Huwag mo nang itanong

Last week pumunta ako sa office ng kaibigan kong si Derrick upang i-discuss ang maiksing project na gagawin ko para sa NGO na pinagta-trabahuhan niya dito sa Phnom Penh. He shares his room with three other people: 2 Cambodians and a Caucasian lady who sounded American. I sat by his desk, poring over some documents, brainstorming and drawing out plans on how the tasks should be done to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Yung Amerikana was talking to someone on the telephone beside us, and napansin ko na patingin-tingin siya sa amin habang nakikipag-usap sa telepono. When Derrick saw that she had finished her call he introduced me to her.

'That was remarkable', sabi niya. Una hindi namin naintindihan ni Derrick kung bakit sinabi niya yun. 'I have never heard a conversation that seamlessly blended two languages. My friends have told me about it but I've never heard it up close. It's amazing.'

Yun pala yun. She meant our Taglish (Tagalog and English) conversation. We explained to her na sa Pilipinas, ganoon makipag-usap ang maraming tao for many years na. There are many other languages in the Philippines but Tagalog (or Filipino) and English were the languages that were taught in school so most people can speak it. Derrick added that this is easier for him because his mother tongue is not Tagalog but Waray, one of the many Philippine languages.

'But to be able to speak the way you do, it requires fluency in both languages, doesn't it?'

This was something that I hadn't thought about. Oo nga, no? She raised a good point. To be able to effortlessly shift from one language to another in each sentence is something that is really magaling. Pero in the process, meron bang language na nalalamangan at napapabayaan? Filipino language advocates would say that in this, lugi ang Filipino language.

Personally, I think this is a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. Both languages are diminished in some ways and enriched in other ways also. Analyzing my use of Taglish, I realized that I shift between the two languages usually when I'm trying to find the right word to use. But this does not mean that my vocabulary of English and Filipino is small. I am particularly proud of both of my vocabularies, let me just say. Kaya lang, minsan, you can say some things better in English, yung iba naman mas maigi sabihin in Tagalog. See? Pero siyempre, I can only do this with my fellow Filipinos.

My short knowledge of history tells me that speaking Taglish started in the 70s, originating from young colegialas–female students of exclusive schools in Manila. And for a long time, as I recall, speaking this way was often done in jest. Whether making fun of the privileged set or just having fun, this manner of speaking soon surfaced on television (who can forget the late Ma. Theresa Carlson's Si Ako character in the seminal sitcom Chicks-to-Chicks?), in the movies (too many to mention, although Bagets comes to mind), in songs (Bonggahan by Sampaguita) and in print (mostly tabloid newspapers and some broadsheet columns). There is even an interface between Taglish and Swardspeak (the Filipino gay slang as it was called many, many years ago) that exists to this day.

From these seemingly frivolous beginnings, the use of Taglish slowly normalized, in the same manner that many words from the gay slang vocabulary has made it to the mainstream lexicon. I recall a conversation with my uber-butch uncle that became awkward when he said he felt bad for his kumpare (friend) dahil na-chugi ito sa kanyang trabaho (because he got fired from his job). Chugi is the gay term that could mean dying, or getting fired from work or losing something that is very important. Pero hindi ito ang point ko. What I'm trying to say is that over time, Taglish took hold in the Filipino way of speaking. In the Oxford dictionary of the English language, there is a substantial section devoted to Filipino English (grammar and literature).

I don't see this happening between Khmer (Cambodia's language) and English, although I know many Khmer words have some French in them too. Could it be an issue of colonization also? After all, English is the language of our second-most influential colonizer (the first being Spain).

This could also be because of the inherent nature of our language. I am no linguist, but as a speaker I feel that grammatically, Filipino (or Tagalog) shares many similarities with English, so it is easy to merge one with the other. When I went to Indonesia last year, I noticed that some Indonesians also have a certain way of mixing Bahasa with English. Tagalog (as well as other Philippine languages) is rooted in Bahasa so there's a connection.

Now there is a growing debate regarding the government's plan to mandate a shift in language of instruction in public schools from Filipino to English. The groups opposed to it argue that this is anti-poor, that doing this will affect our Filipino heritage. The legitimacy of this measure in the constitution has also been questioned. Ayokong makisawsaw sa debateng ito. However, let me just say this: we are the third largest English speaking country in the world as it is. Do we want to beat the US and the UK and become the largest?

Marami sa mga magagaling na English teachers working in the States ngayon ay mga Pinoy. Kahit dito sa Cambodia actually. We have a robust English literature. And Filipinos, regardless of social status, can speak and understand English in varying degrees. All these, in spite of having Filipino as the medium of instruction in the public schools. At this point in time, I do not see the point in the shift. I think that in the Philippine public school system, English and Filipino can coexist peacefully.

Be it in their pure forms or in Taglish.

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