Mother Tongue or Foreign Language?

     

     It has been quite some time since the Americans have invaded our land. They've left so many things that changed us Filipinos; especially in our culture. Those developments have really made us Filipinos act differently, from the way we dress, act and the way parents name their children and the way we talk with each other. And I believe I am one of them.
     Society has really changed, and so did we. People tend to use English more often nowadays. In schools, they teach English to almost every year level including children from the nursery level. Most parents prefer to teach their kids English since they think that it'll be better and they would look smart. In speaking with foreigners we tend to adjust ourselves and use English in our conversations and almost in every conversation that may seem formal. We can't avoid it since it has almost been like a habit for most people.
     Some Filipinos in the farther part of the Philippines, or should we say people who are in the deep parts of provinces are encountering problems like - no read, no write. That has always been a problem, since their are fellow citizens and they must have the right to learn our native tongue. Yet sadly those people who have enough money seem to focus on teaching their kids with an advance education. Not saying that it is wrong but those teaches, would probably focus on the English language. While the Tagalog language, forgotten or if not, they are not that familiar with it.
     Like other people I too am a victim of these changes. Honestly I would prefer reading an English novel than a Tagalog one. It is simply because I was trained or my parents have already taught me English long ago. Even in my first years of studying, English was a must. Since that day, my tongue became quite or somewhat fluent with it. Reading a Filipino story straightly would bore me, not unless the story's about a really catchy love story or just something that could catch my attention. If it's not like that then I would lay that book down and do something else,before, but now I try to comprehend every word and if possible read the whole paragraph or sentence again. Because I assure you, I wouldn't understand it that well but even so I'll keep on trying.
     There are also those people who are very much fluent with our native tongue. They are the people who have been practicing or are well aware of our language. And I salute to them since most of them are not only good with our language but at the same time also with the foreign language like English.
     But even after all of these, we made an event that would let everyone recognize our language, which is called "Buwan ng Wika" where in we celebrate it for that month we do things that would make us remember our culture and literature.
    We are simply leaving in a fast changing and modernized world that makes us adapt to it and slowly adjust to it. If we don't we get left behind, but if we do succeed we get the chance to walk the same path as they do. Just like Mr. Viru said in the movie '3 Idiots' - "...Life is a race...".