Language, learning, identity, privilege

by James Soriano
Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Sept. 10, 2011
English is the language of learning. Ive 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. he re!uired me to speak English at home. he even hired tutors to help
me learn to read and write in English.
In school, I learned to think in English. "e used English to learn about numbers,
e!uations and variables. "ith it we learned about observation and inference, the moon
and the stars, monsoons and photosynthesis. "ith it we learned about shapes and
colors, about meter and rhythm. I learned about #od in English, and I prayed to $im in
English.
%ilipino, on the other hand, was always the &other' sub(ect ) almost a special
sub(ect like *E or $ome Economics, e+cept that it was graded the same way as
cience, Math, ,eligion and English. My classmates and I used to complain about
%ilipino all the time. %ilipino 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.
"e used to think learning %ilipino was important because it was practical: %ilipino
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 te+ted manong when you needed
&sundo na.'
.hese skills were re!uired 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
(eepney ) we needed to learn %ilipino.
.hat being said though, I was proud of my proficiency with the language. %ilipino
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 %ilipino, 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 #erman later on, I learned %ilipino in terms of
English. In this way I survived %ilipino in high school, albeit with too many sentences
that had the preposition &ay.'
/
It was really only in university that I began to grasp %ilipino in terms of language
and not (ust dialect. %ilipino was not merely a peculiar variety of language, derived and
continuously borrowing from the English and panish alphabets- it was its own system,
with its own grammar, semantics, sounds, even symbols.
0ut more significantly, it was its own way of reading, writing and thinking. .here
are ideas and concepts uni!ue to %ilipino that can never be translated into another. .ry
translating bayanihan, tagay, kilig or diskarte.
1nly recently have I begun to grasp %ilipino as the language of identity: the
language of emotion, e+perience, and even of learning. And with this comes the
reali2ation 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. .o borrow the
terminology of %r. 0ulatao, I am a split3level %ilipino.
0ut perhaps this is not so bad in a society of rotten beef and stinking fish. %or
while %ilipino 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 %ilipino, but with a tongue of privilege I
will always have my connections.
o I have my education to thank for making English my mother language.
4
5A#16E,A, Marvin ..
English ///n 789
// 1ctober 4:/;
Essay ;: Argumentative
ANALYTICAL PAPER
On Argumentation
In the first paragraph of this essay, give a background or briefer on the sub(ect or issue
the above article is talking about. <iscuss this in =3; sentences.
.he second paragraph will be a synthesis of the article. <o this in ;3> sentences.
.he third paragraph should state your stand 7or thesis statement9 and outline your
arguments or reasons. <o this in =3; sentences
tate your first reason in the fourth paragraph. ,efute the first claim of the article. <o this
in ;3> sentences. ?ou may also break this into two shorter paragraphs.
tate your second reason in the fifth paragraph. ,efute the second claim of the article.
<o this in ;3> sentences. ?ou may also break this into two shorter paragraphs.
tate your second reason in the si+th paragraph. ,efute the third claim of the article. <o
this in ;3> sentences. ?ou may also break this into two shorter paragraphs.
In the seventh paragraph, discuss your conclusion in =3; sentences.
In (ust one (1) line, end this part of the essay.
On Retrope!tion
In this part of your paper, answer the following !uestions: /9 After a semester in English
///n, was there a change in how you value learning the English language as a %ilipino student@
If there was, in what way@ If there was none, why@ 4.9 "hat ingle reali2ation about learning
the English language have you reali2ed after a semester in English ///n@
Answer these !uestions in a paragraph 7=3; sentences9 each.
"O#E I#PORTANT RE#IN$ER"%
1& *5EAE follow the established format in composing essays: margins, spacing, font style
and si2e, page numbers, prohibiting contractions 7e+: dont A do not9, etc. Bse letter3si2e
7C.D+//9 or short3si2e bond paper.
'& Eite your sources. <o 61. copy and paste. Bse the A*A >
th
Edition as guide. ?ou may
add page for your references with this header in centered and bold: RE(ERENCE"
)& Bse the pronoun &"e' in the first part of this essay. ?ou may use &I' 7which is A5"A?
capitali2ed9 in the second part.
*& <1 61. e+ceed three 7=9 pages.
=
+& ubmit this essay 7printed and stapled hori2ontally on the upper left using taple "ire
6o. =D9 in person to your instructor on 1ctober //, aturday 7165? in the morning9 in
the A35A %aculty "orkroom so you may know if your essay needs editing or what.
?ou may also consult your grades for this semester.
;