Sunday, September 10, 2006

Filipino and his Command of the English Language

It's so sad that English words are changed into Filipino words with a different spelling. Pipol for People? haha. That's just hilarious; I mean depressing. Why, my beloved Pinoys? And Taglish? That's so weird. Me, I prefer pure Filipino or pure English, with some words interchanged, but totally acceptable words. After all, language is an organic, constantly changing forms.

But Taglish to bad English, to misspelled English words transforming into Filipino words. Carabao English? That is beyond belief. Makes me puke to be honest with you. No wonder only 3% of all college graduates in the Philippines pass the interview for a call center position. Yes, there are jobs in the Philippines in the call center; my advice is, learn good English so that you can have a fall back job if your original plan doesn't work out.

But back to English, I mean Filipino, I mean Filipino English? Carabao English? Barok English? I mean why in the world do Filipinos use so much English when speaking Tagalog/Filipino? My friend from Guam said he understood the Filipino movie because half of it was in English. I love languages, but sometimes, the ways Filipinos change their language stupefies me.

What if I spoke like this, Umayka ditoy, porque yo necesito a hablar with you. Kasi, mamaya, mag-eat tayo. Later on, we will visit our prenz sa bahay!!!

Yikes??? Of course, I wanna throw up on myself after I just came up with that sentence above. You see, I was born in Ilocano, thus the Ilocano dialect. Then I moved to the US, thus the English language. Then I learned Tagalog watching Filipino movies while my aunt and uncle would translate for me, thus the Filipino language. Then I took three years of Spanish, the the Spanish.

So, my beloved Pinoys, imagine if I use all of these languages and dialects at once. Plus my Hawaiian Pidgin, by the way. How would you feel? Yes, you probably would get a headache. Or just like me, you might want to throw up.

Please, please, please, let's try our best to speak good English and good Filipino. Of course in conversation, there are slangs, but even slangs can be use properly. Yes, once in a while it's okay to interject a foreign language, but it shouldn't be overbearing and dominating, to the point of puking.

Otherwise, we will end up talking like Lito Lapid who said, "Dare what it takes to be. Then we shall so because it is. To do or not, now or what else to be without." Did you get a brain hemmorhage with that one too? Me, I'm still suffering from repercussions.

I was inspired by this article A troubling Filipino book for college freshmen.

8 comments:

AIEPRO said...

I'd also like to add, that in one of the polls at http://politics.alleba.com , What grade will you give the Philippine Public Education System, 54% out of 310 voters gave the system a Passing and above rating.

Whoa! My head is spinning again. How in the world is the majority of Pinoys think that their education is passing? What is their criterion? I mean what kind of standards are we measuring that the simple majority thinks the education system is passing and better. I mean, a whopping 15% in this poll said it was an excellent system.

Is this symbolic of the Filipino's failures? I mean, if we cannot admit to ourselves that we have a problem, we will never solve the issues. It's just like those who are addicted; if they will never admit to their addiction, they can never really get over it.

Likewise, do we seriously think our education system is passing?

Anonymous said...

i just wanna say, that english schools are something that repulses a lot of filipinos, they think they are so great but majority especially those belonging in the middleclass, lacks what it takes to confidently speak in an all out englishconversation. So if you think you are doing great think again!!!

AIEPRO said...

I just helped out this kid who attended an English school. There were 24 students and they each paid 1900 for 64 hours. We were talking via yahoo. How sad! He is nowhere near acceptance in a call center. Said he has been denied twice already.

Poor Kid, and the rest of his "batchmates". That's a rip off. 24 students? In one class with one teacher? Whoa!!!

Anonymous said...

What the Filipino language lacks is enthusiasm from its own native speakers.

Filipino, heavily based on Tagalog is a multiverse of languages. Such words that you can consider English is already acceptable in the Filipino dictionary. Regional words also from different dialects have been accounted for as well. So Filipino doesn't equal to Tagalog any more.

English usage in the Philippines can be compared to a social status in our society. That is why celebrities try with all their might to answers questions in a ridiculous manner therefore planting a mark on their viewers. (Try listening to Jericho Rosales)

As a matter of fact call centers' recruitment is very weak and superficial. Many good speakers who can carry conversations are turned away while those tongue tied are accepted and put in a training regiment.

So if you're listening to a typical conversation there would be an abundance of English words especially the ones that are exaggerated.

Anonymous said...

I'm dumbfounded myself that's why there are a still a ton of vacancies in Contact Centers here because of ineffective recruitment. That was Charlene Gonzales and she has good reputation here even though.

That also reminds me the quality of English in beauty pageant participants especially those in the provinces. Don't get me started as much as there are dumb blondes in U.S. some people just don't understand the meaning of a question and how to properly answer it.

Anonymous said...

hey there, found out your blog in pinoy weblistings..

being in a call center doesn't mean agents are grammatically correct... i know many friends who work there and I knew how they fared in our english subjects... a major point why they could be in that kind of job is being able to mimic british, australian and american accents... but i tell you, only a few of them could distinguish they've made a grammatical error in a line they just blurted out... call centers are all about accents but i don't discount the fact that they really are great at it... and i have no problem with that, afterall, i can comprehend what they mean.. only that sometimes, it's almost annoying to hear people flaunting their "english skills and accents" who can't even hear their grammar... the use of taglish is just common for ordinary conversations and there's nothing wrong with that unless of course if you're having a conversation with a client...

good day! :)

jef said...

Ilokano ka gayam, kabsat. Pure ilokano here hehe!

Anonymous said...

This...
"I prefer pure Filipino or pure English, with some words interchanged, but totally acceptable words."

.. and this..

"Of course in conversation, there are slangs, but even slangs can be use properly. Yes, once in a while it's okay to interject a foreign language, but it shouldn't be overbearing and dominating, to the point of puking."

...is what call preference. HINDI ka naman pinipilit magFilipinayz, dahil hindi para sayo ang rivizyon na iyon kundi DOON sa mga Filipinong humihiram ng mga banyangan salita.


"No wonder only 3% of all college graduates in the Philippines pass the interview for a call center position."

O! di ba? "Hitting flock of birds with one stone" ang 2001 Revisyon. Napalalago ang vokabyulari natin, nagkakaroon ng istandardizeysyon sa ispeling, napapadali ang pagpasok ng ibang wika hindi lamang ang English pati mga neytiv langwij sa Filipinas AT natutulungan pang maturuan ng tamang pronunsieysyon ang mga Filipino dahil sa (tamang) pagfiFilipinayz ng mga English na salita.

Tungkol dun sa kolsenter isyu, ang mga Amerikano, fluent pero hindi arbitrari. Ang mga Pinoy, baliktad. Mas inuuna muna ang kabisaduhin ang mga tuntunin bago ang pagiging fluent.