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Different Spelling Standards for Different Languages
Ot acu, e cu cacacasnucan ustung ababasa cu ing K-orthographing penimunan dareng Tagalug? E cu agaganacang ing sulat aini, nga cu ware, sistema re queng pamanyulat deng papatda queng salita tamu. Iti, aniapin libri tamu queng nung sanung sistema ing buri tang tuquian, pati na itang paclang a tutuquian ning Mayap a Balita.
Why be disgusted to see the Spanish style of writing simply because the Spanish were the ones responsible for the death of Tarik Soliman half a millennium ago? The Spaniards did more good to the archipelago than bad. The Philippine revolution was more of a war for independence than a war against government abuses. Like many, I was also brainwashed and made to believe when I was in grade school that the Spaniards were wicked and the Americans were good guys. The patriotic feeling instilled in me was all the result of hating the Spaniards and fighting against such abusive tyrants.
But let's get to the bottom of the real problem which is the use of the much-hated C-Q orthography. We should bear in mind that it was the Spaniards who introduced the Roman alphabet that we are using now. Getting rid of the C and the Q would not solve the problem of getting reminded of the abusive Spaniards. For the rest of the alphabet - all 24 of them also came to us through the same people. If you really don't want to see vestiges of Spanish influence, adopt the system of writing of the early Filipinos, the Baybaylan or whatever it is called.
And of course, you don't just stop there. The Roman alphabet introduced to us by them is just a drop in the bucket. Take into consideration our names, both first and last. You then have to do away with such names as Aida, Oscar, Roberto, Alejandro, Castro, Garcia, etc. You would also hate to hear the name "Philippines" and our own nationality, "Filipinos". Many of our barrios, towns and streets are Spanish-derived. Some good examples are Angeles, Mexico, San Fernando, Hermosa, Concepcion. All those that start with San, Sta. and Sto. such as San Simon, Sta. Ana and Sto. Tomas are Spanish. Avenida Rizal, Calle Real, Plaza Burgos are Spanish too. Now, do you get disgusted to hear the names of such places? Then of course we have so many words that are derived from Spanish and which are too numerous to even mention. In fact you have already changed some of them into our language. You now use pipagaralan, talaturu, aklat. Common terms which we ordinarily use become weird and artificial to the ear. I'm sure even my friend, Felix, would be wondering what "banuang dalan" means!
To get rid of Spanish, we have to burn the works of Rizal which were all in Spanish, the works of Bergano and others which are presently pulled from archives and studied and translated by scholars and other researchers.
Get rid of the Spanish-style houses which Ivan is trying to preserve. Just settle for native nipa huts, for that's a more progressive way of life.
And of course, you have to go back to being either Muslim or pagan. For that's what most Filipinos were before the coming of the Spanish.. Burn the cross, the Bible, the chapels and churches, both old and new. No more fiestas, Christmases, Easters, Mass, processions, baptisms, etc. Otherwise, they would remind you of the Spanish who introduced all these to us.
In my case, I'm just proud of our good relations with the Spaniards for 327 years. Our Kapampangan ancestors were their allies. In a way, they helped the colonial government rule the archipelago. So, hating the Spaniards would be tantamount to hating our forebears and our own kind. Kapampangans were said to be the favorite of the Spaniards. In them they found the tribe they trusted most. In them they found the brave and loyal soldiers, the dugong aso who would defend the colony from all other foreign aggressors and keep the archipelago intact and united. Our being united as a people since 1571 is a legacy we should be thanking the Spaniards rather than despising them. No single person that our society honors can claim having done something that big for the Philippines.
Spanish influence is everywhere in the Philippines. Spanish culture would be with us forever and everybody should learn to live with it.. After reading all this, you would, I hope no longer be offended by my particular writing style, my using the C and the Q. permaLink | 0 comments
Favoritism in the PEN
Whether we like it or not, regional writers cannot compete with Manila writers because of uneven cultural development in the country due to the present politico-economic structure. The reason why they can meet together, launch their books, talk about their works, as you say the privileges we "can only dream wildly about" is because of this unequal and unfair representation. But let us face it. These "tribal" attitude creates an attitude of superiority over writers from the regions. The latter gets only recognized as a kind of tokenism from the center. Since when did these literary organizations consider non-Tagalog languages equal to and deserving of state and non-state support? Until now, no vernacular writer had been conferred with the National Artist award, which tells us of the low opinion of these literary mandarins toward writers from the periphery.
We are working in a very difficult situation since our own people are educated and being educated to become good Tagalogs. Our people can sometimes be our greatest enemies. They had become illiterates in their own languages. They will favor Tagalog instead of their own language. I felt compelled to react to National Artist F. Sionil Jose when he blamed the Boholanos for not reading their own literature. I said to him and to the audience that he cannot blame them for that because their language and literature are not taught in schools. Then, Karina Bolasco arrogantly accused us that we are to blame since we cannot even make our people read our works. I said to her that it is a question of political economy. This brings me to what Ricardo de Ungria said that we, writers from the regions, should publish our own works using our own resources. What? So, Manila writers get all the funding and all the publicity but we should rely on our own. What happens to the taxes we are paying? Are they to benefit only the center? This is pure and simple thievery.
We are not even acting as "spoiled brats" because we in the first place are never spoiled. Those in the center and those who benefit from patron-clientele politics are the ones spoiled. We don't want recognition from them anyway. The literary organization that I envision is a group that will do away with the discriminatory, prejudiced and reactionary principles of these associations. We cannot wait from Manila the recognition of non-Tagalog languages. It is from the periphery, from the regions, from the marginalized, which are the majority, where we should seek recognition. If we, writers from the regions, are united together in one literary group, we will be able to promote equality among languages, support for each other in terms of publicity and publication, and awareness among our people. permaLink | 0 comments
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE)
A Strategic Planning for Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MLE)
by Josie Dizon Henson
President, DILA Phil. Found.Inc.
The first ever Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) Grand Alliance StratPlan was held last November 5 - 6, 2009 at Tagaytay International Convention Center (TICC). I was invited to represent DILA Philippines Foundation, Inc. (Defenders of the Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago) and with me was Andrea Gatchalian who represented Akademyang Kapampangan (AKKAP) and Angeles University Foundation (AUF). » Read more... permaLink | 0 comments
Call for Papers : 1st Philippine Conference-Workshop on Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
In the News Elsewhere
Related Readings
On Education
There are to be almost 20 million schoolchildren enrolled in 2002-2003. Under the Basic Education Curriculum of Secretary Roco, their instruction will begin to focus only on the five subjects of Filipino, English, Mathematics, Science and Makabayan.
The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity was adopted unanimously at the 31st UNESCO General Conference. It aims to have a significant impact on humanising globalization and making it more culturally sensitive.
The Subdialect Filipino
What is"Filipino?" There is much difference of opinion on this matter. According to one school of thought, Filipino is not only different from Tagalog, but that it (Filipino) still does not exist, but on the contrary, it still has to be developed.
Ethnic Cleansing in the Philippines
The United Nations Convention on Genocide drafted in December 1948 mainly defines the physical means by which governments or rogue militia weed out ethnic or cultural communities. With bullets or bladed weapons, separation of younglings from their elders, we've heard it all before from the news and read it in the history books.
List of Philippine Languages
Republic of the Philippines. 86,241,697. National or official languages: Filipino, English. Literacy rate: 88% to 89%. Also includes Basque, French (698), Hindi (2,415), Indonesian (2,580), Japanese (2,899), Korean, Sindhi (20,000), Standard German (961), Vietnamese, Arabic. Information mainly from L. A. Reid 1971; SIL 1954–2003. Blind population: 1,144,500. Deaf population: 100,000 to 4,232,519 (1998). Deaf institutions: 17. The number of languages listed for Philippines is 175. Of those, 171 are living languages and 4 are extinct.
To Free Us from the Clutches of the Tagalog-Filipino National Language
By a sly, clever wording in the Philippine constitution that "Filipino is the national language," the Tagalista framers avoided an unyielding opposition to Tagalog while anointing it a national sounding name, "Filipino".
Publications
We organized DILA in 2001 to defend the language rights of all our ethno-linguistic groups. It is said that of the 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, more than half are expected to be lost in this century alone. They might disappear from causes like wars and disasters but what concerns us is when the reason is that another tongue is forcibly imposed by government. When that happens, disuse of the native tongue follows and the ultimate result is extinction. Since the introduction of a national language in our country in 1935, our 169 non-national languages have declined and deteriorated. All these and more are lucidly presented in the following posts and articles lifted from our group page on the internet (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dila). A note from our founder comes after this introduction.
DILA is committed to legal and peaceful means in achieving our aims, and welcome those who share our noble cause to protect our peoples and languages from extinction. May the Lord bless His languages. (From the FOREWORD of the book Josefina D. Henson, DILA Foundation, Inc.
President)
Recommended
"The best writing on the Philippines I've read in a very long time."—Dr. Michael Ashkenazi, Regents College, London
"Meticulously researched, coherently crafted, passsionately argued."—Carmen Miraflor, Stanford University, California
"Immensely stimulating."—Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC, former Sec. of Education, RP
"Like Alexandr Solshenitsyn, David C. Martinez, writing with the grace of a poet, the acumen of a scholar, and the heart of a patriot, offers the reader two rewards—the unembroidered truth and the priceless gift of hope."—Joseph E. Fallon, author, "Deconstructing America"
"Certain to change crippling misconceptions of 'nation' and 'identity.' Destined to radically, justly, and permanently alter the political landscape of the Philippines."—Nilo Sarmiento, formerly of the Society of Jesus
"Courageously irreverent, scrupulously annotated, and richly rewarding. A must-read for all who wish to comprehend the 'Philippine phenomenon'."—Tim Harvey, Co-Founder, DILA [Defenders of the Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago]
This volume and Filipino Is NOT Our Language can be purchased at Filipinas Heritage Library and Ayala Museum at the commercial district in Makati City, Philippines for P300.00 and P100.00 respectively.
