Debunking PH’s Language Myths

7/25/2019 Debunking PHs Language Myths

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Debunking PHs language myths

Past and present language issues in the Philippines have become the subject ofpopular discussions after concerned citizens stepped up their campaign against theCommission on Higher Educations decision to remove Filipino subjects from thenew general education curriculum.

As a result some language m!ths have resurfaced with regionalists and diehardEnglish crusaders leading the attac"s against the national language.

#he points discussed here see" to debun" some language m!ths and hopefull!convince the middle class and the elite that retaining Filipino subjects in college andusing the national language as a medium of instruction in a number of subjects arebene$cial to Filipinos in general.

%. Filipino is an imposition of &imperial 'anila.( #he multilingual composition of the)urian ng *i"ang Pambansa or the +nstitute of the ,ational -anguage +,-/established in the %012s to recommend a Philippine language as the basis for the

national language proves that this is nonfactual. )ee #able %./

#he decision to choose #agalog as the basis of the national language is clearl! aconsensus among board members of the +,-. #he failure of the embers ofregionalism to stop the rapid spread of Filipino throughout the archipelago is furtherproof that ordinar! Filipinos are ver! supportive of the national language andlinguistic regionalism is an idea rather limited to the English3spea"ing elites andsome middle3class citizens in the regions.

4. Filipino is merel! #agalog.

*hile it is true that until now much of the vocabularies of the national language arefrom #agalog it must be emphasized that Article 5+6 )ection 7 of the %089Constitution paved the wa! for the further development of Filipino based on other

Philippine languages.

+n fact the :P ;i"si!onar!ong Filipino now in its second edition and a number ofother dictionaries contain hundreds of newl! assimilated Filipino words from non3

#agalog languages.#he multilingual academic -eoncio P. ;eriada wrote in his essa! &Ang Pagpapunladng Filipino sa #ulong ng mga


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language could be done e=ectivel! if initiated b! spea"ers of regional languagesthemselves considering that the! "now best what terms are adoptable. +t isever!ones dut! to popularize the use of such words. )ee #able 4./

1. #he use of Filipino is detrimental to other Philippine languages.

#he spread of Filipino as the national language and as the lingua franca did notcontribute to the wea"ening of other Philippine languages.

#he seeming decline of other Philippine languages can be traced to the h!pocris! ofself3described supporters of some regional languages who use English as theirpreferred language in attac"ing advocates of the national language instead ofspending their time and $nancial power on propagating the actual use of indigenouslanguages in the regions.

+n fact all pronouncements of these groups are written in English. +n theirassemblies and conferences tac"ling &mother tongue3based multilingual education(English is also the medium.Contrar! to their claims the spread and propagation of Filipino as the nationallanguage actuall! ensure the survival of words assimilated from non3#agaloglanguages.

+t must be noted that despite its meager resources the >omis!on sa *i"ang Filipinohas been tr!ing its best to ful$ll its mandate of nurturing Philippine languagespublishing lots of materials such as dictionaries grammar boo"s and literar!

anthologies in all major Philippine languages.

?. +t is more practical to use English rather than Filipino as the countr!s linguafranca.

#his is one of the most absurd m!ths about English and Filipino.


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@ne English is not at all related to an! Philippine language with the eception ofChabacano which was originall! a )panish3based creole/ thus it is ver! diBcult formost ordinar! Filipinos to reall! learn English and use it as a lingua franca.

#wo as of 42%2 less than % percent of households in the Philippines used English astheir main language. How can such a foreign language be our lingua franca +n

contrast the number of citizens who use #agalog which serves as the main basisfor the national language/ as their language has steadil! increased. )pea"ers ofother Philippine languages easil! learn Filipino because their languages belong tothe same language famil!. )ee #able 1./

#hree the subpar national mean percentage scores of students in elementar! andsecondar! schools also show that our facilit! with the English language isproblematic. #he oBcial passing rate is 92 percent.

D. :sing Filipino as a medium of instruction will negativel! a=ect students facilit!with the English language.

#his claim is not supported b! an! research. +n fact the eperiences of developed)candinavian countries where their respective national languages are used fromprimar! to tertiar! education and where English is taught onl! as a subjectdemonstrate that the Philippine obsession with Englishwhich began when theAmericans imposed it as the sole medium of instruction at all levels in %027isunhealth!.

#he students deteriorating facilit! with the English language can instead beattributed to the general decline or at least stagnating ualit! of Philippineeducation especiall! in the insuBcientl! funded public schools.

As a matter of fact the Philippine government has consistentl! failed to compl! withthe :nited ,ations standard for the education budget as a percentage of the grossdomestic product G;P/ to be pegged at 7 percent. )ee Figure 4./

Perhaps it is also instructive to review the countr!s dismal oBcial teacher3studentratio vis33vis other developed and developing countries. )ee #able ?./ +nstead ofblaming the advances of the Filipino language for the troubles of English instruction

pro3English crusaders must unite with the rest of Filipino teachers in demandinghigher public ependiture on education so as to help e=ect ualitativetransformation of the ualit! of instruction in all subjects.


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7. Filipino subjects from elementar! to senior high school are suBcient.

A closer loo" at the recent ,ational Achievement #est ,A#/ results suggests thathigh school is the wea"est lin" in the Philippine education s!stem. #he ,A# resultsfor Filipino are also subpar.

#hat means that the majorit! of Filipino students were unable to get at least apassing score in the ,A#. +n other words students did not learn ever!thing that the!were supposed to learn in high school.

#hus there is still a need to o=er Filipino subjects in college to cover whatevercontent and s"ills that the students were unable to stud! and master in thesecondar! level.

*hile Filipino subjects were included in the senior high school curriculum thesesubjects will not and do not cover ever!thing that current Filipino subjects in collegeare able to cover.

9. Countries that use foreign languageIs as medium of instruction in college aremore developed than countries that use their national languageIsJ our peoplesEnglish language s"ills bring huge foreign investments hence English must beprioritized over Filipino.

#hese are two related m!ths that can be easil! disproved b! scrutinizing data fromthe human development inde H;+/ of the :nited ,ations. #he H;+ ran"s countriesb! providing scores ranging from %.2 holistic human development in terms of highualit! of health care long life epectanc! high literac! rate high average incomeand low3income ineualit!/ to 2.2 no human development/.

'ost of the countries in the top %2 of the H;+ ,orwa! Australia )witzerland the,etherlands :nited )tates German! ,ew Kealand Canada )ingapore and


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;enmar"/ use their own language in their education s!stems in contrast with thePhilippines now at ran" %%9 among %77 countries below :zbe"istan and just above)outh Africa/ that insists on using English as the primar! medium of instructionsince %027.

#he same countries are among the destinations of overseas Filipino wor"ers.

*ith regard to foreign investments one wonders wh! despite our much3toutedEnglish &comparative advantage( over most of our Asian competitors we lag farbehind when it comes to attracting foreign direct investments F;+/. @ur F;+ hasnever breached 4 percent of G;P in the past decade.8. Filipino is not !et intellectualizedJ it cannot be utilized as a medium of instructionin college.

#his is a m!th borne out of ignorance and sheer laziness of anti3Filipino crusaders.#he! onl! need to visit the Filipiniana )ection of the ,ational -ibrar! or an! librar!in the Philippines to see how far the Filipino language has achieved despite itsprecarious eistence as a second3class language in the minds of polic!ma"ers and

elite and middle3class citizens who claim English is their $rst language.

Countless journal articles researches theses and dissertations written in Filipino inall $elds of "nowledge attest to the fact that Filipino is now an intellectualizedlanguage.

Les it is !et to become full! intellectualized. *e have plent! of materials written inFilipino but it can be full! intellectualized onl! if we continuousl! teach it as asubject in higher education while at the same time progressivel! using it as amedium of instruction in a number of if not all subjects. *e got to start somewherethe wa! our 'ala!sian and +ndonesian cousins did a few decades ago.

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Debunking PH’s Language Myths