Small Is Boastful. The alienation of the Filipino
Frank A. Hilario
September 06, 2011
Thank you, James, for a job well done, even if you didn't mean to. English is the language of the literate. English is the language of the knower. Peachy doubts it, that English is the "language of the learned" as James says, from what she has observed of the Australians (blogspot.com). Ms Peachy Down Under, the Australians are more boastful than our Filipino language nationalists, so their scholarship is more in question. I remember a joke about Americans that easily applies to Australians:
Why do they teach English in American schools?
To teach them a language other than their own.
James' column of 24 August 2011, titled "Language, learning, identity, privilege" in his iThink series (mb.com.ph) has raised the hackles of the likes of Butch Dalisay who calls it "A testimonial to alienation" (philstar.com). Indeed, it is the Filipino language nationalists who have been alienated! Alienated from the world of learning, as I shall show you in a little while. Alienated from the world of creativity, as always. Their reaction is always Ruination, never Revelation.
But Filipino writer Mr Dalisay is different; he has award-winning works in both English and Tagalog. He is unlike those whom I call tongue-tied nationalists because they tie nationalism with the tongue (language), unlike Freddie Aguilar who proudly hated Charice for not being a language nationalist like he was, for not singing a Pinoy song when she guested at Oprah for the first time (see my "Unggoy, Ka Freddie. Aguilar must decrease, Charice must increase," 10 September 2009, Pinoy Cinderella, pinoycinderella.com). The number of such nationalists must decrease! They are thinking small. How can small be boastful?
If you want to read James' cerebration of English, click here (mb.com.ph). Unlike Migs Bassig (blogspot.com) in an attempt to show the world that he knows better English than James - he succeeds only in showing his contempt. An Editor of 36 years standing and an author of 4 books published abroad that I myself edited, I would not edit James because I want to preserve "the honesty and candor expressed in Soriano's essay" (in the words of Tonyo Cruz, asiancorrespondent.com).
But for all his erudition, Mr Dalisay misses the whole point when he says if he were the essay professor, he would have asked James, "So what is it you really want to say, and what's the most important point your readers should get from this experience?"
My dear Mr Dalisay, you can find the most important point that James makes in his very first sentence: "English is the language of learning." In 6 words of plain English, James Soriano demolishes all the arguments of the noisy tongue-tied nationalists for the propagation of the language called Filipino, which in reality is 90% perspiration (Tagalog) and 10% inspiration (non-Tagalog). Give me English anytime!
And no, Mr Dalisay, James Soriano's ending, "So I have my education to thank for making English my mother language" is not "an awful and perplexing turn in the argument" - precisely because it is not an argument at all. James is not arguing, only asserting. And no, that last sentence is not pedestrian - in fact, that very last sentence is most provocative, a Pinoy like me thanking God for English!
"How many of us are dying to read Balagtas, Virgilio Almario," SEO Philippines says, "and yet can't find the same amount of knowledge to even understand what they are saying?" (brownseo.com). And no, Balagtas' Florante at Laura is not Pinoy, is not original in concept.
From faraway America, Benjamin Pimentel looks askance at what James Soriano has written, and calls it "your stunningly condescending view of those who speak Pilipino" (inquirer.net). That betrays Pimentel as out-of-date, "Filipino" having supplanted "Pilipino" long, long ago, and his bitter judgment getting the better of him. To say that essay is stunningly condescending is stunningly condescending. Manuel Buencamino calls James' piece "pathetic" (interaksyon.com) - that is pathetic. Dino Manrique says it is sarcastic (filipinowriter.com) - a comment like that tells me that Filipino language nationalists will never appreciate the fact that English is the language of the literate.
Compared to English, Tagalog (or Filipino, it doesn't matter) is most inadequate. I quote benignO who says he agrees with James Soriano 100% (getrealphilippines.com):
Tagalog is a quaint dialect at best. Perhaps we continue to hang on to it because it gives us that familiar warm fuzzy feeling inside. The reality today is quite stark, however. Tagalog does not deliver. The sooner we as a people come to terms with that reality, the sooner we can move on to tackling much bigger challenges.
Right! benignO gives the example of efficiency, an equivalent concept that which Tagalog does not have, "a simple concept with far-reaching implications on our ability to progress," he says. In short, the Filipino language is small, so those who insist on it cannot boast of it. "We therefore need," says benignO, "to turn to a language that we are already relatively proficient at that is up to the job." Thank you, benignO, for summing that up!
My wife, a Tagala from Nueva Ecija, who was a most efficient Secretary to the Director, adds the concept of ergonomics. If you type, you know that Tagalog is the most difficult language of all! Try this: "Kakabakaba ka ba?" (Are you nervous?)
Wawam mentions the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and those Pinoys who work here at calling centers where English is a given (wordpress.com) and the Pinoys are at a distinct advantage. Do we want OFWs or not? Do we want calling centers or not? Not the Filipino language nationalists.
Yes, James, Tagalog or Filipino is the language of the man on the street, maid, family driver, ambulant vendor, errand boy, store clerk, some lawmakers - and Noynoy Aquino. Yes, Tagalog or Filipino is the language of the small. Those who boast of their Filipino language nationalism are boastful of the small.
Mila D Aguilar says in boast: "James can't say that our languages are meant only for informal conversations" (philippinehistory.ph). "And has he heard UP professors teaching biology, physics and chemistry in Pilipino?" I'm sorry but Ms Aguilar Down Under is downright out of date too, or specifically in the backwoods of history. "Pilipino" went that away, it's now "Filipino." And, Ms Aguilar, UP professors teaching Biology, Physics, and Chemistry are not giving the students their tuition fee's worth, to say the least. Ms Aguilar, in Filipino, look:
Biology? You can teach buhay, you can't teach biome.
Chemistry? You can teach malamig, you can't teach molecules.
Physics? You can teach tatsulok, you can't teach thermodynamics.
English forever! I remember Grade 1, 1947, Cabalitian-Sanchez Elementary School, Asingan, Pangasinan. Mrs Bautista was teaching each one in our class to say "I run to the door!" and do exactly that. One of my classmates said, very earnestly, as he ran, "Aran to the door!" Sounds right, right? The whole class laughed. If you're Ilocano like me, you know that "aran" means "giant." But I thank Mrs Bautista for introducing English to us and I learned to love this foreign language from her.
David Dizon reports Pinoy Reporter as saying in so many words, "it was ironic that the Manila Bulletin published the column 2 days after it received an award from the Commission on Filipino Language" (26 August 2011, abs-cbnnews.com). Well, Pinoy Reporter, it only shows that the Manila Bulletin is not your language nationalist newspaper.
Neither was Jose Rizal your National Hero of Language. Rizal is the recurring idol of the language nationalists in the Philippines; whenever they want you to show your love for the Tagalog or Filipino language, they quote part of the poem he wrote when he was still 8 years old:
Sa Aking Mga Kabata
Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika
mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda;
kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.
My translation:
To Kids Of My Own Time
His native tongue who does not treasure
is worse than a beast or smelly fish:
'tis right that on our own we nourish
like a mother who bestows favor.
For all that nationalist fervor of an 8-year old Pepe Rizal, what did he do when he grew up? He junked Tagalog! Instead of in his native tongue, this National Hero wrote all of his masterpieces in Spanish. 2 books: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo - the titles themselves are the giveaways. Many essays, many stage plays, many poems he wrote in Spanish. Not content with that, he penned his ultimate poem in Spanish: Adios, Patria Adorada (see my own English translation, Adios, Beloved Country, in my dedicated blog My Jose Rizal, blogspot.com). Do we honor Jose Rizal as our National Hero because he loved his native tongue? No! We honor him because he loved his country and in fact literally died for her. If we can't die for our country, we are small nationalists. How can small be boastful?
The University of the Philippines, the most vocal of the language nationalists, is not even in the Top 500 in world ranking among universities - UP Diliman is #918 and my alma mater UP Los Baņos? #2843 (webometrics.info). So, UP is small. How can small be boastful?
Why did Jose Rizal go to Europe? To learn from the world of learning, to bring knowledge back to his country. Did he love his country less? He loved his country more than all those Filipino language nationalist columnists in all print media in the Philippines combined. Filipino nationalists, please learn from your National Hero!
150 years ago when Rizal was born, knowledge belonged to the elite; today, it belongs to the world - but not to those who insist on Tagalog as their language of communication with the world. A small language for a big world. They want to remain small. They boast of their smallness. Small is boastful.
The Philippines is a small country with a heritage of smallness, according to Nick Joaquin. So I'm not surprised that in the Age of Knowledge, the Pinoy is not embarrassed by the small reach of the Tagalog or Filipino language. In fact, the language nationalists boast that the Filipino language is what the Philippines needs to progress.
Small is boastful.
And Manuel Luis Quezon, the Idol of the Language Tribe. According to Francis Bacon, whose concept it was about the Four Idols of Man, "People have a natural inclination to accept, believe, and even prove what they would prefer to be true" (Kenneth Shouler, netplaces.com). The Filipino language has been nationalized since the time of Quezon, and where are we? We're running small. And yet, small is boastful.
Small is beautiful, says Ernest F Schumacher. Not this one. Small is boastful.
To the Filipino language nationalists, I say:
Language is less for loving country, more for learning.
Language is less for recognition, more for information.
Language is less for claiming, more for proclaiming.
Language is less for display, more for discerning.
Language is less for insisting, more for insights.
Above all: Language is not for knowing what you know; rather, language is for knowing what you don't know. Like:
You know tsismis, you don't know extension.
You know telepono, you don't know Windows.
You know salumpuwit, you don't know creativity.
You know paaralan, you don't know entrepreneurship.
You know teknolohiya, you don't how to use the computer.
You know imbestigasyon, you don't know scientific research.
You know kalayaan, you don't know intergenerational equity.
You know araro, you don't know biodynamic agriculture.
You know basura, you don't know waste management.
You boast all that you know about nationalism and language. You don't want to know what you don't know. Definitely, you're small. Alas,
Small is boastful!
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