James Soriano and his mother language

Poor thing. My thoughts are with James Soriano and how he must be feeling now with all the flak he's gotten and still getting with his essay Language, learning, identity, privilege that has since been taken down from Manila Bulletin.

Even my 14-year old son got so upset with his article I actually encouraged him to post a comment. But that was before I got to read what he had to say. And now that I've actually read his essay, I think he was gravely misunderstood. Admittedly, I started fuming when he started to sound elitist and high-nosed but simmered down when he faulted himself for not being Filipino enough - Only recently have I begun to grasp Filipino as the language of identity: the language of emotion, experience, and even of learning. And with this comes the realization that I do, in fact, smell worse than a malansang isda. My own language is foreign to me. And before that he wrote: There are ideas and concepts unique to Filipino that can never be translated into another. Try translating bayanihan, tagay, kilig or diskarte. I could add more to this list but that would be for another time.

I share Butch Dalisay's view. James should have stopped at this point. Having said that, I think what James needs now is to get out of the country, which I'm sure his parents can afford, and prove his perception of the English language and see if it truly is the "language of the learned". Because I can't say the same given where I am now.