Whatjsay?

By Romeo Montoya

Simply moving to a different house spells a lot of challenges. How much more when you move from one country to another? Change of environment is such a big factor most especially for an Asian such as a Filipino who has moved to a European country or an American country such as Canada.

I am a foreigner here in Canada, and so, I am very much aware that it should be me adapting to the Canadian ways. What else is the best way to adapt to a foreign culture but through its language? Luckily, Canada is an English-speaking country. And to many Filipinos, English is not really a foreign language. Proficiency in communicating through English may vary among Filipinos, but majority of us have the basic knowledge of the language. In fact, many of us are even more grammar-conscious than a lot of native English speakers.

Though I could fully explain every rule in the English grammar, I admit I am still not hundred percent comfortable talking to a Canadian in English. I get conscious that the person I am talking to would not understand what I am saying. And I know, many times some Canadians would not get what I am saying the first time. I would even find myself rephrasing what I have already said. I have very few Filipino friends here, plus I do not see them often which means I hardly get the chance to talk to them. This also means that 99 percent of the time, I must speak in English, which is a good thing on my part because I get to improve my spoken English. Here are my own personal reasons, though, why I think my spoken English is not as good as a native English speaker:

The fact that it is not my native tongue puts me one level down. Beside that obvious fact, however, I my first reason is attributable to education. To Filipinos, to finish college or university is an obligation – for parents to send their children to college and for the children to get passing marks and be able to finish college. It is every Filipino family’s pride that all the children have a college or university diploma. In fact, it is usually necessary that such diploma is at least a four-year course. Yes, the Filipino society is quite critical when it comes to educational attainment precisely why we are also so critical to our fellows who could not communicate in English.

Because it is the school giving most Filipinos the chance to use the English language, how English is taught is the most essential thing. I am grateful having an excellent English teacher in senior high. All the while I thought English would only sound authentic with how the words are pronounced. The tone, the emphasis, the phrasing, the intonation pattern I thought are all that matter in proving to others that my English is correct. But in high school, our English teacher gave focus on the rigorous rules in the English grammar side-by-side the English vocabulary. Going to college, I was very confident of my spoken and written English. I even developed the habit of correcting other people’s grammar.