(MDL’s half body[1] from Rappler)
Ms Marguerite has written about her feeling guilty spokening
English – “The Guilt Of Being Born And Raised Filipino, But Having English As
Your First Language[2]” (18 August 2020, Rappler.com).
“Spokening English” in my title above is of course a Filipino corruption of
“speaking in English,” either an apology for speaking in that tongue, or attempt
to shame someone who is.
We
Filipinos are downgrading our own cultural abilities such as by being ashamed
of communicating in English at anytime.
Ms Marguerite says:
English is my first
language, the one I hear in my head when I think, the one that just rolls right
out of me when I need to convey something, anything.
I Frank A Hilario am an FBI, full-blooded Ilocano, but
English is my first language when I think, especially when I write – and I blog
every single day.
Rappler says Ms Marguerite is head of its Opinion Section:
She is also a
fictionist, and came out with her first collection of short stories, People In Panic, in 2015.
English.
Instead of being ashamed spokening English, Ms Marguerite should be encouraging
people to learn more English than
they already know! Because, especially the American version, English is the
world’s currency in information, intelligence and insights.
Ms Marguerite says:
I was born and raised
in Metro Manila, to fully Filipino parents, in a fully Filipino household, and
had never based myself outside of the country. But if you told me to hold a
conversation or write an essay in the Filipino language right now, you would be
subjecting me to a daunting, maybe even frightening, task.
Miss Marguerite, that’s your story – you cannot rewrite it,
so don’t try to! It’s your advantage: claim it.
My story is that I am a farmer’s son, not poor but not rich,
and I learned to feel enriched with the English language, British and/or
American, when I was in high school, private, with the library full of books (many
world classics), westerns and detective stories with legal twists (Perry Mason
books by Earl Stanley Gardner) and
readables such as LOOK, Newsweek, Reader's
Digest – that’s how this introvert learned to love the English language
to the death!
That English love turned to writing, that turned to editing,
that turned to digital writing, digital editing, digital publishing – and
blogging, which I have been doing every single day in the last 19 months.
I blog in Agriculture in favor of the social good of
Filipino farmers starting with technology. I search for knowledge and
experience via the Internet in mostly spoken in English anywhere in the world.
After all, English is the universal language.
I
employ my own theory that I call Communication
for Development, and I have a blog by that name. Ms Marguerite, I invite
you to read me spokening English!@517
https://communicationfordevelopmentphcomdev.blogspot.com).
[1]https://www.rappler.com/authorm/arguerite-de-leon
[2]https://www.rappler.com/voices/rappler-blogs/opinion-guilt-being-born-raised-filipino-english-first-language?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1ryf6--9a6Yz1Rp2jErk5tIXlyhjuWB3gh1b-xDXAs0Vk8_JUL7c9eHqI#Echobox=1623567095
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