In an archipelagic country like the Philippines, being a colony of other countries or empires is very much anticipated. History reveals that our beloved (well, it really is to me) country was colonized by the Americans, the Spanish group (it was already an empire during that time) and all the other colonizers who were once the masters and trend-setters of the Filipino people.
The various colonizers had so much an impact to our country’s present traditions and cultures. What we have now is a piece of inheritance which dates back to the Australo-Melanesian settlement 30, 000 years ago. Included in the piece of inheritance we were given (in legal terms at least) is the most important and most permeable concept of language.
The Filipino language (as I believe it) is one of the richest languages in present-day situation. Even if we are not one of the so-called tiger economies, our language is something that has become what it is now tested through time. The importance of Filipino as our language is not seen by many among us (extremely terrible) yet it is one of the strongest concepts that prove our identity and existence. What concerns me the most these months is not the continuous oil-price hike but the issue, and I might say that it has become a fact, that the Filipino language, my beloved language, is slowly deteriorating. Not slowly but increasingly.
“Nagwoworry kasi ako baka may magsteal ng wallet ko e.”
“Sir, kasi, feeling ko ganito yun.”
“Classmates alam niyo yun? It’s like, you know.”
“Nag-eat na ba you?”
PLEASE. Shoot me now if I’m not making sense. I mean, HELLO. What the hell. Why do you have to make words more complicated by combining two languages in a single word? Why can’t you just say na nag-aalala ka instead of nagwoworry ako? Why can’t you just get your tongue straight up and ask kumain ka na ba instead of nag-eat na ba you? If these things will continue to happen, years from now, what would be left of the rich language produced by the numerous years of colonization, torture and hope, are nonsense and useless (when alone) syllables (see… not even words) like nag, mag and all those others I failed to mention.
You might hate me now for I am writing these texts in the country’s second language (I assume) which is English. I am not a perfect Filipino speaker or writer but I have the heart for our language. I could not express my abhorrence in this issue if I speak in my native tongue but I can speak Filipino without any mixtures of other languages in it and I don’t use the Filipino syllables combined with the English verbs. My point is, English is OKAY. Spanish is OKAY. Italian and Korean are OKAY. But ENGGALOG and TAGLISH, OH PLEASE.
Is it just our language that’s deteriorating? Or even our sense of nationalism and patriotism?
OR ARE THE FILIPINOS DETERIORATING?
SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE. LOVE YOUR COUNTRY.
