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    Position Paper About James Soriano's Article

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    Anah May
    The document discusses a disagreement with an article that argues Filipino is not the "language of the learned" but rather the "language of the streets." The author argues this characterization is offensive and degrades the Filipino language and people. While acknowledging English has advantages, the author says there is nothing wrong with learning other languages but degrading one's native tongue is wrong. In conclusion, the author says they will respect and value Filipino no matter its status, and defending languages by comparison is not suitable, but freedom of speech should be used carefully to avoid giving offense.

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    Position Paper About James Soriano's Article

    Uploaded by

    Anah May
    6K views2 pages
    The document discusses a disagreement with an article that argues Filipino is not the "language of the learned" but rather the "language of the streets." The author argues this characterization is offensive and degrades the Filipino language and people. While acknowledging English has advantages, the author says there is nothing wrong with learning other languages but degrading one's native tongue is wrong. In conclusion, the author says they will respect and value Filipino no matter its status, and defending languages by comparison is not suitable, but freedom of speech should be used carefully to avoid giving offense.

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    Position Paper about James Soriano's Article

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    The document discusses a disagreement with an article that argues Filipino is not the "language of the learned" but rather the "language of the streets." The author argues this characterization is offensive and degrades the Filipino language and people. While acknowledging English has advantages, the author says there is nothing wrong with learning other languages but degrading one's native tongue is wrong. In conclusion, the author says they will respect and value Filipino no matter its status, and defending languages by comparison is not suitable, but freedom of speech should be used carefully to avoid giving offense.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    6K views2 pages

    Position Paper About James Soriano's Article

    Uploaded by

    Anah May
    The document discusses a disagreement with an article that argues Filipino is not the "language of the learned" but rather the "language of the streets." The author argues this characterization is offensive and degrades the Filipino language and people. While acknowledging English has advantages, the author says there is nothing wrong with learning other languages but degrading one's native tongue is wrong. In conclusion, the author says they will respect and value Filipino no matter its status, and defending languages by comparison is not suitable, but freedom of speech should be used carefully to avoid giving offense.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    ABDULLAH, Sultanah H.

    Language of the learned?

    The article “Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege” written by James Soriano, talks
    about his opinion about the English language as a language of learning. Filipino, on the other
    hand, was not the language of learning. It was the “language of the streets.” He concluded that
    Filipino “might have the capacity to be the language of learning, but it is not the language of the
    learned.” Because he thinks that Filipino is not the language of privilege.

    As a fellow Filipino I disagree to Soriano's piece because I disagree on the points that he
    mentioned about Filipino language as a language of the streets the drivers, maids, house
    helpers, dishwashers, muggers and other street dwellers. And that Filipino language is not
    language of the learned. As a Philippine citizen, this part of James’ piece is very offensive
    because he insulted our native language in our own home or country. It’s also like a bias the
    way he does as he uses Filipino to communicate to his relatives and other people in their
    province but then he still degraded our language. He didn’t think that once he lowered the
    value of a certain language, he also do it the same directly to the people who use it.

    He claims that “English is the language of learning.” Yes it is. In fact, by learning in
    English, the student will be bilingual or even be multilingual and have an edge against other

    countries. In addition, English serves as an advantage for the students when they travel abroad.

    And the fact that having it as a medium of instruction, the students will have greater
    competence in English and be able to compete since the world is globalizing. There’s nothing
    wrong with learning a foreign language, but what is wrong is to downgrade your own native
    language.

    On the lower part of his article, He affirmed that, “Filipino is the language of identity,
    the language of emotion, experience, and even of learning.” He even compared himself to a
    “malansang isda” for not knowing his own native language referring to Dr. Jose Rizal’s famous
    statement that “he who doesn’t love his language is worse than a stale fish (malansang isda).”
    Through this, he recovered his negative statements regarding Filipino language as he realized
    its beauty and real essence, but then he still love the language that he used to learn and use
    throughout his life.

    At last, I conclude that no matter what level Filipino language is, I will use, respect and
    take care of it. These are the best ways to acknowledge and to give value in our country. I also
    finalize that defending and comparing English to Filipino is not suitable because of its level as
    English to a universal language and Filipino as to a domestic one. Having a freedom to say and
    do whatever we want must be carefully utilized. Indeed, it must be used also by a critical
    thinking to avoid offenses. Whatever language we have learned, we must not forget our mother
    tongue or native language. It might be used for deeper purposes and simple conversations here in
    our country yet it still needs to be respected and valued by our fellow-countrymen and
    foreigners.

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