Name: Malapitan, Marnoel R.

Student No.: E23-6120

Subject: EPSS: Social Science

Professor: Sir Anton John Racelis

Practical Exercise 2

The Filipino culture is so diverse and dynamic that its concept of identity is not as
established as in other known nations. And due to the increasing influence of other
cultures, we Filipinos with an adaptive kind of behavior sometimes experience common
misconceptions about our own identity. Other nationalities are branding our culture in
many forms; some are good things, but on the contrary, many are not pleasing to the
ears.

The diaspora of Filipinos across the globe broadens the complexity of our adapting
culture while being exposed to other nations' locales, giving them the opportunity to
describe what and who we are. According to S. M. Encina of Tripzilla.ph, eight
misconceptions about Filipinos have been observed as foreigners view us. These are: 1.
they think you’re just traveling to look for a job. 2. Filipinos normally become maids. 3.
Filipinos are poor. 4. Filipinos are big spenders. 5. Filipinos date a foreigner for their
passport and money. 6. Filipinos are dog-eaters. 7. Filipino cuisine isn’t outstanding. 8.
Filipinos can’t speak English very well.

She has taken note that these characters of ours can be justified and proven
wrong. But for most of these things, I can't argue with them because some of them are
hard-to-accept truths. Nevertheless, I refuse to agree that Filipinos can't speak English
very well. Our culture was so diverse that we accepted the international language as our
own. Other countries, like Japan, warmly welcome our English teachers to their local
schools because our accent is easily adapted to the original form of English. I also think,
in my opinion, that the colonization of the Spaniards and the Americans greatly affected
our way of speaking, which is why our dialect has been too close to the Western way of
speaking English.

Our culture is commonly misunderstood due to the diversity of our identity and our
adaptability. And as technology continues to advance, our culture will continue to change
and become more complex in many forms. That is why, I think, being a Filipino means
taking into heart that we belong to a nationalistic community through loving, depending,
and taking pride in our own country, even though having our own unique personality as a
nation is still hard to justify. Overall, Filipino culture and identity cannot be oversimplified
or generalized, unlike other cultures that have their own image as an identity.