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Thursday, April 20, 2006
Arinday: A spring journey into the landscape of language
By G.H. Arinday, Jr.
Sunfare
"O book open to the pure fool's hand/ O book of that hour when love's shining through/ I am the child of all that fertile land/ Who among flocks of days still
waits you/ That body may at last join in the round."
-"The Voyages", Robert Sabatier (French poet and novelist), translated by May Sarton
THE RAPID decline in the proficiency of the Filipinos' use of the English language, in "face-to-face" interviews conducted by the Social Weather Stations
(SWS) is the reality we have to contend with if we have to maintain our thin lead over Southeast Asian countries in the use of the universal language. Several factors could be cited in the calamitous deterioration in our way of "speaking" English today, particularly the young generation.
In our time it was a must requirement that informal and formal compositions were to be accomplished by the students. It was only in 1941 when "Tagalog" guised as "Pilipino" (later called "Filipino") was introduced and became a part of the school curriculum. It was the nationalists' ideas that we should have our own national language until today. This is one aberration gravely committed by the authorities on educational matters or policy.
As the years went by, a hybrid language called "Taglish" emerged. Even national TV commercials of today are embellished by the corrupted English which the present generation wittingly or unwittingly used in the conversation.
To arrest the rapid slide of the English on the black or white boards, a new campaign sponsored by business groups and academicians has launched the so-called "Cool English" campaign.
While Asian neighbors are fast learning the English language, our media communicators are doing the opposite. For instance, newscasts are in Tagalog. Even English movies are translated into Tagalog (even Korean telenovelas, perhaps we always think that we need to be amused sometimes). Very few read novels in English, but romantic novelettes are selling like hot cakes. Even the two famous foreign weeklies, Newsweek and Time, have a combined circulation of not more than 4,000 copies in our country. Even The Reader's Digest which carries enrichment of word meanings and vocabularies has diminished its copies on the newsstand.
Evidently, we are not a "reading" community. Even the so-called "What's the Word, That's the Word" TV promo of franchised Big Brother which flashes every evening over the country's giant television network does not contribute to the proficiency of our usage of the English language. The proliferation of glossy magazines which carry more visuals and pulchritudes showing their "sculpted" bodies and the scandalous lives of show business celebrities that crowd their pages contribute nothing to intellectualism needed by our country.
Yesterday afternoon, my wife's relative, who is an overseas worker, put some shock or disbelief when she told me that her employer in Taiwan after knowing her academic attainment reduced her usual household chores and spend most of her time teaching the English language to all members of the household. Her employer later on mandated that no other language shall be used by any of them in their homes and offices but English. And this true story took place in a city near Taipei. Could any of our well-heeled family do the same?
I know that those of Castillan heritage speak Spanish in their abodes. Why can we do the same even just for a day in a week? All things considered, we could reclaim our superiority in the use of the English language among Asian nations if our schools and offices would require those within to use the language
(at least an hour before parting in the afternoon or first hour of office hours). Well, this may help attain the desired high-standard usage of English.
The landscape of said language is never difficult if we try or strive to attain a certain degree of proficiency.
Even Tarzan tried his best "jungle" English to seduce Jean. Que lastima!
(April 20, 2006 issue)
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