A central theme has taken over my life a few weeks ago. I was reluctant to openly talk about it but has decided to confront it head on, since I have very few to talk about these days anyway.
English. The Lingua Franca.
If you share a common demographic as me, you too would not remember your earliest awareness of English as a language. I was born and raised at a time when Filipinos already have an ubiquitous affinity with the American culture, much of it has to do with using the English language. This is not to say that I have fully immersed myself in the language at a young age, but rather, to recognise that it has always been present alongside my first language, Filipino.
We have flattered English so much that we dedicated a school subject for it to be learned, from pre-school to college. We have fallen in love so hard with the language that we Filipinos invented a virtual caste system where people who speak, write and comprehend English are superior to those who do not or lack the ability to. I personally admit to having had this kind of thinking and I had often confused English skills with the intelligence of a person. Kung hindi ka marunong mag-English, tanga ka. We have created an unnecessary language barrier within our society.
Kung Filipino ka, maaaring iniisip mo ngayon, "Teka, kung ganun, bakit sa wikang Ingles mo pa rin sinulat itong sentimyento mong ito." At ang sagot ko dyan ay dahil mas komportable akong isulat ang nasasaisip ko sa wikang Ingles kaysa sa Taglish.
Anyway.
I probably did not begin to speak English in sentences until I got to college. Sure, I was able to write and understand English, but speaking it is a completely different skill. As much as we claim that English is an official language of the Philippines, we never really speak spontaneous English sentences in ordinary conversations unless in desperate and often awkward situations. Oddly enough, it is the language that we snob that dominates our means of verbal communication. Mix in a little English word or phrase and voila, you're "sosyal".
After graduating college, my affair with English evolved from it being a mere adornment to an absolute necessity. Firstly, job interviews were mostly conducted in English to establish a very professional platform between the company and the corporate slave-to-be. Secondly, my field has a propensity to require me to interact with foreigners. I had such an experience with one former American client. He said that we Filipinos are really good in English and that if he had met us in the States he would not have known we were Filipinos. Until now, I'm not sure if he's just being courteous or if he actually meant it.
When I moved to New Zealand to find work, my whole perception about English as a spoken language changed.
Most people in this country are native English speakers. I was often asked by friends what their accents are like. "Do they speak like Aussies?" Yes. "Exactly like the Aussies?" I wish. Take it from me, the Kiwi accent is probably one of the hardest accents in the world to work out. They speak quickly and have "unconventional" pronunciations. Hell, even Aussies make fun of the Kiwi accent.
I have struggled in my first few months with understanding Kiwi English. At times Kiwis almost sound like an entirely different language from English. Even today, I still struggle with understanding some of them but I like to think that it's growing on me.
But then, the speaking part. Or rather, the being understood part.
To put it bluntly, the Filipino accent is of no use when speaking with a Kiwi. I've lost count how many times I have been requested to repeat myself when I do not put effort to mimic a more familiar accent, i.e. the American call center accent. Over the time, I actually found it enjoyable although I still LOL inside my head whenever I do so.
My being a non-native English speaker has always been the elephant in the room during job interviews. At some point during these interviews, an opening to discuss my English communication skill is made by being asked something that pertains to my first language. This is subtly maneuvered by the interview to talk about how different I speak from them.
I never thought having a different accent is a big deal until I was turned down from one of my job interviews for this reason. They simply cannot understand the way I speak very well. At first, it was hard for me to take this kind of criticism but I eventually came to accept it as it is.
I am a bad English speaker.
I decided to do something about it and enrolled in a Conversation English class. At the beginning of the class, I had some time alone with my English teacher and I asked her if she's having difficulty understanding my accent. To my surprise she said that she's not having any problem at all and that I speak clearly.
"But it could be because I'm so used to having non-native English speakers around me." Ngek.
Thank God for Youtube, I was able to find some video tutorials on accent reduction. During my spare time (which is a lot), I obsessed with practicing correct English pronunciations. There were no tutorials on Kiwi accent so I figured that American accent would be the best bet for now.
I knew that my efforts are paying off when this week, an interviewer commented on my "American accent." She added that "it was the kind of accent I only hear on the telly." I asked if she's able to understand me clearly.
"Yes, you speak clearly although you're a bit quiet."
I didn't bother to ask what she meant by quiet. It just felt nice to finally be understood.
All this ordeal with the English language made me realise how ridiculous it is to not use Filipino when you're talking to a kapwa Filipino. How we try hard to speak English when we can be understood with Filipino. How we poke fun at Janina San Miguels and Melanie Marquezes like we don't commit grammatical errors ourselves. How we put too much effort in Americanizing our accent when our natural Filipino accent is enough to get the point across.
Me? I'll get my Pinoy accent back after I get accepted for a job. Ako naman ang magpapadugo ng ilong, neknek nila.
