Language is a form of communication whether it is through verbal, written discourse, body language, and sign language. The communication function of language is very important because it allows us to represent things not only to ourselves but to others as well. It makes it much easier to exchange ideas and expressing ourselves. Except from our culture, ethics, ritual and practices we can also show to the world who we are through language. The most powerful ability of language is to understand and effectively communicate.
Without language, society would be a disorderly mess of miscommunication and ambiguity. Language is like math, it uses by everyone, we can see it everywhere and even the cry to a baby has a meaning. We are speaking different forms of language but one thing is for sure, we communicate.
This time, I wanna share with you my language world. I came from the Perez- Aquino family. My grandparents are both using Filipino language but their language is different in meaning. By the way, I stay at their home for four years and I learned some Tagalog words that I never heard before like " kartamyeda" which means wallet, "panaog" which means "to go downstairs", "tokador" which means cabinet and "tabrete" which means table. I have four uncles and two aunts and they are all married. All of them are using Tagalog but my Uncle Gani's family lived in Cavite using Tagalog-Cavite language. The tone, pitch of their voice and some of the words are different in meaning from Tagalog-Bulacan. One time, when they are here at Bulacan to celebrate the Christmas with us, I heard my Uncle said "Pakikuhan naman ng shower ko" said to his son and I said to my mind, what? Shower? Bathroom? What does it mean? Then I look at my cousin, he gave the slippers to his father and I finally understood and it means "Please get my slippers" and "shower" in Cavite means slippers. I often understand their language based on the construction of the sentence but sometimes my face is like a crumpled piece of paper because of the confusion. However, inside the house our family using the Filipino language sometimes we speak in English for fun or the Taglish language. When I was I baby, the first word that I say is "mama" which means mother from that day my Tagalog terminologies and vocabulary become wider. Then, I finally enter in grade school and my teacher introduced the new language/subject. If my memory serves me right the first English word that I learned is "no". As time goes by, I become more knowledgeable about the English language. High school, I used English if it is necessary for reporting and in recitation. College, I took BSED English and there's a need to practice English for me to become fluent in speaking. I should challenge myself to grow up in my own field. Therefore, school, our ancestors and society have a huge impact on our language on a daily basis.