My lovely daughter Frances started talking at an early age. She didn’t learn to walk on her own until a year and two months, but was already able to say words way before her first birthday. Now at two years and three months, she’s practically talking our heads off!
I used to talk to her when she was still inside her mom’s tummy, so imagine how cool it is right now that I can actually have real conversations with her.
But what fascinates me is that at her age she can actually talk and understand both English and Tagalog. I found that out one day while we were eating and I asked her to wipe her mouth. I accidentally referred to her mouth in Tagalog and yet she understood. I immediately played a game with her and tested if she knew all her basic body parts in Tagalog and English. She was right all the time. This was before her second birthday.
I figured that it’s because at home we talk to her in English and when she’s with my in-laws she picks up the Tagalog equivalents of the words she already knows. It’s cool how you can actually talk to her using either language and she will definitely understand you.
But because of this she’s starting to learn to fuse the two languages together in her sentences. The other day she was asking me, “Daddy, where’s my ano... my teddy bear?”
I was amazed! Not only did she say the favorite Tagalog ambiguous word “ano”, but also she actually used it correctly. (“Ano”, literally means “What” in English. But we don’t always use it in the interrogative sense. Filipinos freely substitute the word “ano” for words or terms we can’t remember or actually don’t know. And the weird thing is if you use “ano” in your Tagalog sentences in a certain way during a conversation, the person you are talking to would actually understand you. Here’s an example of how it might be used in English, “Hey Berto, can you hand me the ano. I really need to ano the ano.” “Sure thing Juan, here’s it is, but be careful though I caught my ano on that thing one time and boy I couldn’t ano for an entire week!)
It’s not that big of a deal, but I am quick to correct her when she slips into speaking Taglish (fused Tagalog and English). I would rather that people use complete English or Tagalog in their conversations because I personally feel that Taglish is an abomination for both languages.
Ok. Before you click on the comment button below, let me clarify a few things.
The Philippines is indeed an English speaking country. But as with every country that speaks or tries to speak English, not everybody pulls it off the way God intended it to be. We all know how the Japanese are probably sick and tired of being picked on about it. Also we are not the only country to fuse English with a vernacular. I recognize the fact that with how English has been in this country for so long and how it’s actually our second language, Taglish was just bound to happen. I accept that. I actually use Taglish myself every now and then when casually talking to friends.
But I do however feel that Taglish should never be used in any form of public media, as a medium of instruction, in formal meetings, and more so in formal and business correspondence. It is simply inappropriate and tacky.
People who speak Taglish in this country can actually be classified in several categories. Allow me to do some mean stereotyping:
THE SOSSY CONYO. Sometimes called "Englogers". A classic example would be Kris Aquino. People in this category come from well to do families and can actually speak good English, they just choose not to for some reason. They often switch between Tagalog and English in their sentences and phrases in a really irritating way. Vain sossy type college girls often use this language. The typical Sossy Conyo sentence would probably sound like this, better yet, let me use a little uncalled for toilet humor to illustrate, “Ha? What’s the difference between sperm and balut? Yuuuck! My gosh. Why do you make tanong me that? I don’t eat balut ‘no!”
THE YUPPIE AGENT. Good examples would be yuppie call center employees that usually hang around at Starbucks in Alabang, Makati or the Ortigas area. Probably a good percentage of the people in Greenbelt that came there by way of public transport also fall in this classification. Some of these types speak Taglish in their trained neutralized English dictions (Pinoy Call Center Fake American English Accent or PCCFAEA) not to communicate, but rather to be heard by the people in the nearby tables when they go, “Ay yeah pare! I know what you are talking about! Grabe, I had a customer like that also, he was so agitated! Buti na lang I was able to pacify him like what the Irate Customer Handling manual said. After the call he was like all calm and easy na, kinda like this smooth Grande Mocha Frapochino I just ordered. Ahh, sarap!” Most YA’s by the way, do not talk the way they do in public when they are at home.
THE HARDCORE TAGLISHER. Examples would be most teenaged TV celebrities. They are a sub specie of the first two categories. But what sets them apart is that they talk in a fused Tagalog and English language because they are unable to sustain a consistent English or Tagalog sentence, written or verbal. They do that not because there is no direct translation, but simply because the vocabulary receptacle for both languages is easily depleted. Watch interviews of irritating teenaged movie and TV stars and you will see what I mean. These are the people responsible for text messages like, “wer na u? dto na me”.
THE CARABAO CLOWN. These actually have two extremes. They either use very little Taglish or they push the envelope on what little English resource they have and just go for it. Examples would be Jimmy Santos and some cast members of noontime shows. Carabao Clowns talk in crooked English because they think it’s good comedy material and most probably because they can’t really talk correct English anyway, so they make fun of it. But still, Jimmy Santos made a killing in the late eighties by starring in movies where he actually speaks in what Filipino English teachers refer to as “Carabao English”. I think we should actually stop calling it that; it might be offensive to Carabaos.
So is it wrong if some people talk that way? Well, other than it being really annoying, no. I mean Yuppie Agent types can talk all day like that for all I care (come to think of it, they probably do). But personally, I think if you are in the public eye you should pick one language and stick with it. TV personalities that liberally speak and write in Taglish should be more cautious, because let’s face it, some people actually look up to these teenyboppers. They can influence today’s youth. And like it or not, they do have a social obligation to maintain some degree of respectability and formality.
While am at it, I also have a beef with literally spelling an English word in Tagalog when there is obviously an appropriate translation. Take the word “Sayans” for instance. What ever happened to the word “Agham”? How about the word “Titser”? Doesn’t the word “Guro” sound more natural? Speak in English if you want to use “science” and “teacher”. Speak in Tagalog if you prefer “agham” and “guro”. For the love of Jose Rizal and Manuel L. Quezon, don’t force it!
I realize how all languages can be dynamic. But I feel that if we continue to allow these words to slowly seep into our culture we just eventually lose what our forefathers fought so hard for years ago (queue national anthem to softly fade in).
I think most of today’s youth speak in Taglish because they don’t have a good command of either English or Tagalog. Sure they can casually talk in Tagalog, but we all know it’s not the kind of Tagalog you would want to use to write an important essay with. Yeah, they can also talk in casual English, but can they sustain a complete conversation in that language? So we are left with Taglish, and even that is slowly deteriorating, special thanks to text messages.
You probably think I’m a total hypocrite with how I speak English to my child and here I am doing a lecture on love for our native tongue like some linguistic nationalist. Don’t get me wrong. I love our language. Why do you think I go by the alias Haring Ulan? My personal homepage (which I will update soon I promise) was originally done in Tagalog, but not all my visitors are from the Philippines reason I made an English version. I wrote a decent Tagalog poem once just to prove to myself I could. I have a copy of Edmond Ronstand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac”, beautifully translated in Tagalog that I read every now and then. I own a Tagalog-English dictionary; and I wish the person who borrowed it would return it too. I haven’t really tried it, but I know I can write an acceptable piece in Tagalog should the need arise. I have a friend in the environmental organization that writes in Tagalog so artfully it makes me green with envy.
I can’t validate this because I don’t watch mindless entertainment in the form of noontime shows, but I heard that an articulate English-speaking little girl who joined The Little Miss Philippines pageant disappointingly lost to another contestant. Part of the speculation why she lost was becuase when she was asked if she could speak in Tagalog the little girl said NO because her parents told her it was “bad”.
You see what these Sossy Conyos and Yuppie Agent parents are doing? We all know how this greatly reflected on the parents, but it’s tough explaining that to a little girl who lost a pageant contest for telling the truth. It was unfair that she had to be made an example of how some Filipino parents raise their children to think that speaking in their native tongue could be a bad thing.
I talk to Frances in English at home because it’s how my dad prepared me for English subjects in school. I grew up in a purely Tagalog speaking community. But I owe my English skills to my dad, my love for books, and my favorite baby sitter, the television. Like I said, I don’t mind my daughter talking in Taglish every now and then, but if I can correct her as much as I can to speak proper English and Tagalog and explain to her why she should talk that way, I definitely will. I am burdened by that task for now. She’s still too young to read, plus my favorite baby sitter has turned against me.
