How are your kids doing in school? I bet their least favorite subject is Filipino or Sibika. Worry not! My kids struggled through it too. Or should I stick to the truth and ‘fess up that I was the one who barely survived the intricacies of our national language? The mere mention of those grade school requisites gives me an instant headache! More so when my kids have a project or theme paper due!
Don’t get me wrong. I love my country and everything that it stands for. But I am first and foremost, an Ilonggo. I live an hour’s airplane ride away from Imperial Manila which is the seat of the Tagalog dialect otherwise known as the Filipino language. Between Tagalog and Ilonggo, the disparity is immense and I generally get lost in translation. Even my college years in Diliman has not really impinged Tagalog in my consciousness. I was with Ilonggo friends most of the time and resorted to Taglish if needs must.
Going back to Filipino schoolwork, it was really a pain in the you-know-where. I had to literally devour the English-Filipino dictionary for a measly one page speech. Make that on one Grade 2 pad paper page. It took me nearly an hour to translate what my daughter wanted to say about “Ang Paborito Kong Pagkain”! Hahaha. So I tried my best to avoid repeating similar exercises.
Till I stumbled upon Google Translate. Upon typing the words, it can detect the language being used and translate it to English, or from Afrikaan to Yiddish! Of course, Filipino is somewhere between. Neat huh? That’s why I love the Internet. Somehow it makes life simple and complicated.
Simple because I can help with the next Filipino assignment with improved confidence. Complicated because the Sibika teacher required pictures that show ‘Katangian ng Filipino na Nakatulong sa Pag-unlad ng Ating Bansa’ (Characteristics of Filipino which Helped the Development of Our Country). From newspaper or magazine clippings only. No downloads from the Internet. Not even scanned images printed on photo paper! Great...
Don’t get me wrong. I love my country and everything that it stands for. But I am first and foremost, an Ilonggo. I live an hour’s airplane ride away from Imperial Manila which is the seat of the Tagalog dialect otherwise known as the Filipino language. Between Tagalog and Ilonggo, the disparity is immense and I generally get lost in translation. Even my college years in Diliman has not really impinged Tagalog in my consciousness. I was with Ilonggo friends most of the time and resorted to Taglish if needs must.
Going back to Filipino schoolwork, it was really a pain in the you-know-where. I had to literally devour the English-Filipino dictionary for a measly one page speech. Make that on one Grade 2 pad paper page. It took me nearly an hour to translate what my daughter wanted to say about “Ang Paborito Kong Pagkain”! Hahaha. So I tried my best to avoid repeating similar exercises.
Till I stumbled upon Google Translate. Upon typing the words, it can detect the language being used and translate it to English, or from Afrikaan to Yiddish! Of course, Filipino is somewhere between. Neat huh? That’s why I love the Internet. Somehow it makes life simple and complicated.
Simple because I can help with the next Filipino assignment with improved confidence. Complicated because the Sibika teacher required pictures that show ‘Katangian ng Filipino na Nakatulong sa Pag-unlad ng Ating Bansa’ (Characteristics of Filipino which Helped the Development of Our Country). From newspaper or magazine clippings only. No downloads from the Internet. Not even scanned images printed on photo paper! Great...
Live. Learn. Laugh it off!
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