Tagalog is the language of the common man, the masses that wriggle and writhe all over the country.
There's nothing wrong in admitting that we don't talk in Tagalog in board room meetings, we don't talk in Tagalog in court, and we don't talk in Tagalog in almost every other situation where the precise word is needed to convey the exact meaning and nuance.
Can you imagine a surgeon issuing instructions to his surgery team using Tagalog or an Engineer directing complex instructions completely in Tagalog? I can't.
What is the Tagalog word for nurse? What is the Tagalog word for "cauterize"?
I shiver at the thought of a surgeon addressing the OR Nurse as Punaspwet or cauterization as "pag-susunug" or "ampatin". But I guess, somehow, things don't fuck up in the operating rooms here in the Philippines because somehow, nurses and doctors who convey instructions in Tagalog still manage to use the proper nouns and verbs that are vital in surgical procedures.
This is probably not a failure of the language per se, but perhaps our education in the language that has been enriched with the influences of Malayan, Chinese, Spanish, and American cultures.
The thing with language is that it is continually evolving, and if a word like "efficient" doesn't occur in the Tagalog or Filipino lexicon, it doesn't mean that the concept is beyond reach or that the concept has not been assimilated.
So anyway, this all brings me back to the idea that perhaps what is really at fault is not the medium of instruction but the educational system that is supposed to make people proficient in the use of the language.
If that ain't working, nothing else will work -- kesyo Tagalog o Betlog ang gamitin mo.
There's nothing wrong in admitting that we don't talk in Tagalog in board room meetings, we don't talk in Tagalog in court, and we don't talk in Tagalog in almost every other situation where the precise word is needed to convey the exact meaning and nuance.
Can you imagine a surgeon issuing instructions to his surgery team using Tagalog or an Engineer directing complex instructions completely in Tagalog? I can't.
What is the Tagalog word for nurse? What is the Tagalog word for "cauterize"?
I shiver at the thought of a surgeon addressing the OR Nurse as Punaspwet or cauterization as "pag-susunug" or "ampatin". But I guess, somehow, things don't fuck up in the operating rooms here in the Philippines because somehow, nurses and doctors who convey instructions in Tagalog still manage to use the proper nouns and verbs that are vital in surgical procedures.
This is probably not a failure of the language per se, but perhaps our education in the language that has been enriched with the influences of Malayan, Chinese, Spanish, and American cultures.
The thing with language is that it is continually evolving, and if a word like "efficient" doesn't occur in the Tagalog or Filipino lexicon, it doesn't mean that the concept is beyond reach or that the concept has not been assimilated.
So anyway, this all brings me back to the idea that perhaps what is really at fault is not the medium of instruction but the educational system that is supposed to make people proficient in the use of the language.
If that ain't working, nothing else will work -- kesyo Tagalog o Betlog ang gamitin mo.
2 comments:
hahaha this is funny
I suddenly recall a certain foreigner that learned how to speak Tagalog...he is proud about it..unlike those people who just step foot in the US and when they came back they can't talk in fluent Tagalog..the awkward part is they were gone for just few monthsfradomb
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