My stepchild goes to a decent school in the phils. She can talk english and write english. Now she has to learn tagalog she is going crazy because she is finding it difficult to learn.
My stepchild goes to a decent school in the phils. She can talk english and write english. Now she has to learn tagalog she is going crazy because she is finding it difficult to learn.
My little son (nearly 9 months old) will be learning both English and Tagalog as he grows up before school. My wife is talking primarily English to him, while he will be picking up Tagalog from other family members. Good to learn both imo. I am sure your daughter will pick it up, she is still young enough to do it.
If you want your dreams to come true ...... first you have to wake up
Andy, don't be too concerned. At that age a different language is 'picked up' so very easily. Especially if the parents can get involved.
It's a wonderful thing to behold and you wil not believe the progress
What a fantastic advantage
I agree with Peter.
Kids that age....like little sponges.
Having said that...my son attended school for 3 years in the Phils from age 7 to 10 yrs, plus living there for extended periods pre-school, and because (according to him) "they all speak English to me", has never learned to speak Tagalog.
So maybe he missed that important 'window'.
The two older (Filipino) children were of course originally Tagalog/Bicol speakers, but after 4 years in UK had to re-learn the language when they also returned to school for 3 years in the Phils.
Now, as far as I'm aware, neither can really speak or write it properly. Most interesting.
I think this could be because of the great efforts their mother made to teach them English when they were young kids, and basically we were an English-speaking household.
kids are fast learner so don't worry
i tried to learn it to, just from when Ems is talking to her family on the phone back home, i gave up all i could hear was shouting and laughing,
my little girl spoke Tagalog and english when she was in the phils, now after 7 yrs in the UK shes doesn't speak one word of Tagalog
haha steve LOLZ
joe yes language should be practice too even youre not in that country coz once u ddint speak or use the language u maybe forgot some of the words and continuously every words of that language...coz neither i , sometimes forgot what was the meaning of this word in my own dialect
From what I have seen, once the children have been here a while they soon drop any Tagalog they have learnt and have no inclination to continue with it, even if mom wants them to.
4 year old Filipino learning English in a Philippine school. English Language Test is a year or so from now.....
Personally I think it is a bad move. My feeling is that the Philippines should go for it with the English language and forget the local languages. They need to do that to compete in the world ( or alternatively go for Chinese ) No harm in covering it in a passing historical context. He who hesitates is lost.
The time spent learning Tagalog could be more fruitfully spent on English or Mathematics.
why you think its a bad move to learn your own language???
Philippines should not need to compete with the world , Tagalog/visayan/ilokano is our first language, English is our second language ....in fact, the depED should also bring back Spanish in the curriculums...
Multilinguism is fun!!
''Don't be serious..Be Sincere''
I think you missed the point Lastlid, Tagalog is the native language of the Philippines, like English is for us. We learn french, german or spanish at school. So what is wrong with nurturing your own language and learning English as a second language... no difference, I think you are just being a bit pedantic.
If you want your dreams to come true ...... first you have to wake up
yes.. like me my local language is somehow Spanish... english is taught here since nursery .... till college so i think english is not that hard for filipino to learn ...
Not at all. I genuinely believe that older languages can be a hindrance. Look at the Isle of Man. It dropped Manx, essentially over a hundred years ago. It explains why in the Life In The UK Test Supplement. My wife's sister's both learned English to a very high level and both landed good jobs in the Philippines because of it. My wife's nephew learns English at school and is taught in English. His parents recognise that for the sake of his future he needs to make the english language a priority. And of course the business world in the Philippines all revolves around English. Difficult to get a professional job if you can't speak english to a significant degree. All of my wife's families employer's family speak excellent English and do so for a reason i.e. because it is the means of choice to communicate outside of the Philippines, amongst other things.
In Andy's stepchild's case, she has obviously become accustomed to speaking and learning English. And is possibly distraught at the idea of reverting to Tagalog and I can understand that. In some ways, learning Tagalog for her is a retrograde step especially if she is going to be spending the rest of her life in the UK. Better to focus on what she is comfortable with and other, perhaps more beneficial subjects.
I understand why people want to preserve their heritage and their own languages but it can be disadvantageous to do that. There is definitely two sides to the debate.
And I have no doubt in my mind that any child of ours will not be speaking any Tagalog. The child won't want to and that will be the dominant factor.
Is Tagalog the native language of the Philippines? I was beginning to get the impression that it isn't. And on that score, why not learn Visayan as a second language, why bother with English at all? Joking. Main language Tagolog, 2nd language Visayan, drop English then the Philippines truly would be nurturing its own languages.
If you are from the Visayan area then in an effort to preserve your native languages you learn Visayan and Tagalog and also English and so you spend more of your time learning 3 languages instead of one. And at the expense of time spent on other topics that might be far more beneficial like Maths, Science and IT etc.
other local languages dont have curriculum only english and tagalog for filipino subjects.. we learned other languages through other people...i've learn 5 local languages since when i was in grade school... you have point about other subjects that is more beneficial to all.. but then that is the concerned to be put on the government here you know Philippines
Last edited by Lhailhani; 15th August 2012 at 10:44. Reason: wrong spelling..
Very simply put..... Tagalog or local variations of it are the national language of the Philippines period. English is taught as a second language period.
I think it very sad to think that any child born of mixed parents ie: fil/brit will not learn and be able to communicate in both tongues. I am dead sure my little son with be learning both and be able to communicate properly in both. Both my wife and I will make sure of that.
You did mention about Manx being lost over a hundred years ago, well, that was then, but in this case we are talking current taught national language.
If you want your dreams to come true ...... first you have to wake up
The way I see it is that any child of mine born in the UK to a Filipina will go back to a Philippines in 20 years time and see a country that has moved on and speaks less of the native languages and more English than ever. This process is going on right now and seems almost irreversible, unless the Chinese invade.
And I won't want a child of mine speaking Manx or Latin or any other language other than English and possibly either French or Spanish.
I just wonder, in an effort to maintain the Philippine language in schools in the Philippines, which ones of the many languages would would you pick and why?
Bring em all on. It would be fun.
Not me, my daughter have to keep it.,,she still know and understand her tagalog ,..I dont want her to look strange and stupid when she comes and visit Philippines again,...Imagine if someone speaks to her in tagalog and she cant reply back??
btw, at 10 years old she learned some German and French too , she'll not be lost anywhere.
''Don't be serious..Be Sincere''
Philippines is the 4th largest English speaking country in the world, the UK the 6th
if my kids were going to live in the phils then of course it would be a good idea for them to learn Tagalog, seeing their not, not for many years anyway i don't see a need for them to.
my parents are Lithuanian and I've never needed or wanted to learn Lithuanian
but of course it would be an advantage for them to..
On a day to day basis OBVIOUSLY Filipinos speak and write their own language (just look on their facebook pages).
That will never change. Why on earth should it ?
Let us all be grateful that they DO learn English at school, otherwise a lot of us would not now have Filipina partners.
Also, 600,000 jobs would not have been created in call centres in recent years.
Quite honestly it's nothing to do with us what the Filipino government and people decide to do in their education system.
As far as I can see, they have reached a happy medium where the teaching of languages is concerned, and certainly well in advance of what happens in our country.
I felt this was quite well put.....
http://jalt.org/global/26Phil.htm
"One day, we may find that voice and speak in unison, but until then, I believe that English can do it for us, too. That is, if we stop thinking of it as a colonial instrument that broke our spirit, but as the code that helped us break through other worlds. "
by Doray Espinosa
Poignant words indeed.
I have been to many countries and the English language served me well, mainly because it is the language most likely to be spoken by anyone outside of the UK. I did have a problem with the Russians but does that mean I should have learned Russian in school?
Having said all, me and my wife's mom can't understand a word each other says
Exactly. And unless something catastrophic happens, that will become more and more entrenched. And exactly the reason why if, even in the Philippines, I would make learning English, for children, even more of a priority and accept the ongoing demise of the many local languages.
Maybe I have met the wrong Filipinos, Graham. The ones that I have, tended to aspire to improving their English, liberally lace their Tagalog with English and communicate in Facebook in both. Same on Philippine TV.
Like I said, I did have a problem with the older generation over there but that is exactly the point...the older generation have been left behind a bit in the path of what appears to be inevitable progress.
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