Thank you :) I try. It also helps that my English teachers are fluent in English and also have a penchant for terrorizing first year students. ;)

You are right when you say that the battle between cultural pride and colonialism are partly responsible for the current situation. Although colonialism here would mostly apply to American colonialism – the Spanish never taught us Spanish even though we were under them for 300+ years. ^^;

I agree that language is powerful. What else could explain as to why I am here replying to your post?XD Your (can I call it an article? XD) post was very convincing and concrete- two things (I was taught) that are important when it comes to writing and speaking in any language.
Also, how else can you explain why two books written by a young doctor inspired thousands of Filipinos to rise up against the Spanish?

Ah…This is getting too long ^^; I’m afraid I have to bail out now before it becomes long and outdated ^^;

Thank you for your post and this discussion, it really has been educational.
:)
-Alida

(P.S.: Working towards full fluency with any language is wonderful, not just English, of course. I’m pretty sympathetic towards linguistics–having just one world language, although practical and possibly good for humanity, would also be awfully boring. ^_^;)

No worries. Nothing is late on this blog. :) My LJ options are set to send me an email whenever anyone comments, so nothing is lost.

Ahh, dialects–that makes sense to have a lot of dialects under the main two languages, though I am personally confused as to the differences between “dialect” and “language” in the linguistical sense (I suspect many linguists argue over the differences as well).

but the main basis for Filipino is the Tagalog dialect which is a problem because the other regions/states think it’s biased. Well it’s mainly because of this regionalism that other people are not so fluent in Filipino.

I think the bias issue is very real and underscores the implied power of language. When a group in political power enforces their language over the government structure, obviously, anyone who is not fluent will get the short end of the stick. And it doesn’t matter whether the group is a majority, either.

In the case of the Philippines as in many other countries, I’m sure, colonialism probably played a part in imposing power and/or cultural inequality with languages. ^_^; Cultural pride vs. colonialism?

The language-as-power also illustrates the current feeling over English in the world. Let’s face it: The United States has a pretty bad reputation for strong-arming people! (I swear I voted for the other guy.) Obviously, having English as the de facto standard at international meetings will rub some people the wrong way.

So you have two opposing groups when it comes to picking languages. Some people will support a de facto language like English, arguing that the more people become fluent in it, the greater unity the world will experience. Others will support multilingualism, arguing that translation will always occur, and national pride can always be retained.

Sorry, I think I went off on a big tangent. ^^;; But I’m very flattered and happy my rant has actually affected someone positively; that’s really the last thing I expected, to be honest. :P

Your written English is quite good, by the way. :)

Hi this is Alida :) and sorry for the very late reply ^_^;
I decided to register and join LJ now. I’ve been thinking about it doing it before but I decided that now was the best time to start practicing since I really need to improve.

My country doesn’t really have a lot of languages. It basically has just two- English and Filipino- except that Filipino is a the standardized local language(?). Our local language has a lot of dialects (Visayan, Kapampangan, Ilocano, etc.)but the main basis for Filipino is the Tagalog dialect which is a problem because the other regions/states think it’s biased. Well it’s mainly because of this regionalism that other people are not so fluent in Filipino.
That’s why I guess it is because of these and other circumstances that we are not completely fluent in both English and Filipino. And people have debated on which language should be prioritized which caused more confusion. There is no way one can make a simplified explanation as to how and why my country is like it is today. I become dizzy just thinking about it. Then again I guess it’s the same for every country.

Thank you for the encouragement, your entry is now beside my readings in English class. :)
-Alida

Oh… may I temprorarily become a fangirl and say that I like reading your fiction and will wait for and read the upcoming chapters despite the fact that I have school? ^^U Eh. I just did…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines#Official_and_national_languages

(Wow, the Philippines have a lot of languages; that’s quite a variety.)