"Fluent mag-Taglish... parang sinapian ni Kris Aquino." -Bob Ong

It's sad to think that the citizens of our country these days force themselves into speaking a language that is not their own, what's worse is that not only are they not fluent with it, but they use it wrongly as well. Here, if you can speak English, you're already someone who's high in profile. If you speak English, and/or you use English words upon speaking (regardless of the grammar & fluency of speech), you are already seen as someone "at the top". It's funny how some people try to speak English & be so bad at it -their grammar: wrong, their pronunciation: wrong, their spelling: incorrect, definition of words: inaccurate. Most of the time they even mix in Tagalog words when they speak. "Let's make kain our baon na k?" or "Kain na us!" -Silly isn't it?

Another sad thought is the fact that some people, once they learn the English language & master it, they forget about the language that they were born with. They refuse to speak in Tagalog & pretend they know not of such language but English & yet when their veins pop, they speak Tagalog so well you wouldn't even believe your ears. It's sad because these people think that Tagalog makes them look "cheap" while English would make them look "sosyal" as they say. They are ashamed of their own language thus they speak in a different tongue.

I must admit that I am indeed guilty of such crimes. I tend to speak Taglish at times, but my worst crime is the fact that I pretend I know not of my native tongue. Two of my good friends once told me: "Nakakainis. Ang plastik. Kunwari pang hindi marunong mag-Tagalog eh magaling naman pala." When I was told of such, a big wave of guilt crashed into me & knocked me down. Thing is, I am just like the person they are describing: plastic, annoying, a poser perhaps. Since then, I changed my ways: I started speaking either language when necessary, I quit pretending I don’t know Tagalog, & I stayed true to myself –to who I really am, & to where I’m really from. We should be proud of our own language. No matter how messed-up it is, nor how complicated it is, we must never be ashamed of it. It is the tongue your fellow countrymen speak: don’t say that you’re not one of them & that you can’t deliver the common speech because no matter what you do, whether you bleach your hair & skin, wear colored contacts, & have plastic surgery, you are still who you are: a child of the country from which you are born.