Struggle Englishing

I just wrote my recent article in Filipino (Tagalog). Now it’s a struggle to go back Englishing. See, Englishing’s not even an accepted word. It’s underlined red when put in the Microsoft word. The trick though is to write again in English. I am tempted to write another Filipino article but it wouldn’t be understood by others who are not Filipino. Though we have the translators like Google translate, but I tried translating and the wordings are not very exact.

Anyway, one of the reasons why Jona, my neighbor, still hesitates to attend the school of discipleship is because according to her, she can’t speak in English. Our leaders would encourage her that it’s not about English but I would imagine how out-of-place she must feel despite all the encouragements.

No matter how good a speaker is if one among the crowd is not able to comprehend the language, then it would be a struggle for that both parties. The problem here at our place is that some of those who come from other regions have trouble understanding Ilocano. So even though the congregation especially requests that the speaker not speak in English but most of the time, it would be Ilocano where speakers resort to. Leaving those who can’t understand Ilocano in trouble as well. So the best thing might be Filipino. After all, Filipino is our national language. But I noticed also that speakers who speak well in English will do better in Ilocano than Filipino. They speak awkwardly in Filipino. But then, that wouldn’t be an excuse since we all can practice and master Filipino language.

So if you struggle in English, and you are a Filipino, and your audience are Filipinos, then we can do best with Filipino-ing. Speaker or listener if we all understand Filipino, there would be no problem. I would have wanted to try speaking in pure Filipino while teaching Mathematics but the struggle is also real. Hahaha. I’m a Math teacher but I am not sure if there is a Math dictionary from English to Filipino. If there is, that would be a lifetime to get used to. But anyway, let us just excuse Math.

I don’t know but I feel a little annoyed at these kids who try so hard to speak in English but their language is a little foul. I keep telling them to be courteous. Don’t make your language so short. And don’t be too proud just because you’re Englishing. I challenge them to show what they got in academics. I support speaking in English because aside from us being Filipinos, we also belong to the world. And it is best to master both languages so that whether we are dealing with a Filipino or not, then we can manage communicating. The problem is there are a lot of oppositions about this one. There are those who say that English is not a measure of intelligence. Oh well? It may not be but we use English for communication. Hahaha. What the. They made it a very big deal. Why oh why? Is it arrogance to speak English fluently? Not at all. Let us not forget the real purpose of learning such a language.

On the other hand, when you are a Filipino, why don’t you master as well our national language? Likewise, when you are in Baguio, it’s best to learn Ilocano at least, but from trusted people. It will save you from all those bullies who teaches you foul words in here.

Anyway, it think I got messed up in this article again so allow me to summarize: I am of the opinion that whether we like it or not, we have to learn both Filipino and English languages. If we aren’t using English for our benefit, then we have kids who will study and will use English as a medium of communication. Let us not be indifferent.

Well, my husband is one who teases a lot when I am talking in English. During my zoom classes or when talking over the phone. I keep explaining to him that that is one reason why some children feel bad about learning the international language. Why is there a big deal with practicing English in the house? It will save us the embarrassment when we mess up in public places because we have not mastered the language.

Hmmm… May I solicit your point of views dear readers? I might be lacking in perspective and I hope I will elicit suggestions from you about this topic… Really, it has become hard to speak in straight English just because we need to always consider other people.