies)


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