I am a Cebuano, a Filipino. No foreign blood whatsoever runs in my veins. In fact, I am so a Filipino that my face and skin speak volume of it.(This is not about racism and I'm proud of my face and color)
The first language I introduced to my kids is English. Why?
Let me tell you why.
People will perceive you smart if you speak English fluently. (Perhaps that's how I see things too, I don't know, maybe?)
Growing up was hard, in the early 80’s and 90’s it's considered Over Acting(I badly want to know why) when we speak in English but now a days, if you don’t speak it well, you are partially doomed.
The English language is complex and has many nuances that we have to understand simple insinuations in between lines. Words that have the same spellings but different meanings and pronunciations are hard to distinguish and comprehend. So please don’t be hard on me. I just want my kids to have a better chance at life’s reality than I had.
Go out in the streets, talk to a child here in the Philippines, even street kids know English. Let’s face it guys, English is a universally accepted language regardless of what region you’re from. British, American or Asian English (if there is such a term) give you an edge in today’s reality.
Actually there are many reasons why I taught them English first before our very own dialect.
#1:
It's the Universal Language. People all over the world can and may understand English. (I've stated that earlier)
#2:
Cebuano can be learned outside home or wherever they go while playing with friends and family, so it can easily be adopted.
#3:
When they’d go to school, English is the medium of instruction. Math, Sciences, the English subject and History, spoken and taught in English.
When they interact with people. If you must know, Philippines not only is an archipelago, with each island comes with different dialect as well. We are so diverse that we can’t even understand each other if we speak our vernaculars.
This one is very important: Interviews are conducted in English. Go to big companies and the interviewer won’t speak to you in your own language, it’s always English.
At work, instructions and manuals are in English. How are you going to be great at what you do if you can’t understand what you’re instructed to do?
Court documents and stuff relating to it. duh! I don't want them signing Terms and Agreements without better comprehension.
So no apologies if this is how I raised my kids.
Don’t worry, my kids know our vernacular, know Filipino as well, I taught them later when they were six-ish or seven-ish. Languages fascinate them, they want to learn Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Russian and more. Hahahah! The internet’s influence perhaps?
That's why to me and for me, start English young.
There's a famous proverb I loved quoting. PROVERBS 22:6 KJV "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Oh, enough with my blah’s. I probably bored you by now. I hope you learned something from my nonsense.
Bye for now, until our next chat!
@Panky Thanks for the upvote!