At a loss for words
LANGUAGE researchers have con- cluded that because of the pressure that countries have to learn and master a second language, many other local languages are dying.
The frenzy to learn more English is causing many to lose mastery over their own native tongue – even the appreciation of it. Most find the usage of their lingua franca in formal conversations not intelligible enough, or that speaking in English will raise their status higher and influence stronger.
There should have been no problem with learning other languages to be able to speak to more people –if only it does not endanger the continuity of our very own fluency in our local language or dialect.
A study in Nigeria found out that English has widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
Many messages, information, and communication written in English has caused the poor the inability to access it, leaving them in the dark about information regarding current affairs and matters about their rights, since most of these announcements, since these are often disseminated in English – the language introduced by their former colonizers.
In the Philippines, there was an initiative to teach mother tongue in the first few levels of basic education as part of the K to 12 curricula.
However, instructional materials and trainings for teachers are still inadequate. Most of my teacher friends who have tried handling such a subject admitted to have much difficulty in teaching the kids.
Furthermore, even using their native tongue without code-switching when teaching or speaking proves to be difficult. Because our culture is already hybrid or a mix of both local and foreign cultures, sometimes with the predominance of the latter, there is much interference of English in our first language.
My former co-teacher shared before that most parents, at first, did not understand what “buluhaton sa balay” meant when their child asks them for help in his assignments. They thought it was a form of household chores like sweeping, cooking, and cleaning (chuckles).
Many other Bisaya terms, a language that should have been close to the local people, seem foreign to most, especially when code-switching is practiced among all strata of people.
The Meranaw language, even though it has many users, still does not have a standard orthography yet.
The natives, when writing or texting, only improvise their own spellings.
For example, when making glottal sounds, some Meranaws write it with the letter “h” or “z,” since meanings of words would differ if they don’t.
Education should push more for the return of the glamour of using native tongue in speaking and writing. I am happy that the use of baybayin is already encouraged by the government in this English speaking Filipino civilization.
If you think that much fluency in English is the key to progress in the Philippines, take a look at Japan and other countries that don’t speak English as much as we do. They have a higher standing among the world economies than us.