Tagalog Tag Along
Hello Americans,
What a diverse country you have! Your expansive landscape shows it. You have many different climates which show this. And many cultures have settled your country, as have ours. My name is Joseph and I am Filipino. I have been interested in your culture for a long time.
It seems that your country is so big that you have had to deal with many different peoples influences. Possibly because the Philippines is a country of islands, there is always a flux in our cultural identity.
It is also much older than your country. But we have embraced these differences through a common language. Like you America, our main language is English, but Spanish, Arabic and Chinese are also common. As these cultures have all had an influence on our earlier indigenous culture. Many of these peoples still are here in the Philippines. For instance, the Igorot and the Bukidnons peoples have a variety of different tribal groups which originate from them. Due to these circumstances a common language we call Tagalog was developed over time, which embraces all of our Filipino heritage as well as immigrate influences. Here is a definition from the Internet.
In 1937, Tagalog was selected as the basis of the national language of the Philippines by the National Language Institute. In 1939, Manuel L. Quezon named the national language “Wikang Pambansâ” (“National Language”). Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education, José Romero, as Pilipino to give it a national rather than ethnic label and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especially Cebuanos who had not accepted the selection.
In 1971, the language issue was revived once more, and a compromise solution was worked out—a “universalist” approach to the national language, to be called Filipino rather than Pilipino. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language. The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.
As you can see, this unifying language developed over time as more people have influenced our country. Instead of denying change and influence through homogenization of one standard of which all peoples have to follow, we have embraced it through a mixed language. This has lead to an acceptance of our mixed culture. In a way, we are more universal than America is. Stop living in denial of what your landscape offers. Learn from the difference of your landscape. As our waters provide flow of people, ideas, and culture (admittedly not all good) so can your different climates symbolize a shared unity connected through a common language. Your geography is one mass, let it unify not segregate. Yours is a country connected through roads, similar to our water ways. As we have created a language of the water, allow a language to develop which connects people like your roads. A road language through a diverse cultural landscape. Your future, as it is a formation of your history, may depend on it.
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