A repost. As originally published on EV Mail News for the week of November 28 to December 4, 2011.
http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-nov-28-dec-4-2011
When we first came to the United States, one of the first things I've noticed was that a lot of people were surprised that my family and I can speak very good and fluent English. They are surprised when I tell them that most Filipinos can speak the language very well because it's considered to be the second official national language of the country.
Then they get even more surprised when I tell them that Filipinos use English in schools, in offices, for businesses, in the government, in reporting for some TV programs, on the radio, for some news prints, and even with our everyday conversations.
Since English is widely used in the Philippines, I tell my American friends that we even came up with a new "language" nicknamed "Taglish," (a combination of Tagalog and English), but this doesn't come as a big surprise for them because they've already heard of "Spanglish," (a combination of Spanish and English), which also happens to be the title of a movie released here in 2004.
Speaking the language in an English-speaking country is not difficult. It was never a problem for me and my family, or for any Filipinos who come to America for that matter. Communicating with the language, however, is a different story. Using it in the Philippines and using it in a foreign country are two different matters. For one, there's the "issue" of the accent, diction and pronunciation.
Americans, as we already know from the movies, speak with their own accent which is very different from ours. If you find it hard to understand what they're talking about in the movies, try to imagine them speaking to you directly without any "theatrical" enunciation nor any microphones or speakers to amplify their words.
This is where the "communication" part between two persons who speak exactly the same language can sometimes get "lost in translation." It's either Americans speak too fast, with too much slang, or with a "heavy" accent, that they might as well be speaking in another unknown, foreign tongue.
Another "issue" is the choice of words. It's very interesting to find out (and most Filipinos find out the hard way during the first two years of arriving in the States) that a particular English word that we've used in the Philippines all our lives means differently here in America. Or that word is simply not used for common, daily conversations. We might use it in schools, for essays, or formal letters, but not in informal banter.
Case in point is the word "soft drinks." Filipinos automatically know what I mean when I ask for a soft drink. As you'd have probably guessed, we found out that they don't use the term so much here in Chicago. They use the general word "pop" or soda for all types of soft drinks. "Cola" is acceptable but there are only two choices for that: Coca-cola or Pepsi cola. If you want a variety of soft drinks, you have to say "pop."
Another case in point is the term "comfort room." This is readily understood anywhere in the Philippines and there are even signs for it everywhere. But the first time I asked for directions to the nearest "comfort room" here in Chicago, I was met with a blank stare and a big "say what?" They don't have comfort rooms here, they have restrooms, ladies room, bathrooms, or (to be fancy) a powder room.
Another "funny" word is Ma'am. Filipinos are so respectful that we call almost all females as Ma'am. The only problem is that we pronounce it as mum. An American once asked me why we call all ladies as our Mom. I laughed so hard I can hardly breathe! I explained that it's just the diction. What we mean to say is "maaam." (Remember the joke we used to have with the lessons of the English alphabet we had in first grade? A as in ay-pol? Those were good times!)
As for pronunciation, I remember an American friend telling me that she wished she could give me a "rule of thumb" for pronouncing some English words I wasn't too familiar with but there just isn't any, she said. "New arrivals" just have to learn by listening, asking, and making a few mistakes along the way.
Words like comfortable, interesting, assessor, mayonnaise and supplements were very tricky for me at first until I've learned how to say them (the American way) by listening to others. Even with the most ordinary of words like Eli's (pronounced as eee-lies not eh-lees), Paulina (pooh-lay-na not pawleena), broccoli (brok-lee), oven (ah-ven not ooh-ven), calcium (kal-si-yum not kalshoom), etcetera, résumé and register were very tricky indeed.
Some Americans snickered at my pronunciation just because they say it differently. But no worries, they are my friends and they only chuckled at my pronunciation because they can't help it. They find it too funny the same way we find it so funny when Americans try to speak Tagalog, Bisaya or Waray-waray amidst us local folks.
Sometimes we just have to learn the hard way in order for some things to stick to our "kukute" (thick, dense skulls), and then, we might just learn something new for a change.
And here's the Bible story on how God confounded the language of man in the tower of Babel:
"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." –Genesis 11:1-9
http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-nov-28-dec-4-2011
When we first came to the United States, one of the first things I've noticed was that a lot of people were surprised that my family and I can speak very good and fluent English. They are surprised when I tell them that most Filipinos can speak the language very well because it's considered to be the second official national language of the country.
Then they get even more surprised when I tell them that Filipinos use English in schools, in offices, for businesses, in the government, in reporting for some TV programs, on the radio, for some news prints, and even with our everyday conversations.
Since English is widely used in the Philippines, I tell my American friends that we even came up with a new "language" nicknamed "Taglish," (a combination of Tagalog and English), but this doesn't come as a big surprise for them because they've already heard of "Spanglish," (a combination of Spanish and English), which also happens to be the title of a movie released here in 2004.
Speaking the language in an English-speaking country is not difficult. It was never a problem for me and my family, or for any Filipinos who come to America for that matter. Communicating with the language, however, is a different story. Using it in the Philippines and using it in a foreign country are two different matters. For one, there's the "issue" of the accent, diction and pronunciation.
Americans, as we already know from the movies, speak with their own accent which is very different from ours. If you find it hard to understand what they're talking about in the movies, try to imagine them speaking to you directly without any "theatrical" enunciation nor any microphones or speakers to amplify their words.
This is where the "communication" part between two persons who speak exactly the same language can sometimes get "lost in translation." It's either Americans speak too fast, with too much slang, or with a "heavy" accent, that they might as well be speaking in another unknown, foreign tongue.
Another "issue" is the choice of words. It's very interesting to find out (and most Filipinos find out the hard way during the first two years of arriving in the States) that a particular English word that we've used in the Philippines all our lives means differently here in America. Or that word is simply not used for common, daily conversations. We might use it in schools, for essays, or formal letters, but not in informal banter.
Case in point is the word "soft drinks." Filipinos automatically know what I mean when I ask for a soft drink. As you'd have probably guessed, we found out that they don't use the term so much here in Chicago. They use the general word "pop" or soda for all types of soft drinks. "Cola" is acceptable but there are only two choices for that: Coca-cola or Pepsi cola. If you want a variety of soft drinks, you have to say "pop."
Another case in point is the term "comfort room." This is readily understood anywhere in the Philippines and there are even signs for it everywhere. But the first time I asked for directions to the nearest "comfort room" here in Chicago, I was met with a blank stare and a big "say what?" They don't have comfort rooms here, they have restrooms, ladies room, bathrooms, or (to be fancy) a powder room.
Another "funny" word is Ma'am. Filipinos are so respectful that we call almost all females as Ma'am. The only problem is that we pronounce it as mum. An American once asked me why we call all ladies as our Mom. I laughed so hard I can hardly breathe! I explained that it's just the diction. What we mean to say is "maaam." (Remember the joke we used to have with the lessons of the English alphabet we had in first grade? A as in ay-pol? Those were good times!)
As for pronunciation, I remember an American friend telling me that she wished she could give me a "rule of thumb" for pronouncing some English words I wasn't too familiar with but there just isn't any, she said. "New arrivals" just have to learn by listening, asking, and making a few mistakes along the way.
Words like comfortable, interesting, assessor, mayonnaise and supplements were very tricky for me at first until I've learned how to say them (the American way) by listening to others. Even with the most ordinary of words like Eli's (pronounced as eee-lies not eh-lees), Paulina (pooh-lay-na not pawleena), broccoli (brok-lee), oven (ah-ven not ooh-ven), calcium (kal-si-yum not kalshoom), etcetera, résumé and register were very tricky indeed.
Some Americans snickered at my pronunciation just because they say it differently. But no worries, they are my friends and they only chuckled at my pronunciation because they can't help it. They find it too funny the same way we find it so funny when Americans try to speak Tagalog, Bisaya or Waray-waray amidst us local folks.
Sometimes we just have to learn the hard way in order for some things to stick to our "kukute" (thick, dense skulls), and then, we might just learn something new for a change.
And here's the Bible story on how God confounded the language of man in the tower of Babel:
"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." –Genesis 11:1-9
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