A MANSION OF MANY LANGUAGES

By Danton Remoto (2017)

(1) In 1977, my mentor, the National Artist for Literature and Theater Rolando S. Tinio,
said: “It is to simple-minded to suppose that enthusiasm for Filipino as lingua franca and
national language of the country necessarily involves the elimination of English usage or
training for it in school. Proficiency in English provides us with all the advantages that
champions of English
say it does – access to the vast fund of culture expressed in it, mobility various spheres of
the international scene, especially those dominated by the English-speaking Americans,
and participation in a quality of modern life of which some features may be assimilated by
us with great advantage. “

(2) Professor Tinio continues: “linguistic nationalism does not imply cultural chauvinism.
Nobody wants to go back to the mountains. The essential Filipino is not the center of an
onion one gets by peeling of layer after layer of vegetable skin. “One’s experience with
onions is quite telling: Peel off everything and you end up with a pinch of air.”

(3) Written 40 years ago, these words still echo especially now, when by some quirk of
history and economics, enrollment in English courses are rising because (a) there are
many vacant positions for teachers of English and literature in the private and public
schools, and (b) there are many vacancies, still, for jobs and call centers with entry – level
pay of 18,000 pesos plus signing bonus, and career that will make you earn twice your
present salary in just a few years. With the opening of the doors of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to everyone in the region, more and more Filipinos are
being hired to teach English in Indonesia, Thailand, and, yes, even our best friend, China.

(4) Why? First, Filipino teachers will accept a pay scale lower than that of their Western
counterparts. Second, they are conversant with American popular culture, a happy (or
unhappy) result of decades of American colonialism and neo-colonialism. Third, there are
still Southeast Asians beneath their skin, and are thus familiar with Asian cultural
practices, whether said or unsaid. One is the importance of saving face, the meaning of
“maybe” or “I will try” to an invitation means he or she want to hurt you, be he or she will
not show up. Another is the primacy given to family already in his 50s, one is still called
Totoy or Baby or Blue Boy, and still lives with one’s parents and extended family. You can
see that as well in the other Southeast Asian countries, where families are nuclear and not
spit, where food is communal and not eaten in siloed cubicles.

(5) Three long decades of teaching English and Journalism to students (together with four
years of teaching Filipino) have shown me that the best students in English are also the
best students in Filipino. And how did they master the two languages?
(6) One, they had very good teachers in both languages. Two, they inhabited the worlds of both
languages. Three, they have gone beyond the false either or mentality that hobbled their
parents.

(7) Let me explain.

(8) My best students in English and Filipino were tutored by the crème de la crème, many of
them teaching in private schools. The enrollees in the university where I taught are intelligent
students from the public schools and the provinces. Lack of books and untrained teachers
prevent them from having a level playing field with the other freshmen. A year of catching up is
necessary for them to have the skills to have a mano-a-mano with the other students.

(9) Moreover, I introduce them to the worlds of the language they are studying - be it in the
formal realm of the textbook or the popular ones of film, graphic novel, You Tube or anime. I
encourage them to keep a journal as well, which is not a diary where you write what time you
woke up and why. A journal, or its postmodern cousin, the Web log or blog, aims to capture
impressions or moods on the wing. If at the same time it sharpens the students’ knowledge of
English, then that is already hallelujah for the English teacher.

(10) And the third is that today’s generation of students is no longer burdened by the guilt of
learning English – and mastering it. I still remember those writing workshops I took in the
1980s, when I was asked why I wrote bourgeois stories in the colonizer’s language. The
panelists said I should write about workers and peasants – and that I should write in Filipino.
Without batting an eyelash, I answered that I don’t know anything about workers and peasants,
and to write about something I don’t know would be to misrepresent them. To charge that I
write only in English, I showed them my poems in Filipino, because the Filipino writer is not
only a writer in both languages, or in Bisaya or Bikolano or Ilocano or Waray, languages that are
like colorful balls he or she juggles with the dexterity of a seasoned circus performer.

(11) So it’s not a choice between English and Filipino, but rather, English and Filipino, plus the
language of one’s grandmother, be it Bikolano, Waray, or Tausug. And in college, another
language of one’s choice, be it Bahasa Indonesia, German, or French – the better to view the
world from many windows, since to learn a new language is to see the world from another
angle of vision. In short, one no longer has to live between two languages, but to live in a
mansion of many languages.

(12) To end in a full circle, we must return to Rolando S. Tinio, who said: “Only the mastery of a
first language enables one to master a second and a third. For one can think and feel only in
one’s first language, then encode those thoughts and feelings into a second and a third.”

(13) In short, as a friend and fellow professor has to put it, “The Philippines is a multi-lingual
paradise.” The earlier we know we live in a paradise of many languages, the better we can
savor its fruits ripened by the sun.
 COMPREHENSION

QUESTIONS

The reading selection above is an example of an explanation essay. Sharpen your understanding of the
text by answering the following questions.

1. How does the author introduce the topic of his essay?

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2. In paragraph 4, the author asks the questions “Why” “This signals that he explaining something.
What exactly is the phenomenon he is explaining?
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3. What are the explanations he provides for the phenomenon you identified in no.2 above? Give
three answers.
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4. In paragraph 7, the author writes, “Let me explain.” What exactly is the phenomenon he is
explaining?
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5. What are the explanations he provides for the phenomenon you identified in no.4 above? Give
three answers.
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6. How does the author end his essay?
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Task 1

Based on your reading of the essay by Remoto, answer the following questions:
1. The author asserts that the Philippines is a “multi-lingual paradise.” He believes that having
many languages is an advantage for the Philippines and to Filipinos. Do you agree with the
author? Discuss your answer.
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2. Was the author able to fully explain the phenomenon he chose to explain? Discuss your answer.
Make sure to provide support for your answer with specific strategies used by the author in
making his explanation.
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Task 2
WRITING AN EXPLANATION ESSAY

I. Pre-writing. Before you write your explanation essay, fill in the table below.
What is the phenomenon you are explaining?

What explanations are you providing for the

phenomenon above?

Give at least three.

How do you plan to introduce your topic?

How do you plan to end the explanation essay?

Did you do research for your explanation

essay?

If you did research, what specific ideas in your

essay are generated through research?

If you did research, what are your sources?

List all your sources. Use the citation format
recommended by the APA. You may find this
format in
http://www.apa.org/pubs/software/index.aspx

II. Writing. Write an explanation essay on any topic of your choice. You may need to do some
research about the topic in order to better explain it. The essay be at least 500 words long
and is organized as follows: (In this task, please use a different sheet of paper.)
a. Introduction – one or two paragraphs
b. Body – at least three paragraphs
c. Conclusion – one or two paragraphs
CONTENT
Have you substantially explained the phenomenon you chose to explain? Did you 10 points
provide convincing and adequate support for your explanations?
ORGANIZATION
Have you arranged the main points of your essay clearly and logically? Are there 7 points
order and logic in the ideas you presented in each paragraph and in the entire essay?
LANGUAGE AND MECHANICS
Did you observe proper use of language forms (grammar) and mechanics 3 points
(punctuation, capitalization, etc.,)?
TOTAL 20 points