Many Filipinos, although they had an English subject at school, still can’t really express themselves in English. I think the reason to this is because they didn’t have the chance or were not encouraged to talk in English.
Give an ordinary Filipino an English text and he will be able to read and comprehend all of it but if you ask him to tell you in English what’s his opinion on something, he will most likely have a difficulty expressing himself.
Why is this so?
It is because Filipinos don’t have the chance to use English in their speech. Or if they do, they just put English words in Filipino sentences.
We started learning English at a very early age. Most of the school subjects are taught in English. Most of the textbooks are in English. We watch a lot of TV programs and movies in English. We are exposed to songs with English texts. But that’s about it. We don’t converse to each other in English so our English skills go as far as comprehending English texts and understanding spoken English. When it comes to expressing ourselves in English, most of us hesitate.
Of course, we’ve come a long way and compared to other countries who have their own language (not English), we are definitely more advance with our English. Philippines recognizes both Filipino and English as the country’s official languages but most of us still can’t claim to be native speakers of English or Filipino-English bilinguals.
When being asked, I always say that English is my second language. In China, admitting that means you are waiving your chance of getting a better teaching job so I can’t blame those Filipino teachers in China who claim to be native speakers even if they obviously confuse their p’s with their f’s (no offense but we have to admit that this is true).
Anyway, I always tell myself that the fact that they asked, means they can’t really tell if I am a native speaker or not and that’s good.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
hi teacher!
another reason, i think, is that most filipinos are too conscious about grammar.
attempting to converse in english (especially in formal places such as office/school premises) means being ready for criticisms.
based on my personal observation, if you can’t converse in perfect english, you’d better speak in tagalog or else people will call you “trying hard”
Very true. And based on my personal experiece… even if I can speak the language… the problem lies on the diction and pronunciation. Here in the US, I am still struggling with day to day conversation and has to repeat myself everytime I am speaking simply because they can’t understand what I am saying because I am saying the words differently due to my foreign accent.
English is not my native language either. Most of what you wrote about learning textbook language applies to where I live, as well. In working with adults I find it challenging to make them open up to a language in more non-traditional ways.
I live in a European country (and, by extension, learning culture) in which students are not encouraged to ask questions, in which using your intuition and creativity is quite often frowned upon and the educational system is, by and large, teacher-centered. The kids who are a product of this system grow into the adults who become frustrated when they realize that they cannot carry a conversation in the real world. Unfortunately, they are the same adults who come to an English class, take a seat at their desks and expect to be delivered content. It took me almost a month, out of the 4 month course, to make them comfortable to a system in which their needs are considered and the teacher becomes a facilitator, rather than the guiding authority. Some of them never do, and these are the ones who simply quit, because putting in time and effort into learning a language was unimaginable to them. If only there were language pills.
@ sterndal, ruthi, geeky
I could only agree!
@geeky, where are you in europe?