Si James Soriano at si Gabby

After reading James' essay and having my say here, I couldn't help but compare him with my youngest son Gabby.

Like James, whose first language supposedly is Filipino but who was brought up with and exposed to the English language, in reverse we are teaching Gabby, whose first language is English, to learn the Filipino language. We make a conscious effort to teach him Filipino because he has to appreciate his roots and ethnicity when he grows up eventually. I'm proud to say that my two older boys, who are now in their teens, are still fluent in Tagalog because it's the language we speak at home. Oh yes, my boys are more the exception than the rule hereabouts. And that's another story I'd rather not tell. To prove my point, they still yell "Aray!" when they're in pain and when they're upset with each other, they exchange tirades in Tagalog. Always worth a smile.

Although I wouldn't expect Gabby to be as fluent as we are in Filipino (because he's obviously got the twang already), we are delighted and proud with the small achievements he makes in communicating with us in Tagalog. I can perfectly converse with him in Tagalog and though he'll answer me back in English. I'm not bothered at all because somewhere inside his brain, neurons are zapping like crazy building his bilingual vocabulary.

At the end of the day, it's all for practical purposes that we're teaching him Filipino because he needs to understand what's going on around him and to know what we are saying when we're upset with him!

Subukan nyo kayang magalit sa Ingles tingnan ko lang kung masabi nyo ang gusto nyong sabihin. Sabi nga ng asawa ko, pagbali-baliktarin man ang mundo, kayumanngi pa rin kulay ng balat namin.

And if James can do this, I take my hats off to him.

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.