The month of August has always had a special place in the hearts of the Filipinos. After all, this is the only month in a full calendar year where the Filipino language gets its spotlight—not that it is not special to merit a year-long outstanding treatment, but because with English being the world’s universal language, to date, it is certainly being overshadowed by it.
But must the Filipino language be simply left in the dark if it’s not the month of August, especially among half-blooded Filipinos overseas, like here in Australia?
While it is true that there is hardly any use to non-universal languages, like Filipino, outside their country of origin, especially when such a culture is Anglophonic, a speech nevertheless holds extraordinary value when representing a culture. In the same way that we, Aussies, take pride in our twist of the English vernacular, Filipinos exuberate in having their own as an amalgamation of original and borrowed words, culminating in the language’s own unique identity. Comparatively, some critics even critique the Filipino language as the most romantic-sounding in the region, adding to its credit.
Simply put, the Filipino people are simply not distinct as a race when not espoused to the Filipino mother tongue. By appearances alone, a typical Filipino may not be indistinguishable from their Southeast Asian neighbours, not to mention their somewhat shared heritage. But set juxtaposed with their fellow Southeast Asians, one way to naturally identify who’s who when it comes to being a Filipino is to hear one so conspicuously using the native language.
Have you ever heard somebody sound a little Spanish but is indiscernible to the actual Spaniard or sound uniquely Asian but is incomprehensible to the average Indonesian or Malaysian, for instance? A Filipino speaking the Filipino language is that.
But whether you like how the Filipino dialect sounds or not, one thing is certain about the lingo itself—it is special enough, though not obvious, that even the Anglophonic Philippines would choose to celebrate it throughout the entirety of August (‘Buwan ng Wika’) as opposed to the previous week-long celebration in the same month (‘Linggo ng Wika’).
Of course, there is no imposing about it. Like any other language, Filipino is something that must be willingly accepted to be learned. Which, technically, is not a difficult language to grasp, at least per linguists who categorise the dialect as being easy to adopt due to its simplicity.
Filipino-Australians are also in a very good disposition to understand the language even because of their half-roots, likely through their Filipino parent or the community they belong in. That is not even mentioning the truth that the modern Filipino language largely incorporates English terminologies, as so-called ‘borrowed words,’ in its common usage. If that was not convincing enough to suggest the Filipino language’s ease of learning, then how about the idea that it somehow has commonality with English when it comes to grammar?
Although the Filipino language may not share the same fandom as the English have across the globe, it is nonetheless special in its own right. It just needs to be given the credit.
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