Conversational Filipino

Six years ago, I could perfectly understand Filipino. I grew up with a Tagalog father: he’d talk to me in Filipino and I would reply to him in English.

The setup worked perfectly until I moved for college. Of course I could get away with speaking English for almost all subjects, but would I do for Filipino class and exchanges on the street?

Today, I am proud to say that I can now speak conversational Filipino. Let me qualify that. When I mean conversational Filipino, I do not mean straight, unadulterated Filipino. Rather, I speak of Filipino interspersed with English whenever appropriate.

I mean nobody says “Paumanhin” when they need to apologize. “Sorry” is more appropriate.

My written Filipino is still rather poor. Proper grammar seems to be lost even to native Manila speakers (see kakabalik vs. kababalik). Which doesn’t mean it’s not there, it’s just been relegated to nationalist, faux populist texts.

Okay so I can’t prove that.

Filipino classes were tough. Online Filipino dictionaries were my best friend during reflection papers and other written analyses. (Gabbydictionary.com, may you live long and prosper.) Frustration arose when I had an insight in my head that I couldn’t translate to Filipino. Inevitably, the translation becomes clunky and loses its elegance as it makes the transition.

I took up a Filipino philosophy class in my senior year. Crazy. It was a good thing this wasn’t a hardcore Filipino class. It was especially fun when I prepared for the oral exam in Filipino language. It was a big achievement for me.

So much has changed.

Yesterday I just gave a presentation in mostly Filipino, and although most of the text was taken from a text, I’d like to think I delivered it well enough.

Huh, who would have thought.  I still want to learn two more languages.  Wish me luck!

 

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