We beg to differ.
Through the years, I have witnessed the steady decline of Filipinos in about almost everything they used to be good at, and one area is in their command of the English language. While neighboring countries like Korea and Japan have only recently realized the great value of this de-facto language of choice in today’s highly…
Read More “Should Filipinos Go Back to Pursuing Excellence in English?” »
Here’s a certain reaction I heard about English-Speaking Filipinos: “Ha? Bakit tayo nag-i-Ingles? Mayaman ba tayo? (Why should we be speaking English? Are we rich?)” When I also noticed that people always assume I was rich and moneyed, I asked my mom about it and she said, “How could they not? You look white and…
Read More “The Problem with Filipino views about English Speakers” »
Part 1. A Look at How a Simple Word Impacted Our Culture Gimmick is an interesting word in its use in Tag-lish and Eng-saya — and baffling in how it is used. It is a local showbiz lingo, a jargon among the personalities of said industry. Just listen to a familiar sound bite on TV:…
Read More “Gimmick Nation: Is the Philippines a society of con artists?” »
It suddenly occurred to me why Marian Rivera has so many frothing fans. It’s because she looks sosyal but sounds palengkera. The psychology there being that there is some sort of perverted appeal to seeing a person who looks like she comes from the colonial elite speaking the language of the masa. Yeah, I get…
Read More “What Marian Rivera’s fan base reveals about Philippine society” »
I have always been fluent in English. You can say I grew up with the language. When I was in high school, people around me seemed to be so enchanted by the English language. There were those who seemed impressed by the way I spoke English while there were those who hated me for the…
While the Constitution (Article XIV, section 7) declares English as an official language of the country, there are still smart-alecks who believe Filipinos should not speak English. For example, there was this troll in a group that tries to say he is more “Filipino” because he doesn’t know English much. Such things are really stupid….
Don’t look now but Marian Rivera’s come out swinging at her detractors, presumably over the subject of her famous English language skills (or lack of it). I’ve always found Marian fascinating. Her face and physical stature does not match her style of speech. Perhaps this is what endears her to her fans — she physically…
Read More “Is diskarte more important than good English as Marian Rivera says?” »
A study jointly conducted by the University of the Philippines’ Assessment Curriculum Technology Research Center-College of Education (ACTRC) and the University of Melbourne on the effectiveness of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines has confirmed something many Filipinos have known for some time — that English remains a highly-prized skill that most…