Diletante Escritor

–also posted on Hit-or-Miss

Philippines was “sold” by the Spaniards to the Americans many years back and then and there the Filipinos have learned and became fluent in the English language.

The English language is known as the universal language. It is the common language which every single earthling should know to be able to communicate to the entire world. But there are still plenty of countries that are not knowledgeable about the English language. It’s evident in the Miss Universe pageants. The representative from Japan needed a translator to be able to understand the judge’s question.

English speaking countries are very lucky to have their national language as a standard for communication in the entire globe. In our case, we might consider such skill to be a blessing. Most non-English speaking foreigners come to our shores to learn the English language. For this year and last year, I have seen a significant number of Koreans in all four corners of the world I move in. At first, it was a shock for me. But eventually, I got so used to seeing at least five Koreans every school day.

Our capability to speak in English also lures Americans and other English speaking nationalities. I really don’t know what they are all doing in the Philippines. Perhaps they have started a new family here with a Filipino or are just on a vacation. Seeing Philippines as a paradise, $1 is equivalent to P40+ plus they won’t have a problem communicating with us. The foreigners contribute a bit to our economy, which if you ask me doesn’t completely make me happy. I am earning dollars online and if the exchange rate between the dollar and peso goes down, my earnings also go down. But, just ignore my sentiments. I am but one Filipino only, part of the public, a group of people who the government here does not give a damn sh*t about. Ok, please totally ignore what I just said.

Anyway, I had always wondered if being fluent in English really did any good to us and if the process of learning English before (as if the Philippines had a choice) was all worth the time. Such skill gave some Filipinos an opportunity to work abroad and leave their families behind. But some of them don’t always get a fairy tale ending. Some end up having their families broken simply because of the distance, just to be able to survive or to improve their financial status.

I was once proud of myself for being fluent in English at such a young age. You see, when my father conversed to me back then, he would often speak to me in English. In effect, I learned the language easier and faster. But the drawback was I sucked in my own national language. I hardly ever understood Filipino. I knew the basics but my grammar was bad and I can’t speak Tagalog well. I felt the disadvantage when my grades in the Filipino subject were unsatisfactory and when I played a major role in a Filipino play we did in high school. It was hard to memorize and speak something I hardly understood.

It is a fact that everything always has advantages and disadvantages. In my case, I have seen both sides. If you ask me, I’m happy to be able to write this post in English but would be afraid to translate this into Filipino. It’s a shame not to know a lot about my own national language. Overall, I’m not proud of myself because I can’t converse well in Tagalog. Don’t get me wrong. I learned English because I was more exposed to it than to any other language. But if I were to choose, I would have preferred learning Filipino and English at the same time.

So is being fluent in English a blessing or not?

As we all know, Philippines has a very long way to go. It’s progress is very, very slow. But before we go on and blame the corrupt officials (I’m not defending them by the way), let’s see things in another perspective. And in this perspective, it’s us, the ordinary citizens, that are in it. I am talking about how we should view things around us. I am talking about ethnocentrism.

But before I give out the meaning, let me give you it’s counterpart. It’s eurocentrism. Eurocentrism, according to Wikipedia, is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European (and, more generally, of Western) culture, concerns and values at the expense of non- Europeans. If I were to give my own meaning, it would be, loving anything Western and putting away anything Asian. It’s evident in our country. It’s in the choices that we make and the way we do things.

Let me cite an example which I know most Filipinos can relate. We prefer a lighter skin tone over a darker one. The reason is much more deeper than saying lighter skin tone looks more clean than it’s dark counterpart. In case you haven’t noticed, Americans love to get a tan but are having a hard time doing so. Filipinos should start to appreciate their own skin color! But anyway, I believe that it all started when we were being colonized by the Spaniards (Westerners!). Since then, there was a “caste system”, or the division of classes in the society. The elite then, were of course, the Spaniards themselves. And to be like them, one must be like them. One should dress like them, act like them and look like them. Then and there it happened. People wanted to be mestizos. And since then, the mentality of having whiter skin being better than having a dark one has been established.

Another example would be, our preferences on things. We prefer anything imported, anything foreign. Haven’t you all noticed? We tend to embrace anything alien. Anything but our own. We love western music, movies and clothes. We patronize half pinoys, because they look and are partly alien. But we tend to forget our very own. We forget how wonderful it is to listen to native music and to dance in a native way. I’m not saying we should really dance like that. Appreciation is what I’m trying to get at.

I was once an active member of a performing organization which promotes our very own native music and dances. We also did Cebuano plays which depicts our very own way of life. I once thought of it as boring but I was wrong. They are equally entertaining compared to foreign entertainment productions. If only we start to open our eyes and realize that we also have very wonderful things right HERE, then there would be no need for us to patronize the foreigners’ works.

I know. We lack durability and quality on some of our own products and you think being very Filipino is very uncool. But since when did foreign things become cool? It all started when we rejected our very own and started to idolize their products.

Have you people ever heard of Bollywood? At first, I thought this was a pornographic film industry (silly me). But actually, it’s like Hollywood, only that it’s not. It’s an Indian film industry. Bollywood circles itself with Indian films and does not patronize any Hollywood/foreign films. Why? Because Indians see foreign films and their culture alien, weird and not very Indian. Although they haven’t won any Oscars (e.g. Lagaan), I believe their movies are much more entertaining than Hollywood films. Indian films are always like musicals. They have many sing and dance numbers plus there is always a lesson in each film.

Now why am I getting obsessed with Indian films? Because they promote their very own culture and I believe they rarely do anything foreign. Indians have a sense of conservatism and it’s evident in everything they do.

And now I’m going to introduce the meaning of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism, which is the opposite of eurocentrism, is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own culture. It often entails the belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of it culture are superior to those of other groups. Do you now see where I am getting at? I am trying to convince readers of this entry to appreciate and learn to love our very own culture. I see this as one of the many steps in helping our country.

Now why is ethnocentrism important? Why do we have to have this? Ethnocentrism makes us appreciate our own culture more. It makes us all unite for we are in one nation and we share a common place. When people are united, they can’t easily be separated. If we are ethnocentric, we can claim ourselves as unique from others, and therefore we cannot be easily manipulated. If we can’t be manipulated, we can have more time for ourselves. More time for development and improvement.

Why do I say this can help solve some of our country’s problem? Because if someday we are successful in getting rid of the greedy and corrupt government officials, what use is it if we still don’t have our very own identity? As what I’ve said, ethnocentrism acts as a shield. By the time we start fixing things, we need all the shield we can get to keep things going.

What better time than do this now? Our economy will greatly improve if we start buying our own products. In our own little ways, we can slowly try to appreciate what we have. Start watching our very own films. Make sure to watch at least one every month. Buy original OPM music. Instead of having an expensive vacation outside our country, why not just stay here? Even foreigners love our beaches. That should be enough reason for you to splurge your fortunes here. There are countless ways on how to begin being ethnocentric. And it all depends on how determined you are in becoming one.

Originally posted in Hit-or-Miss.