Create Pinoy Blog
Kamusta.com
, in my understanding is a website that seeks overseas Filipino workers
wishing to communicate and express themselves in whatever and however
they feel comfortable in. Excellent Pilipino is better than awkward
English is a suppression of ones personal expression because it
dictates how one is to relay a message, like a teacher instructing to
write a sanaysay.
I
opined that people who write their essays, comments, or reviews in
English though not proficient are not aspiring to become Pulitzer prize
winners or "authors of the week', but basically are just expressing the
best way they can. And to control the freedom of expression is a
violation of a personal human right.
Wikepidia describes the Philippines as having 172 dialects. According to the
Philippine National Statistics Office,
among the 18 major dialects, Cebuano speaking Filipinos top the list of
spoken dialects comprising 22 million as against tagalogs with only 20
million. And the list goes down to Bicoloanos, Chavacanos, Hiligaynons
(Illonggos) etc... Based on these facts, shouldn't we consider cebuano
as the base of the pilipino language. Mang Jim said pwedeng isulat sa Pilipino, sabi din ni Mang Jim pwede ring Inggles. So then what is Pilipino?
When
a filipina writes to her employer a resignation letter stating, "I wish
to resignate my position because my work is many and my pay is few of
which my boss makes a little loving loving to me and I say Oh not! Oh
not!"--- anyone teaching the essentials of English will consider this REALLY AWKWARD. But the filipina had made her point...to be understood. And
understand, we did!
If
the truth be told, all languages are crazy. As Walt Whitman might
proclaim that languages contradict themselves in someway. That's
because language is invented, not discovered, by everyone and not by
computers. As such, language reflects the creativity and fearful
asymmetry of the human race, which of course isn't a race after all.
And the pilipino language is as crazy as the English language.
Whoever
heard of women's underwear (panties) as salungguhit. (to catch or
salo a guhit? is that what women's private parts are called?)
Or men's brief is called salungganisa (would the men want theirs to be compared to a longganisa?) hmmm...
If salumpuwet is for a chair, is salungmgapuwet for a sofa?
Or let's widen our horizons to more islands.
When someone screams "LANGGAM!", a tagalog would look down, while a
bisaya will look up. Why? because langgam for a tagalog means ant, and
for a visayan means bird.
And if a tagalog in cebu goes
to a sari-sari store and buys cigarettes, and the tindera says, "pila", wouldn't that tagalog be pissed off why he is told to line up when he is the only customer. That's because 'pila' in visayan means, 'how much' or 'how many'.
But then, isn't English a crazy language in itself.?
English
is the most widely spoken language in the history of our planet. Half
of the world's books are written in English and the majority of
international calls are made in English. More than seventy percent of
international mail is written and addressed in English, and eighty
percent of all computer text is stored in English...however, we should
also come to realize that English can become as messed up as those that
speak or read it.
In this crazy language, the blackbird hen is brown, blackboards are
green or blue, and that blackberries are really green that turn red
when they ripen. Or isn't blackberries considered cellphones as well.
And even if blackberries were really black, and blueberries really
blue, what do you think strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries suppose
to look like.?
And
if that's not bad enough, we Filipinos contribute to that craziness.
Why do we say, 'open the light?' Should we disect the bulb? Or did we
mean to turn it on? Or closing the faucet really meant that we should
shut it off.?
If we concieve a conception and recieve a reception, why don't we
grieve a greption and believe a beleption? If a vegetarian eats
vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? If a firefighter fights
fire, what does a freedom fighter fight? If pro and cons are
opposites, is congress the opposite of progress?
Many filipino blogs use English as their medium of expression
because of its global exposure. If the scope of a website should limit
itself just to be understood by a special breed of people, so be it.
And if the website should cater to a much larger scale, then let it be
as well.
For as long as one can be understood..that is the bottomline.
And so my friends, this is it? Or is it that is?
It is it, that is!
