English Soup for the Local Ton
There is that upsetting plunge striking my nationalistic ego whenever I learn of a Filipino mocked because he or she is not so articulate in speaking and writing English. Frankly, at times I cannot help but laugh at the picture of what, for me, is an excusable error. What I cannot digest is seeing foreigners, whose tongues are native to the international language, laughing at the same flaw. Perhaps it is a Pinoy trademark when you identify with the disgrace of your kababayan. Whatever they want to imply, the act would simply inflict a sarcastic blow plainly corrupting our esteem.One outrageous scenario depicts the arrival of an almighty Englishman to the Philippines. He would then be admired for how well he speaks English. How could he not? He could have been speaking English all his life! And with all speculations, the utterly awed locals would get head over heels trying to understand what he wants to say. This may be the case of most of our underprivileged countrymen who have just a handful grip of the language. Yet on the other hand, Filipinos generally who di
It is indeed hard to baffle with words we are not accustomed to use. While when they try speaking our native language, they get a humorous grin for a reaction with an implication that they still sound funny -but rather "cute". splay fluency in our vernacular would sound more bizarre or worst -not worthy of attention once we set foot on foreign grounds. Some Filipinos may seem meek to confess that they find difficulty in using the foreign tongue. We just need some stirring up for reinforcement to refine the taste that would suit our local buds. On another view, Filipinos, the all-time best imitators, have somehow dubbed the English language pretty well. The sad way of viewing this truth is somehow treating one's proficiency in English as a standard for financial, social and sometimes educational status. This is supported by the fact that more Filipinos would patronize printed matter in English like most of the newspapers, textbooks, manuals and even plain flyers for job openings. In various circumstances, some of us can even speak English more properly than other Americans or foreigners usually habituated to using their slang versions. So whether we speak "ep" (f) or "fi" (p), as long as we understand each other, we can laugh out the rest of the comic try-hard conversations. On the lighter side, in this fun-loving country where the littlest of the major issues can be joked about, sometimes you just cannot refuse to have a good laugh at petty bloopers. When too much familiarity led to contempt, then came the birth of vulgar English -but spare the Filipinos for authoring such. Who can blame whom? If I were born and raised in a western country, then I would most likely speak English more eloquently than the Filipino professor in my English class. Likewise, considerably many Filipinos now come satisfactorily equipped to indulge in the English-speaking world.
Common topics in this essay:
Englishman Philippines,
English Frankly,
Philippine English,
Local Tongue,
sound funny,
speaking writing,
speak english,
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