Filipinos’ English Phobia
Each of us has something we are afraid of and the only way
to face them is to identify clearly what they are and accept these facts. We
have to be honest to ourselves that we are vulnerable and that we may probably
need another person to help ease the inner turmoil. Even the most confident of
the Avengers, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark, has
fears. And although he was afraid of saying it out loud, he did what he thinks
was best to address the things he was most afraid to happen.
Filipinos have a very solid background of learning and
living the English language in our everyday lives, tracing back to when we were
babies where our family would most often than not teach the young ones
“close-open” and “where’s the light?” instead of saying “bukas-sara” and “nasan
ang ilaw?” Sounds awkward, right? We even talk to pets in English.
English is our medium of instruction throughout the whole
education system. Sometimes, employers who interview you for job applications base
your qualifications not just from what they see on your resume, but also on how
good your English is in answering the questions. We practice so hard on perfecting
our Fs and Vs and using words that are beyond elementary vocabulary. And Filipinos
are used to watching American movies without Filipino captions proving that our
listening skills are enough for a good conversation and even making a joke or
two. And yet, we still are afraid of communicating with foreign people in the
universal language. Why?
We are afraid of making grammatical and pronunciation
mistakes. We are afraid of sounding like we don’t know the language too well.
We try to sound how Americans and Canadians speak. We are afraid that our other
kababayans would hear our English and think that we are not good enough.
Because that’s how we see other people who are struggling with the language as.
We are afraid that others will judge us the way we judge them. We know as an
audience how we react to these mistakes and we are afraid being on the other
side of the joke. We are used to seeing people get mocked on television for
having poor English communication skills. I’m even putting myself out for
writing an English article about our insecurities of the language.
Guess what? Foreigners don’t really care about your grammar
and pronunciation as long as they get the gist of what you are talking about
and the flow of conversation is uninterrupted. Communication is successful when
both parties understand the messages sent to each other. They would even wait
patiently for you to gather your thoughts because they understand it is not
your native language. Sure, I had some troubles understanding them at first
because watching Hollywood movies is quite different from real life
communicating and expressing ourselves to native English speakers.
Someone from work even complimented me for speaking clearly
without an accent and said that they envy Filipinos for knowing more than one
language. They are astonished at how foreign the Filipino words and other
dialects to them when they overhear a group of Pinoys talking amongst
themselves. And here we are, worried that we mispronounced ‘forward’ and
‘verify.’ Joke on me, I said ‘crack pot’ instead of ‘crock-pot’ the other day.
Worry not. Filipinos actually know better grammar than them
as we were so very critical about it in our learning years. We learned the
language, studied its structure, practiced spelling of the most difficult
words, and read numerous literatures written in their language. It just happens
that we are more comfortable of using it in the learning and professional
environment, that when we’re thrown into the socialization part of usage, we
seize up and translate everything in our head. Relax, you can do it, you’ve had
at least 10 years of ammunition, so fire away with your creative ideas and
express yourself. Gather your confidence and speak out, you’ll be surprised at
how much easier it will become the more you talk to these kind people.
But of course, never forget our beautiful Filipino language. No matter how fluent we become in whatever language we are using as an immigrant or worker of another country, we can still express ourselves best in our mother tongue. Use our language at home for the continuation of our culture through generations.
But of course, never forget our beautiful Filipino language. No matter how fluent we become in whatever language we are using as an immigrant or worker of another country, we can still express ourselves best in our mother tongue. Use our language at home for the continuation of our culture through generations.
by: bautistamacy
Article originally posted at pinoy-canada.com
