标题: 你害怕英语吗？ [打印本页] 作者: celiahe 时间: 2008-5-4 17:23 标题: 你害怕英语吗？ Why is it that many Filipinos fear the English language? Students are intimidated by it. Graduates feel that they have to be perfect at it in order to be considered smart and educated.
We fear it, thus we elevate it. It has become a status symbol. Filipino beauty queens are expected to be able to speak perfect English to be considered worthy of their crowns. The children of the rich learn English as their first language. There is a linguistic divide between the have’s and have-nots. But why should this be?
Isabel Pefianco Martin, president of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines, said that none of us should fear English. She says:
* Linguistically, all languages are equally perfect and complete.
* The English language is not owned by one country or one race.
* It is only one language among the 150 that exist today.
This means that Tagalog is every bit as valid and valuable as English. So is Cebuano, Ilocano and so forth. English is the global language, but it is by no means the mark of an intelligent mind. Filipinos who speak less than perfect English have succeeded, and wildly so, in their chosen fields. Examples are Manny Pacquiao and Melanie Marquez. They may speak Carabao English, but so what?
Go ahead and learn English, but do not be ashamed of your native tongue. And do not, for crying out loud, speak Tagalog with an American/British accent just to show that somehow you have forgotten the language you have spoken for 20+ years!
Sabi nga ni Jose Rizal:
Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa ang amoy sa mabahong isda. (He who doesn’t know how to love his own language has a worse odor than a smelly fish.)