About James Soriano and Pointing Out the Obvious

English signs in the mountains... hmm

This Manila Bulletin article by James Soriano has created a firestorm. Some say it's arrogant, offensive and not at all appropriate for August, our "Buwan ng Wika". Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with what Mr. Soriano wrote. He's just sharing about his experience and opinion about our two official languages.

We need to accept the fact that if you want to get ahead in this country, you have to at least be able to speak good English. It's the language of higher education, government, business and law. There's no getting away from it and it's counterproductive to yell at anyone who prefers English over Filipino. We can't help how we were raised and educated.

I have to admit I find it easier to read, speak and write in English--not that I'm elitist or anything--but because I grew up speaking Bicolano with English as my second language. Although I speak Tagalog very well,  it's still hard for me to appreciate Tagalog books, teleseryes, movies and sermons (I had to find an English-speaking church). But it doesn't mean I'm not a proud citizen of this country.

I'm sure the Filipino language will be just fine. I have two nieces who didn't learn Tagalog until they were in school (which is strange, sorry ate B) but they learned fast from their classmates. Filipino is here to stay and so is English and we just have to live with that.