Controversial Issues on Language

I have been following the controversial article made by Mr. James Soriano about the Filipino Language which has been discussed fully all over the net. I was able to find copies of Mr. Soriano's write-up and an interesting comment. If you have comments feel free to do so. I hope you'll enjoy reading...

Language, learning, identity, privilege
Ithink
By JAMES SORIANO
August 24, 2011, 4:06am

MANILA, Philippines — English is the language of learning. I’ve known this since before I could go to school. As a toddler, my first study materials were a set of flash cards that my mother used to teach me the English alphabet.

My mother made home conducive to learning English: all my storybooks and coloring books were in English, and so were the cartoons I watched and the music I listened to. She required me to speak English at home. She even hired tutors to help me learn to read and write in English.

In school I learned to think in English. We used English to learn about numbers, equations and variables. With it we learned about observation and inference, the moon and the stars, monsoons and photosynthesis. With it we learned about shapes and colors, about meter and rhythm. I learned about God in English, and I prayed to Him in English.

Filipino, on the other hand, was always the ‘other’ subject — almost a special subject like PE or Home Economics, except that it was graded the same way as Science, Math, Religion, and English. My classmates and I used to complain about Filipino all the time. Filipino was a chore, like washing the dishes; it was not the language of learning. It was the language we used to speak to the people who washed our dishes.

We used to think learning Filipino was important because it was practical: Filipino was the language of the world outside the classroom. It was the language of the streets: 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.”

These skills were required to survive in the outside world, because we are forced to relate with the tinderas and the manongs and the katulongs of this world. If we wanted to communicate to these people — or otherwise avoid being mugged on the jeepney — we needed to learn Filipino.

That being said though, I was proud of my proficiency with the language. Filipino was the language I used to speak with my cousins and uncles and grandparents in the province, so I never had much trouble reciting.

It was the reading and writing that was tedious and difficult. I spoke Filipino, but only when I was in a different world like the streets or the province; it did not come naturally to me. English was more natural; I read, wrote and thought in English. And so, in much of the same way that I learned German later on, I learned Filipino in terms of English. In this way I survived Filipino in high school, albeit with too many sentences that had the preposition ‘ay.’

It was really only in university that I began to grasp Filipino in terms of language and not just dialect. Filipino was not merely a peculiar variety of language, derived and continuously borrowing from the English and Spanish alphabets; it was its own system, with its own grammar, semantics, sounds, even symbols.

But more significantly, it was its own way of reading, writing, and thinking. There are ideas and concepts unique to Filipino that can never be translated into another. Try translating bayanihan, tagay, kilig or diskarte.

Only recently have I begun to grasp Filipino as the language of identity: the language of emotion, experience, and even of learning. And with this comes the realization that I do, in fact, smell worse than a malansang isda. My own language is foreign to me: I speak, think, read and write primarily in English. To borrow the terminology of Fr. Bulatao, I am a split-level Filipino.

But perhaps this is not so bad in a society of rotten beef and stinking fish. For while Filipino may be the language of identity, it is the language of the streets. It 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. I may be disconnected from my being Filipino, but with a tongue of privilege I will always have my connections.

So I have my education to thank for making English my mother language.
Read more: http://www.ofwkuwait.net/james-soriano/#ixzz1XnmCm9sf
Filipino in Kuwait | OFW Kuwait network
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“It is not the language of the learned”
by AVD on Fri, 09/02/2011 - 13:49

Ipagpaumanhin mo James Soriano kung hindi ako sang-ayon sa iyong sinabi sa wikang Filipino at sa mga gumagamit nito.
Anu po ba ang ibig mong ipagkahulugan ng “LEARNED”? Sa pagkakaalam ko ay LEARNED din ako.
Sa pagbasa ko sa iyong isinulat, isa lamang ang pumasok sa aking isipan – mali ang perspektibo mo sa “WIKA” at “KAALAMAN”.
Ako ay 28 taong gulang na ngayon. Di naman sa pagmamayabang pero sa edad ko na ito ay nabigyan ako ng responsibilidad at posisyon na kadalasan ay naibibigay sa mga taong higit na matanda sa akin ng 15 taon. At, sa aking pagkakatanda ay sa lahat ng nasalihan ko na mga paligsahan mula haiskul ay nagkakamit ako ng mataas na parangal. Magugulat ka at baka mapuno ang kwarto mo sa mga patunay ng pagkilala na naigawad sa akin. At para malaman mo rin ay di man lang ako nakakuha ng marka o grado na bababa sa 90. Kaya siguro pwede natin sabihin LEARNED ako.
At, di ko naman masabi na wala akong kaya kasi lumaki ako na may mga kasambahay na lagi nakaalalay sa lahat ng aking pangangailangan. Natuto nga lamang ako mag-asikaso ng sarili ko ng ako ay tumapak sa kolehiyo dahil sabi ng aking ama ay wala ng susunod-sunod sa akin na dadampot pag may naitapon ako.
Pasensyahan mo ang pagyayabang ko ng kunti para maibahagi ko sa iyo ang aking perspektibo.
Sa aking tingin ay di ka pa “LEARNED”. At, dapat ka pang matuto.
Ito turuan kita…
Ang wika ay tagapagtaguyod (facilitator) ng kaalaman. Walang kinalaman ang wika sa pagkilala kung ang tao ay ang tinatawag mo na “LEARNED” o hindi. Sa edad ko na ito, na halos napuntahan ko na iba’t ibang kontinente, at nakipagsalamuha sa mga tao na Pranses, Espanyol, Ingles, Aprikano, Tsino, Europeo, atbp., di ko makita ang sinasabi mo na may diretsong kaugnayan ang WIKA at ang KAALAMAN kaya ang wikang ginagamit ay may kaugnayan sa kategorya mo ng mga tao. Diba ang sustansya ng salita ay di nakikita sa kung paano sinabi at kung anung wika ginamit?
Ako ay matatas sa wikang Ingles at Filipino, at nagpupumilit matuto na rin ng ibang wika dahil naiintidihan ko na sa isang wikang di ko nalalaman, posibleng may nakatagong karunungan na pwedeng dumagdag sa aking nalalaman. Sa aking pagkakaintindi ay kulang ang iyong nalalaman dahil di mo pala naiintindihan ang Filipino. Nalilimitahan ng kakulangan mo sa wika ang iyong alam. At ito ay halata masyado dahil sa iyong pananaw.
Sabi nila di ka napalaki ng tama ng iyong magulang. Ako nama’y di naniniwala dun at wala sila karapatang pagdudadhan ang pagpapalaki sa iyo. Ang aking punto ay wag na wag ka sanang manghuhusga sa ibang tao lalo na sa tingin mo ay mas aba sa iyo, di mo pwede itangi ito dahil halata na maliit tingin mo sa mga kasambahay mo. Basahin mo kaya ng sampung beses sinulat mo.
Sila ang nagpapatakbo ng ekonomiya. Kung wala driver mo e san ka pupunta? Kung wala labandera mo e sino mglalaba ng nangingitim mo na salawal ? Kung wala katulong mo e sino magwawalis sa nanlalagkit mong kwarto?
At isa pa.. subukan mo kaya humingi ng puna at suhestyon sa kanila.. Di kaya masaktan ka lang pag nalaman mo na ang mga minamaliit mo ay mas matalino pala… Akala natin kasi minsan dahil tango sila ng tango ay wala sila alam.. Subukan mo kaya making sa kanila..
Makinig ka Bro… (Use Google Translate…)

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