Aug. 23, 2014

August is "Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa". And before the month of August will end, I've decided to write something about it. I realized that it was Buwan ng Wika when Brother asked me to help him draw a waving flag for a background for his slogan. And when I complied, that kid made an exaggerated groan and said, "Sister! Teacher will definitely notice that I didn't draw that! Scale it down a bit, like at least on my own level or whatever." And so I answered, "If you want a sloppier version then what's the point of asking me to help you?" Brother answered, "But what if they chose the slogan for the contest? They will know I was not the one who drew that!" Okay. He has a point. And it would be like cheating. I wouldn't want Brother to be a cheat. What if he grew up becoming a player and cheats on his girlfriend? Or he decided to run for president and cheats his way to that position? So Sister should be a good role model. And so I said, "Fine. Okay. I'll show you how to draw a wavy flag and then you draw it on your slogan, kapish?"

And so anyway, back to my original topic. "But pinkangel2127, shouldn't you be writing this -uh -thoughts of yours in Filipino since it's about Buwan ng Wika?" 'The annoying self' has a point. Hmm. Okay. Let's see.

Ngayong Agosto ay ipinagdiriwang natin ang Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa na may temang... buffering-buffering-crash!

I am soooo sorry! My brain suddenly froze and shut down. The thing is I'm not well versed in Tagalog. I can speak Tagalog, of course -I can carry a conversation in Tagalog. But Tagalog is not my native dialect. And since Filipino comprises mostly of Tagalog words mixed with other words from different dialects... you get the picture. And so when I attempt to write something in Filipino, I ended up running out of words. I even Google some words like 'nakadaupang-palad' and 'sambit'. "Shame on you pinkangel2127!" I know. I am not proud of it. And I only have myself to blame.

Let's do some time travelling and see what went wrong in my past. Back when I was still the sweet and innocent kid (before I turned into a grouchy dragon that I am now) I remembered scouring the elementary library looking for a good read. Oh look! I had found one! Ang Alamat ng Saging -written in English. Okay. During those times, you have to understand that the curriculum was quite different from what the students have now. We get to speak Filipino only in SIBIKA and FILIPINO subjects.

Fast forward. Ah, the wonderful High School life oh my High School life, where if you can carry a conversation in full English you were branded as the coolest student. Talk about colonialism (*snort*). Those days, the IT books were Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley University. And so exactly what is your point for telling this? I'm getting there. Filipino and English were the least of my favorite subjects (my favorite was History -Philippine History, History of Asia, and World History -which was, sadly, taught to us in English). I have a very strict English teacher and so I needed to, like, listen very carefully and jot down notes and stuff like that. She also happens to be our Student's Moderator at that time, who signs and approves my excuse slip whenever Friday sickness hits me.

As for the Filipino subject, well, she was a very nice teacher and all. And if we have a very nice teacher, we tend to abuse them. It's the truth that time, and I'm not proud of it. And, hey, we were just kids back then. So whenever she asked us to "Basahin ang pahina dot-dot-dot" until the recess bell will go off, I and some of my friends would slightly comply -we turn the page to Pahina dot-dot-dot, slightly tilt the book and -oh! -between the creases of my Filipino textbook is Precious Hearts Romance novel: Man of my Dreams edition (in Retorika class, we read the Isla Fuentebella Series). And I only had an hour that time to finish the book before my classmates and I would swap pocketbooks.

So what exactly is your point with this crap-full of story you're telling? Really, I am getting there. I was like thinking that time that I am reading a novel written in Filipino, so it's basically the same as reading Pahina dot-dot-dot, right? Wrong. The tagalog pocketbooks I had read that time was well written in a flawless manner that someone like me, not a native Tagalog speaker, can understand. But the problem for me was I don't know the basics of constructing a well delivered and grammatically correct sentence in Filipino, because, well, I simply can't understand how it was done. Probably it was due to the fact that when Teacher was teaching the Pandiwa and the Pang-abay and the correct this and that I was not paying attention. How did I even pass the subject? I used memorization, a tool I am so well acquainted with. The problem with memorization is that you tend to forget everything after the exams. I should have analyzed and understood the subject rather than memorize the rules.

So here I am now, trying to write something witty in Filipino and finding my writings so lacking. If only I could turn back the time, I would definitely ask questions like, "Teacher, when are we going to use the words 'NANG' and 'NG' in a sentence?" And now I sometimes shy away when having a conversation with a native Tagalog speaker because I am conscious with the words I am using. I remembered this friend of mine laughing at me when I offered, "Ako na ang maglalaba ng plato" and he jokingly said "Hahaha. Ano akala mo sa mga plato? Damit?" In my native dialect, we would say something like "...lava con el plato..." Lava probably came from the Spanish word lavados and when applied to Tagalog it probably became the word 'laba'. I'm not really sure about this so correct me if I am wrong. So we tend to use our dialect mixed with some Tagalog words.

So exactly what is the connection of this absurdly long story with Buwan ng Wika? I guess absolutely nothing! Hahaha. I suffer from an affliction called FLIGHT OF IDEAS. So shoot me. Over and Out.

Buwan ng Wika 2014 theme:

FILIPINO: Wika ng Pagkakaisa (Filipino: Language of Unity)

**there are plenty of grammatically incorrect words, I know. I got confused with the use of the past, present, past participle and all the tenses there are. I am just human and even Mr Spell Checker makes mistakes, too. :)