This is (trying so hard to be) an English Speaking Country.

I agree with James Soriano, and he does not deserve to be crucified.

When I first read his article, Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege, I have to admit that I was enraged. However, I bothered to read it a second, third, fourth, and even a fifth time because I felt that I wasn’t getting what he wanted to convey.

The way I see it, Soriano is showing us where we have taken the Filipino language. It’s a very beautiful language, with a rich vocabulary. Thing is, we seem to have forgotten, or we may have not cared enough to learn that rich, beautiful language. We refrain from using it when we meet people for the first time. We don’t talk in Filipino when we talk to our superiors such as our teachers and our bosses. Why? Because we have been programmed to do so!

The English Campaign was launched in St. Paul Pasig when I was in the fourth grade. Our English teacher assigned “spies” in each class, who were tasked to make a list of people who were speaking in Filipino. Speaking in Filipino seemed like a crime, and those who spoke it were given deductions from their final grades in English and in behavior. BEHAVIOR. I argued with my English teacher and told her that I am Filipino and I deserve to be allowed to speak in Filipino. She told me that we have to aim to be globally competitive because English is the universal language. I rest my case. I didn’t know what she meant by “globally competitive” because I was a ten-year old and Google was hardly accessible back then.

My grades in Filipino slumped, while my English marks stayed on top. Did I need that English campaign? I don’t think so. Did I need a Filipino campaign? HELL YES. But for the sake of being globally competitive, nobody cared that I’ve been having trouble reading Filipino words since I was four, while I read English words at the speed of light.

That same year, we were also introduced to outreach programs. During the orientations, our teachers kept reminding us to always speak in Filipino to the ones we were going to teach, “because they cannot comprehend well in English”.

AND NOW YOU CALL US BIGOTS?

Do not dare condemn me, do not condemn James Soriano, for thinking that it’s so hard to be Filipino. Our teachers and our families brought us up this way. Personally, I would have loved to learn how to speak and write more eloquently in Filipino, but my academic environment did not allow me to learn as much. The medium of instruction used in school was English. Even when I moved to Miriam High School, I’ve grown used to thinking and writing and speaking in English. God knows how hard we all had to deal with Florante at Laura and Mga Ibong Mandaragit (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo have English translations). I did poorly in my Filipino classes in Ateneo as well. And yes, until now, I still don’t know the proper use of NG and NANG, so sue me.

I do read Filipino books, and I do watch Filipino movies. I do search for translations or definitions when there are words that I can’t understand. I do speak and write in Filipino at a comprehensible level, but I was brought up in a culture where English is put at a premium, and Filipino is an afterthought.

After all, we mock Manny Pacquiao when he speaks in broken English, but we manage to swoon and sigh when the Younghusband brothers speak in broken Filipino. We had the potential to win the Miss Universe crown last year, but Venus Raj did not ask for an interpreter and spoke in English, scrambling for words and looking like she was going to pass out anytime during the Q&A portion.

All this ruckus about James Soriano is happening because he’s telling the truth and we’re not brave enough to accept it.