Filipino English
by Rudy M. Viernes
The Philippines is the third largest English speaking country in the world, percentage wise (83 million out of 90 million), behind that of the United States and the United Kingdom, unless you are pretty keen on the Filipino accent and colloquialism. India comes fourth with 350 million out of 1 billion. But the Filipinos are notably more proficient than their Asian counterparts in both accent and pronunciation.
However, no matter how the Philippines is ranked the fact remains that Filipinos can speak proper English which is “impressive and functional,” not far from the American and British English, sometimes even better grammatically, according to Expedia whose call center in the Philippines is its hub in Asia, and this is a statement!
By virtue of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 after the Battle of Manila Bay where the American fleet vanquished the Spanish Armada Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Thus started the Americanization of Philippines with the US military taking over. Pres. William McKinley ordered the gradual implementation of English as the medium of instruction. This ushered in the coming of American educators called, “Thomasites” – all 640 young Americans initially to establish a nationwide system of public education and to train Filipino teachers. As part of a “policy of attraction” their linguistic task involved the imposition of English as a medium of instruction over Spanish, which was then the spoken language through almost 400 years of Spanish rule.
In 1935, the country became a commonwealth of the United States as envisioned in the Tydings-McDuffie Law with a ten-year transition period to full independence and sovereignty. American Governor-Generals composed the officialdom with a bicameral legislature patterned after that of the U.S. with English the language of deliberation.
The Stars and Stripes and the Philippine flags flew side-by-side in all public buildings. School children sung the Star-Spangled Banner upright and proud and with equal zest the “Land of the Morning, Child of the Sun Returning”, the first few lines of then Philippine National Anthem, after which were recited the oath of allegiances. To ensure the effective use of English in the schools speaking in the vernacular was strictly prohibited with fines or demerits meted to the violators.
And years later, at the end of WWII the entry of McArthur’s liberating forces suddenly made English a necessary tool of communication for grateful Filipinos who came to embrace the G.I. Joe for his chocolates, chewing gums and Lucky Strikes.
Benevolent assimilation was advanced by education in English. Without English a Filipino was deemed illiterate even if he can correctly write and speak Tagalog, or any of the other major dialects.
In 1936the National Language Institute was tasked to study Philippine dialects for the purpose of evolving and adopting a common national language. A year later the Institute recommended Tagalog, which was widely spoken and the language most understood in all regions of the country as the basis of “Wikang Pambansa,” or national language. In 1959, the Department of Education called Tagalog-based national language, Pilipino, to dissociate it from the Tagalog ethnic group. In 1970 the Board of Education ordered the gradual shift to Pilipino as a medium of instruction in the primary up to the secondary levels in all public and private schools. And years later in 1987 the Cory Constitution finally designated Filipino to replace Pilipino as the Wikang Pambansa. Subsequently the Philippine Congress took steps to sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as a language of instruction in the educational system.
Thus Filipino has metamorphosed into a Philippine national language in order t instill nationalism and to sink it in the Filipino psyche and as a unifying concept of national identity and independence as do the Japanese of Nippongo and Chinese of Mandarin.
And to obliterate all vestiges of American rule, Independence Day is now celebrated on June 12 instead of July 4, Dewey Blvd. was renamed to Roxas Blvd., Camp Murphy to Fort Bonifacio, and the name changes went on. The Americans left Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, and however the country is governed today it was to our own choosing. No use crying over spilt milk.
Through the years this nationalism issue had exacted a price and this is the decay of English spoken in the schools. What is tragic and funny is the deliberate crossbreeding that resulted into a fractured or pidgin called “Taglish,” that further diminished the purity of our English. As a consequence many present-day college graduates are found deficient in speaking and writing correct English.
School authorities, or the whole Philippine officialdom are to blame. Where before the teaching profession was the most revered and noble of all professions, when teachers were look up to as molders of youth and the country’s future they now enter the global village as nannies or tutors of the children of the world, or as governess of rich families in Europe, or as construction workers in the Middle East where their salaries, if converted, amount to a princely sum compared to their paltry salaries as school teachers. Leaving their teaching jobs to go abroad isn’t to construe they are unpatriotic. They do so out of economic necessity. They don’t mind the loneliness and depraved life abroad as long as they can put their kids to school, put body and soul together and enjoy little luxuries.
However, take heart my dear kababayans. Be that as it may the quality of our present English isn’t so bad compared to the English written or spoken in other countries, specially written. Consider the following, albeit funny, to prove our point: Sign outside a Paris dress shop: “Order your summer suit. Because is big rush, we will execute customers in strict rotation.” A sign posted in Germany’s Black Forest: “It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping sight that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they merried with each other for that purpose.” One the door of a Moscow hotel room: “If this is your first visitor to the USSR, you are welcome to it.” In a Bangkok temple: “It is forbidden to enter a woman, even a foreigner if dressed as a man.”
An instruction booklet in a Japanese hotel how to use the A/C: “Cool and Heats. If you want just condition of warm in your room pls. control yourself.” A brochure of a car rental firm in Kobe, Japan: “When passenger of foot heave in sight, tottle the horn, trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tottle him with vigor.” Outside a Rome laundry: “Ladies, leave your cloth here and spend the afternoon having a good time.” What do you think, guys? Without bias, we think the Filipino English isn’t that bad after all. We can write better than them!
by Rudy M. Viernes
The Philippines is the third largest English speaking country in the world, percentage wise (83 million out of 90 million), behind that of the United States and the United Kingdom, unless you are pretty keen on the Filipino accent and colloquialism. India comes fourth with 350 million out of 1 billion. But the Filipinos are notably more proficient than their Asian counterparts in both accent and pronunciation.
However, no matter how the Philippines is ranked the fact remains that Filipinos can speak proper English which is “impressive and functional,” not far from the American and British English, sometimes even better grammatically, according to Expedia whose call center in the Philippines is its hub in Asia, and this is a statement!
By virtue of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 after the Battle of Manila Bay where the American fleet vanquished the Spanish Armada Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. Thus started the Americanization of Philippines with the US military taking over. Pres. William McKinley ordered the gradual implementation of English as the medium of instruction. This ushered in the coming of American educators called, “Thomasites” – all 640 young Americans initially to establish a nationwide system of public education and to train Filipino teachers. As part of a “policy of attraction” their linguistic task involved the imposition of English as a medium of instruction over Spanish, which was then the spoken language through almost 400 years of Spanish rule.
In 1935, the country became a commonwealth of the United States as envisioned in the Tydings-McDuffie Law with a ten-year transition period to full independence and sovereignty. American Governor-Generals composed the officialdom with a bicameral legislature patterned after that of the U.S. with English the language of deliberation.
The Stars and Stripes and the Philippine flags flew side-by-side in all public buildings. School children sung the Star-Spangled Banner upright and proud and with equal zest the “Land of the Morning, Child of the Sun Returning”, the first few lines of then Philippine National Anthem, after which were recited the oath of allegiances. To ensure the effective use of English in the schools speaking in the vernacular was strictly prohibited with fines or demerits meted to the violators.
And years later, at the end of WWII the entry of McArthur’s liberating forces suddenly made English a necessary tool of communication for grateful Filipinos who came to embrace the G.I. Joe for his chocolates, chewing gums and Lucky Strikes.
Benevolent assimilation was advanced by education in English. Without English a Filipino was deemed illiterate even if he can correctly write and speak Tagalog, or any of the other major dialects.
In 1936the National Language Institute was tasked to study Philippine dialects for the purpose of evolving and adopting a common national language. A year later the Institute recommended Tagalog, which was widely spoken and the language most understood in all regions of the country as the basis of “Wikang Pambansa,” or national language. In 1959, the Department of Education called Tagalog-based national language, Pilipino, to dissociate it from the Tagalog ethnic group. In 1970 the Board of Education ordered the gradual shift to Pilipino as a medium of instruction in the primary up to the secondary levels in all public and private schools. And years later in 1987 the Cory Constitution finally designated Filipino to replace Pilipino as the Wikang Pambansa. Subsequently the Philippine Congress took steps to sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as a language of instruction in the educational system.
Thus Filipino has metamorphosed into a Philippine national language in order t instill nationalism and to sink it in the Filipino psyche and as a unifying concept of national identity and independence as do the Japanese of Nippongo and Chinese of Mandarin.
And to obliterate all vestiges of American rule, Independence Day is now celebrated on June 12 instead of July 4, Dewey Blvd. was renamed to Roxas Blvd., Camp Murphy to Fort Bonifacio, and the name changes went on. The Americans left Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, and however the country is governed today it was to our own choosing. No use crying over spilt milk.
Through the years this nationalism issue had exacted a price and this is the decay of English spoken in the schools. What is tragic and funny is the deliberate crossbreeding that resulted into a fractured or pidgin called “Taglish,” that further diminished the purity of our English. As a consequence many present-day college graduates are found deficient in speaking and writing correct English.
School authorities, or the whole Philippine officialdom are to blame. Where before the teaching profession was the most revered and noble of all professions, when teachers were look up to as molders of youth and the country’s future they now enter the global village as nannies or tutors of the children of the world, or as governess of rich families in Europe, or as construction workers in the Middle East where their salaries, if converted, amount to a princely sum compared to their paltry salaries as school teachers. Leaving their teaching jobs to go abroad isn’t to construe they are unpatriotic. They do so out of economic necessity. They don’t mind the loneliness and depraved life abroad as long as they can put their kids to school, put body and soul together and enjoy little luxuries.
However, take heart my dear kababayans. Be that as it may the quality of our present English isn’t so bad compared to the English written or spoken in other countries, specially written. Consider the following, albeit funny, to prove our point: Sign outside a Paris dress shop: “Order your summer suit. Because is big rush, we will execute customers in strict rotation.” A sign posted in Germany’s Black Forest: “It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping sight that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they merried with each other for that purpose.” One the door of a Moscow hotel room: “If this is your first visitor to the USSR, you are welcome to it.” In a Bangkok temple: “It is forbidden to enter a woman, even a foreigner if dressed as a man.”
An instruction booklet in a Japanese hotel how to use the A/C: “Cool and Heats. If you want just condition of warm in your room pls. control yourself.” A brochure of a car rental firm in Kobe, Japan: “When passenger of foot heave in sight, tottle the horn, trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tottle him with vigor.” Outside a Rome laundry: “Ladies, leave your cloth here and spend the afternoon having a good time.” What do you think, guys? Without bias, we think the Filipino English isn’t that bad after all. We can write better than them!
Modern Heroes
By Rudy M. Viernes
The Philippine government cannot provide employment to its teeming employable citizens, sad to say. That’s the reason so many Filipinos go abroad where employment abounds. Thus the template OFW was coined for Overseas Filipino Worker, which used to be OCW for Overseas Contract Worker.
Time was when one was tagged as OCW the term had a rather abject, connotation. No longer because our government has dubbed them “heroes.”
Hero, in mythology and legend, is an honor given to someone with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, especially one who risked or sacrificed his life for a cause, or has saved somebody from the pangs of death.
Our OFWs are called heroes by a grateful government because their dollar earnings, a record high of close to $20 billion in 2011 have saved the country from economic collapse. They don’t mind the loneliness and deprivation as long as they can build and achieve their dreams of putting body and soul together, sending their kids to school, enjoying little luxuries, if not sudden opulence, especially professionals who are mega-buck earners.
In our recent visit to the Philippines we traveled north of the country. We were amazed how the provincial landscape had morphed into a once languorous landform of nipa huts into gleaming homes with TV antennae soaring into the sky, while in their garage are parked trappings of affluence, like a late model car, a passenger jeep with a sign “Katas ng Qatar” or “From Saudi With Love.”
That scenery was absolutely amazing, vibrant, albeit startling metamorphosis.
Another OFW vignette. My late wife and I were in the shopping mall one December day. We were behind a young family with two carts loaded with goodies and the queues were unusually long I figured to my wife it may take about 10 minutes to check those goodies in the counter so why don’t we transfer? Besides our small basket was totally paled by the two cartfuls in front of us pushed by a shopper who ostensibly was on vacation from Dubai , said so by his T-shirt.
Thanks to our heroes in the construction sites in the Middle East, factory workers, health care professionals, engineers in industrialized countries, the nannies, tutors and chambermaids of rich families in Europe , entertainers and mariners in cruise ships, plying the high seas. Their dollar remittances have become a major factor that propped-up the Central Bank reserves that prevent it short of insolvency.
There are estimated 11 million OFWs worldwide and the exodus goes on with tens of thousands leaving the country every year. This includes an increasing number of skilled professionals and workers taking on unskilled jobs resulting in brain drain. This is particularly true in healthcare and education.
There are medical practitioners in the Philippines , especially those working in government hospitals in the provinces who undergo retraining to become RNs whose services abroad are very much in demand.
Filipinos in America today find it easy to integrate themselves in mainstream American society because of their high education and speaking skills many of them have ascended to the middle or upper middle class. Filipino-Americans have the second highest median household income of $65000 exceeding that of the US general population. Asian Indians and Filipinos lead Asian-Americans in household wealth. Filipinos constitute the second largest immigrant group in the US and they live a life as sophisticated as educated Americans. They are among the 49% of Asians in the US --aged 25 and over--who hold bachelor degrees. By contrast, the corresponding figure for white Americans is 31% and, for all Americans, it is 29%.
However, in other countries where Filipinos abound like those in the Middle East , there are serious issues they have to contend with. OFWs both blue collar and white collar face problems of illegal recruitment, maltreatment, exploitation, long hours of work, limited food, or quartered in he doghouse. They suffer these indignities just so they can earn a mighty greenback to send home. These issues have become major concerns of our attaches in these countries. In some cases their paychecks are withheld and passports confiscated for flimsy reasons. Some domestic helpers, educated as they are as teachers, are physically or sexually abused and maltreated. There are sad stories of Filipino entertainers in counties like Japan who become sex slaves. They go abroad for a promise of domestic work or “social services” only to be deceived into sex work.
But by and large our OFWs have become movers of our country’s economy and have been honored by a government that sets aside a day in December to welcome our Balikbayans at the airport in a perfunctory ceremony, have photo-ops and published in the papers with the caption "OUR MODERN HEROES.” And our reluctant heroes are grateful for the attention and recognition, if only as an annual parody.
By Rudy M. Viernes
The Philippine government cannot provide employment to its teeming employable citizens, sad to say. That’s the reason so many Filipinos go abroad where employment abounds. Thus the template OFW was coined for Overseas Filipino Worker, which used to be OCW for Overseas Contract Worker.
Time was when one was tagged as OCW the term had a rather abject, connotation. No longer because our government has dubbed them “heroes.”
Hero, in mythology and legend, is an honor given to someone with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, especially one who risked or sacrificed his life for a cause, or has saved somebody from the pangs of death.
Our OFWs are called heroes by a grateful government because their dollar earnings, a record high of close to $20 billion in 2011 have saved the country from economic collapse. They don’t mind the loneliness and deprivation as long as they can build and achieve their dreams of putting body and soul together, sending their kids to school, enjoying little luxuries, if not sudden opulence, especially professionals who are mega-buck earners.
In our recent visit to the Philippines we traveled north of the country. We were amazed how the provincial landscape had morphed into a once languorous landform of nipa huts into gleaming homes with TV antennae soaring into the sky, while in their garage are parked trappings of affluence, like a late model car, a passenger jeep with a sign “Katas ng Qatar” or “From Saudi With Love.”
That scenery was absolutely amazing, vibrant, albeit startling metamorphosis.
Another OFW vignette. My late wife and I were in the shopping mall one December day. We were behind a young family with two carts loaded with goodies and the queues were unusually long I figured to my wife it may take about 10 minutes to check those goodies in the counter so why don’t we transfer? Besides our small basket was totally paled by the two cartfuls in front of us pushed by a shopper who ostensibly was on vacation from Dubai , said so by his T-shirt.
Thanks to our heroes in the construction sites in the Middle East, factory workers, health care professionals, engineers in industrialized countries, the nannies, tutors and chambermaids of rich families in Europe , entertainers and mariners in cruise ships, plying the high seas. Their dollar remittances have become a major factor that propped-up the Central Bank reserves that prevent it short of insolvency.
There are estimated 11 million OFWs worldwide and the exodus goes on with tens of thousands leaving the country every year. This includes an increasing number of skilled professionals and workers taking on unskilled jobs resulting in brain drain. This is particularly true in healthcare and education.
There are medical practitioners in the Philippines , especially those working in government hospitals in the provinces who undergo retraining to become RNs whose services abroad are very much in demand.
Filipinos in America today find it easy to integrate themselves in mainstream American society because of their high education and speaking skills many of them have ascended to the middle or upper middle class. Filipino-Americans have the second highest median household income of $65000 exceeding that of the US general population. Asian Indians and Filipinos lead Asian-Americans in household wealth. Filipinos constitute the second largest immigrant group in the US and they live a life as sophisticated as educated Americans. They are among the 49% of Asians in the US --aged 25 and over--who hold bachelor degrees. By contrast, the corresponding figure for white Americans is 31% and, for all Americans, it is 29%.
However, in other countries where Filipinos abound like those in the Middle East , there are serious issues they have to contend with. OFWs both blue collar and white collar face problems of illegal recruitment, maltreatment, exploitation, long hours of work, limited food, or quartered in he doghouse. They suffer these indignities just so they can earn a mighty greenback to send home. These issues have become major concerns of our attaches in these countries. In some cases their paychecks are withheld and passports confiscated for flimsy reasons. Some domestic helpers, educated as they are as teachers, are physically or sexually abused and maltreated. There are sad stories of Filipino entertainers in counties like Japan who become sex slaves. They go abroad for a promise of domestic work or “social services” only to be deceived into sex work.
But by and large our OFWs have become movers of our country’s economy and have been honored by a government that sets aside a day in December to welcome our Balikbayans at the airport in a perfunctory ceremony, have photo-ops and published in the papers with the caption "OUR MODERN HEROES.” And our reluctant heroes are grateful for the attention and recognition, if only as an annual parody.
