To tell you the truth, I myself am not good at the Filipino subject. I struggle pronouncing endless tongue twisting words when reciting and I keep on asking questions on what's the meaning of this or that, etc.
Lots of American students hate the English subject though they're still good at it; different from me, I'm not good at Filipino at all. Being ridiculed by my classmates when answering in Filipino with a weird accent (not bisaya), I always feel a little embarrassed.
But still, I don't hate the Filipino subject. I got this Filipino blood that runs through my veins which I will never take for granted.
Now in this modern age, our language has evolved for many centuries, adapting lots of foreign words mostly from Spanish and English. It has grown worse that a teenager today with a person a hundred years ago won’t be able to understand each other. It doesn't matter now, they're all dead.
Well, having been able to speak the "Universal Language", that is English is a nice trait for a country and reaps a lot of benefits. But, it does not make a country great for making a foreign language as an official language. It's not that I oppose it but the thing is, our own culture is deteriorating, our own Filipino language is being considered as a commoners' language for today's society. We tend to look down on our own culture and praise foreign stuff.
Like our national hero once said,
“Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika,
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda…”[2]
-Meaning to say, those who don’t love their own native language is far worse than animals and smelly fish.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Something smells fishy”? It means something seems not right; hating your own language is the same, it’s damn wrong!
We know how a dead fish smells, it’s hideous. Just go inside a wet market and you’ll know what it means.
He may not be aware of it much but Dr. Jose Rizal’s quote doesn’t just apply to humans. But, to the creature which he mentioned too.
As far as I know there is a biblical evidence that fishes of the seas were the first living creatures to use their own distinct language, at least before humans.[3] Since most fishes are social creatures,[4] they use a certain form of communication that is the “body language”.
If you’ve seen a live fish out of the water and it’s wiggling its tail, it could be translated into “help me!”. If the fish stops doing so, it’ll die and slowly rot, thus producing a foul stench.
And there comes “Pilosopo Tacio” saying, “Duh, I’d just use some deodorant”.
The point is we should make good use of what we have and be proud of it. The Japanese have their Nihongo, the Koreans have their Hangungmal, the Germans have their Deutsch, the French have their français and we Filipinos have our Tagalog.
References
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_aking_mga_Kababata
[3] - Genesis 1:21
[4] - http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/freshwater-beginners-archive/16832-fish-social-creatures.html
