Of the 7 billion earthlings, 17 percent are English-speaking. And part of that 17 percent are Filipinos who constitute 57 percent of our country’s population of 90 million or so.
Although English is not our mother tongue, it is pretty evident how useful it is in in our every day lives. We may be a Third World country, but English has served us well in the global community. This we are pretty much aware of.
Proficiency in English has given us more confidence to “deal” with the world.
We are promoting English not to impress others nor to earn fame. We are promoting English as a tool for success and for international understanding. More so on a planet that has now become a global village (where an individual can, if he wants to, “meet” the world) because of the technology that now nearly dominates the way people live. It should be no surprise nowadays to see other nationalities walking by your “hallway” or crowding your “neighborhood.” You want to reach out to them and get along with them? You can through the Internet. With all the IT gadgets now within reach, social networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and a lot of others—are practically far more accessible than a corner sari-sari store. Through any of these gadgets, you can “cross” national borders and reach other people in distant places, or meet friends in other parts of the world and exchange ideas with them—in the language we all know—with just one click of a finger.
The Tower of Babel may have raised a “language barrier” that made it difficult for our ancestors long before the time of Noah to communicate with each other. But be not afraid. These days there is English, by which we can interact with each other with less difficulty.
English is at present used in higher education, in business transactions, in formal gatherings, science, international diplomacy and even in entertainment. When you apply for a job, your proficiency in English is taken into account. In court proceedings, it is still English that is being used, and it is very seldom that interpreters are called in. Even with college entrance exams, they all include language proficiency and reading comprehension tests to measure how well an applicant could possibly cope with this English-dominated world.
Indeed, English has a lot to offer. Though it might be a little bit difficult for some of us to learn the language, we must try our best to fully comprehend and understand its usefulness. That is why, the Department of Education has made it mandatory for all schools, public and private, to use English as a medium of instruction in subjects like Math and Science, so that we will be able to master it and apply it in our daily lives.
Speaking English now will not make you less of a Filipino. To be sure, it will enhance your chances to become a more accomplished individual in the future.
—KEITH EDWARD RONALD G. DE LEON,
UPLB BS Chemistry