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.
