However, there are other countries out there that have 2 or 3 official languages, and people are fluent in both (or have a decent grasp between the two). And about people thinking kids getting confused, kids’ brains are like sponges, if you start really young, they will pick it up. My cousin was spoken to in Chinese when she was young, but she had no problem speaking Chinese and English. My grandma, knows how to speak Mandarin, Laotian, pretty good Thai, and English. I really admire her for language knowledge.

I unfortunately was spoken to in English only, so I am not bilingual. My mom is of Chinese descent, but was born in Thailand and my dad is Filipino. I was born in the US, just in case if people were wondering about my name.

Even though I am not bilingual, I really would like to be fluent in Spanish in the near future. I know some Mandarin due to my mom’s side of the family, but I do not know that much to have a conversation.

But of course to make this all happen, there needs to be lots of money, resources, and teachers to educate the people and children in the Philippines. Without those things, how can they start?

Best,
Moderator

I am militant. My generation is militant. if nationalism is so passe, then why do authors like Alice Walker and Lualhati Bautista win Pulitzers and Palacas? Please, be realistic.

franklin,
“Divina” means “Divine”, and that’s what my grandmother gave me, so I intend to stick by it.

Your comment “…born and made in the Philippines?” What are you, a chair? Are your parents educated or are they provincial peasants?

You need a love life really soon! Your outlook in life is militant and has no merit in a one world, globalized community.

English is the language of the world, get used to it. Ethnic borders are at the beginning stages of disappearing. Nationalism is as passe as colonialism. People like you, who need a national identity for “superiority” are inferior emotionally and are probably unattractive physically also.

English is the only way a sovereign state can get by in a globalized world. Those countries who don’t speak it have a choice. The live with the consequences thus thier complaints from the point thereafter is meaningless.

You know Divina, a day at the beauty parlor does wonders!

please people, grow-up!

One last thought Divina. Ironically, though the Latino/Hispanic immigrants have a common language and have made strides in impacting and contributing to build the present day United States -positively in my opinion. Though they speak a common language, they are very “nationalistic” and are very proud to be “Mexican”, “Cuban” and “Puerto Rican” and will let you know that there is a distinct difference cultural characteristics and historical evolutions despite a common language. They are different as the Chinese, Japanese and Korean where their physical features are similar, thier pride of being different entities just as fierce, and thier languages and religions formulate distinct nationalities.

The problem the U.S. faces to today in our own “English debate” is to balance celebrating each ethnicity and nationality yet encouraging everyone within the U.S. borders to speak one common language which is English.

There lies the nucleus of the plight of the English debate here. The general reasoning for the Spanish speaker to vigorously retain their Spanish is they fear English may decrease their Hispanity and having their next generation forget what they are.

Your outlook in language can be totally emphathized with the majority of the Latino immigrants here. Different setting, but basically the same plight.

Again, thank you for your time! Continue on.

Divina, as I mentioned to Mr. Rizal, I am an American of Filipino descent, living in California. Immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean speak a common language, Spanish. Instead of assimilating into the fabric of an “Anglophonic” society, they generally choose to preserve their “Hispanic” ways of being. Unfortunately, because English would be their second language -if they choose to learn it all – they have been coined with abusive and negative stereotypical generalizations. A growing number of Americans now feel threatened to “having to” learn a “foreign” language in their own land. Having stated this, I do understand your valid and justifiable desire of having Filipino the national language of the Philippines, for having witnessed what it can do as exemplified with the large minority of Hispanic/Latinos residing in the U.S.

In recent years, they have formulated a powerful contigency towards devoping “political” power and influence, thus making this particular group Presidential candidates one not to deny. Likewise, thier buying power in consumer goods is also a factor to be reckoned with. Advertising agencies spend millions targeting the Hispanic population, creating a “dual” market. Symbolically, even in the arts, the Grammy Awards, awarding excellence in music has spinned-off the Latin Grammys. There are five major commercial T.V. networks, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and Univision (Spanish-speaking T.V.).

However, with all these accomplishments, they are still looked upon as second class citizens, and aren’t -for the most part – embraced as “real” Americans by both conservatives and liberals alike.

For the Spanish-speaker, born in the U.S. or not, it is an unfortunate dynamic when attempting to incorporate one linguistic society “into” a society where a traditional and widely spoken language had already existed. English is actually the “unofficial” language of the U.S. We do not have an “official” language, Many are surpsised at this fact, may I add.

So your point of view is well taken and totally respected. Thank you!

Having lived here in California all my life, in a rapidly growing “salad bowl”, you indeed are 100% correct. The term “salad bowl” differentiates from the traditional “melting-pot” description of our American multi-cultured society.

A salad bowl is one unit that celebrates all the different ingredients and vegetables that create a delicious salad. The differences of individuals create one bowl.

A melting pot blends all the ingredients into one entity thus no longer detects what went in the melting pot.

As far as the Spanish language goes, albeit in an unorthodox fashion, needless to say, I know first hand how it has exploded and has become a vital language of importance in the U.S.A. In political, economic and social spheres, the influx of Hispanic immigrants to the United States is definitely changing the face of the nation. Again, I see the Spanish language, not to define or “redefine” an ethnicity or a nationality, but primarily as a “tool” of great importance to communicate to what is now 40 million Hispanic U.S. citizens. This factor in addition to the job opportunities available for those who are fluent in English and Spanish is rapidly making Spanish a “must” in the future. Tagalog/Filipino does not have that leverage.

All that said, I really appreciated your kind comments. May I ask your opinion on another intregal thought?

In your conviction, and in staying with the topical theme “the English debate in the Philippines,” if Jose Rizal were alive today, how do you think he would view the English debate? Again, no one would really know now, but given your wide range of knowledge, impressive may I add, your opinion would be highly appreciated and anticapated.
,

Divina is a “Spanish word” for the noun “grace”. If you were so proud of being Filipino, then why not use a non-indigenous Filipino username?

One meaning of the word “grace” is a charming characteristic or an attractive trait. After reading the comments of the one who calls herself “Divina”, and the lack of “grace” in her opinions, may I recommend she think of another username?

Disgrace is more appropriate!

I have recommended a lot of readings havent I? Please read it.

My other point, aside from language as an identity and road to progress, is that Education would now really be classfied through social “classes”.

Poor students can’t brush up on their English either by practicing a home or reading or just watching TV because, first, if they dont have money to buy rice, where would they get the money to buy books? Second, Tv shows nowadays are in Filipino, if they dont have money to buy food, how can they afford cable connection just to watch shows using English?

At the same time, the sons and daughters of the elite and the burgis are speaking English in their homes! infant palang, “spokening dollars” na ang mga tito at tita nila sa kanila. They dont have to worry about books, or cabled Tv , or practice because, like Rizal, everything was paved away smoothly, all they have to do is to go to school ,and excel. remember, Rizal was an ilustrado.

As all of the filipinos know, there are many poor students in the Philippines. While simultaneously learning English, Mathematics, and science, rich students would now have a head start, because they already have an idea on the machinations of the english language that is used in mathematics and science, while poor studetns, still grappling over English, will disastrously solve mathematical problems, and scientific inquiries.

Dont compare the present situation of the toddler Filipinos now from our toddler pasts, TV shows aired in ABS and GMA were imported from the US then, i remember the Million dollar movie program, and the animes and cartoons, like the X men, power rangers, captain planet, and many more, were not dubbed in Filipino.

Now, people wonder why UP, a university coined as the school of the iskolars ng bayan, is filled with rich kids or at least a kid from a well- off family. it is because of the “English as the medium of instruction” folly. English proficiency is now the instrument of capitalism, where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

Lucky for me I grew up in the era where reading was in fashion and dubbing was not, but unlucky for the youths of the future, wala na nga silang suporta galing gobyerno, dinidiin pa sila ng mga “elitista” at mga burgis.

If only Mathemtics and science were taught in Filipino, like what math tinik and sineskwela did, then, the poor youth would have a chance. Natural science people said they cant, the jargons would be too diffiult to translate in Filipino from English, eh, in the first place, di naman english ang roots ng mga scientific (both in soc. sci and natural sci.) lexicons eh, Latin yun. If the americans can translate and create word meanings as they please, why cant we? The UPians already started it, but it gained a negative reponse, someone even said that, “Ano bayang mga taga UP? bumababa na ba talaga ang kaledad ng edukasyon nila at nagtatagalog na lang sila ngayon? truly, it is backward thinking”.

I was in awe of your comment earlier, a sign of being a veteran as I an amateur, but there are materials that’s within our reach that very different from yours, these materials are radical, and I guess it can support our “juvenile” beliefs as much as yours supports you.

PS. RIzal was not a licensed doctor, and a god knows what medical malpractices he committed while his classmates remained insignificant and unrecognized. As Ocampo said, a vast number of rIzal’s works, including medical journals and medical prescriptions, is still undeciphered, and may prove that Rizal is not a renaissance man or it may lead to more veneration. I am not for Aguinaldo, he’s a traitor. Bonifacio, the epitome of a “maralitang Filipino” would be a little off for a national hero, but not impossible, after all, he was the one who acted what Rizal was too scared to do, to raise arms against the oppressors. And there’s a contradiction of Rizal being a realist (because he voted for education and preparation before revolution) and an Idealist (dreamer), a contradiction indeed. Rizal is a man of ambiguity, not a positive trait for me.