I'm pretty impressed that the little mestizo playing with my little chinito spoke Tagalowg and Bisayuh. No offense meant, I was truly impressed! I'm amazed at the idea of a true foreigner who wants his son to know and speak this land's language.
You see, I wasn't an English-speaking kid (ever). Nobody I knew at school (I went to three schools during my childhood), at home, or just about anywhere spoke in straight English. Or what we affectionally call "spokening in dollars." Classy.
In fact, my peers, who were all children of middle-class parents like I am, spoke using vernacular language. Tagalog, Bisaya, Hiligaynon. My childhood language was an interesting mix of Tagalog and Masbateno (which didn't come in handy when I had potty accidents at school but that's another story).
No one spoke English, unless we're reading books, singing Spice Girls songs, or quoting lines from Pocahontas. Just having a grasp of that foreign language was enough. Suffice to say, the kids I grew up with and I were pretty terrified of our school's speak-in-English-or-bayad-piso rule.
When I entered motherhood, I was pretty surprised to see little children speaking straight English. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but I assumed that one of the parents must be a foreigner, thus the need to learn the language. Imagine my surprise to know that both parents were pure-blooded Filipinos. But don't get me wrong; I have nothing against teaching Filipino kids English.
Globally competitive, it's what they say. I, of course, want my son to be globally competitive, too, so buy him a lot of books for his toddler library.
But what, to me, came as a shocker was finding out these same kids could barely speak a single Filipino word. Is that even a bragging right now when a child doesn't understand the language of his land? Is there shame in speaking Filipino?
I don't think so. Because of that, Job and I made the conscious decision to raise Yuri as a primarily Filipino-speaking child. Actually, make it aside from that, because the point above is just a personal sentiment. What are our other reasons?
1. First of all, none of us are English-speaking.
There is no one in both of our families combined who talks using English. We have different dialects, but the language we use is Filipino, mostly Bisaya. Raising an English-speaking kid would make this particular kid stick out like a sore thumb. It might also cause resentment from other relatives.
2. We want to raise a child who is not intimidating.
I have met a lot of purely English-speaking kids in this neighborhood because a lot of foreigners live here. And they, especially the parents, have no qualms about playing with kids who don't speak in English.
However, there are still more non-English-speaking kids. And many of these kids would never go near an English-speaking kid for fear of not being understood, or worse, ridiculed.
One of my sister's BFFs was raised in Dubai for pretty much her entire life and was not taught Filipino. When they transferred here, she was a loner. She's very pretty - a dead ringer for Lauren Young - very smart (their class' 3rd Honorable Mention), and fun to be with. But no one wanted to be friends with her simply because she talks in English, which, apparently, is gibberish to private school middle-schoolers.
She speaks Filipino now and has gained many friends (my sister included). Whew. Let's just say that after learning our native language, her life became so much easier.
Again, I mentioned above that many kids, despite the language, tend to be friendly, but the language barrier can be hard to break.
3. Practically speaking and based on experience, Filipino is easier for toddlers to grasp.
First, in my households, it is the primary language, which means the words are the ones he has heard since newborn-hood (is that even a word?). It doesn't make sense to switch languages when teachimg a child to talk because he will only get confused. #mommytip #unsolicited #hahaha
Second, I find that pronouncing Filipino words is easier than pronouncing English words. This is because they are spelled as they are spoken: no silent letters, no foreign consonants. For example, Yuri found it easier to say "bahay" than "house." Of course, it is wiser to teach 1-syllable English words (car) than teach their longer Filipino counterparts (sasakyan).
I'll stop before I begin sounding like a language teacher.
4. Fourth, Filipino sounds more malambing and respectful than English.
If you have an English-speaking child, please skip this part because you're gonna hate me. Personally, especially if the child is pure Filipino, I find that many English-speaking kids sound obnoxious and, well, smart-alecky. I'm not saying all ha. I don't know; maybe it's the American accent or the borrowed words from TV.
Or maybe it's the lack of words like "po" and "opo." We don't have these words in Bisaya but there's something we call "pagtahod," which can be found in the different tone (as well as the calculated hesitancy) we use when addressing someone older. I don't see that in the English language. Call me old-fashioned but I want to raise a child who regularly uses these words and manner of speaking.
5. Fifth, we're raising a socially-adept child.
A common reason I hear when parents "train" their children to speak in English is because it prepares the child daw for school. Really? I can't make a comment on that because I haven't actually personally known anyone who excelled in school just because she spoke English young. All I know is that even though I wasn't raised an English-speaker, I did pretty well in school and I do have a good command of the English language. So it might help but it's not necessary.
I believe my son will learn the foreign language in the right time and in the right context: school and reading. I believe it's easy to be fluent in a language especially if it's taught at an early age, but I believe that since it's not our mother tongue, it should be spoken in school and not at home. The mother tongue should be lovingly used at home. But, again, that's just me.
My point is that we're not preparing our child for school; we're preparing him for his life mission. He won't encounter just sheltered middle-class kids who watch Disney channel; I know he'll encounter more kids who have less in material possessions. He'll encounter people who don't know a single English word, and he'll encounter more who'd prefer to speak to someone without the unnecessary language barrier. And you know what? These people deserve to be talked to. They need to be interacted with. They deserve true communication.
I'd rather my child be praised because of his physical cuteness.
Hahaha I kid, I kid.
Seriously speaking, though, I pray to raise a son who doesn't place his faith on something as earth-bound as language.
Photo: safaritothesoul.wordpress.com
* Before anyone reacts, this post is written in English since it is the language I am most comfortable to write with. Truly, Filipino is a beautiful language, but I suck in writing using it just like how I suck in speaking using English.
* I wrote this post several months back, I think in May. I just waited for the national Buwan ng Wika to publish it. Maligayang Buwan ng Wika sa ating lahat!
PS: Yuri's photos with a couple of his "half-blood" friends:
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