{"id":22335,"date":"2014-08-16T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T07:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=22335"},"modified":"2014-08-16T15:52:23","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T07:52:23","slug":"sariling-atin-para-sa-mundo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/08\/16\/sariling-atin-para-sa-mundo\/","title":{"rendered":"Sariling Atin Para Sa Mundo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Vepar5<\/a>
(Vepar5 \/ ShutterStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In many ways, Filipinos have wowed the world. Some are bad, some are good, and\u00a0some are great.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the bad stuff, the Philippines has been name-dropped more than a\u00a0few times when it’s about corruption and short-of-abusive labor standards. I can no\u00a0longer count the many times American sitcoms have referred to the Philippines or\u00a0Filipinos when the punchline is about sweatshop workers.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most notable thing about being Pinoy is our unending roster of talents,\u00a0especially when it comes to performing arts and sports\u2014internationally acclaimed\u00a0singers, world champion athletes, world class artists, and breakthrough scientists and\u00a0inventors.<\/p>\n

Onli in da Pilipins\u00a0<\/strong>
\nTo say that the Philippines is culturally rich is an understatement. We are culturally\u00a0lavish. Or lavishly cultural, whichever way you prefer. The thing is: with over 7,000\u00a0islands, it is impossible not to develop a certain way of living\u2014including an effective way\u00a0of communication.<\/p>\n

You might have heard or read of the question “Bababa ba?<\/em>,” which to some maybe\u00a0nothing but pure gibberish. But to us Filipinos, it is asking someone if they’re going\u00a0down.<\/p>\n

If you grew up or lived in the Philippines, chances are one of your friends or family\u00a0members have asked you to translate the following question into English: “Pang ilang\u00a0presidente si<\/em> [insert president]?” And to be completely honest, I’ve Googled the answer\u00a0so many times already, but I still have a hard time remembering the closest translation.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, much like in many countries, we have a unique word for some things\u00a0that are quite impossible to translate to English:<\/p>\n

Like that rush of joy and nervousness you get when you see your crush down the\u00a0hallway and you try to stifle a schoolgirl-like shriek. That’s “kilig.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Or that stubborn piece of meat or vegetable that’s stuck between your teeth that refuses\u00a0to let go no matter how far you reach into your mouth with a toothpick. That’s “tinga<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Or that uncontrollable need to squeeze and coo that you get when you see a really cute\u00a0baby with chubby cheeks or an unbelievably adorable dog that you want to cuddle.\u00a0That’s “gigil.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

I could go on and on about the nuances and joy of the Filipino language, but today\u00a0with this article, let me pay homage to the wonderfully beautiful yet indubitably tongue-twisting language that is Tagalog and it’s humble contribution to the English language.<\/p>\n

“Dat’s prom Tagalog, you know?”<\/strong>
\nAccording to Danica Salazar, a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English Language\u00a0Lexicography of the University of Oxford who is currently conducting research on\u00a0Philippine English and the Oxford English Dictionary at Oxford University Press and the\u00a0brains behind the linguistics website Pinoy Words<\/a>, \u201cthere are of course the dozens of\u00a0Webster words, which are borrowings from Philippine languages and Spanish, but there\u00a0are also hundreds of words that may not be entirely characteristic of Philippine English,\u00a0but are illustrated by quotations taken from Philippine sources, ranging from the very old\u00a0to the very new.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, the most common Tagalog-turned-English word is \u2018boondock<\/strong>,\u2019 which\u00a0means \u2018mountain.\u2019 Today, more people use the even shorter slang for it: \u2018boonies.\u2019\u00a0Obviously, the origin of that word is the Tagalog word \u2018bundok<\/em>.\u2019 Americans picked up\u00a0the word during their stay in the country in the 1940s and evidently brought the word\u00a0back to the States.<\/p>\n

Here are some of our mother tongue\u2019s contributions to the English language.<\/p>\n

Carabao<\/strong> – water buffalo, from the Tagalog word kalabaw<\/em><\/p>\n

Cooties<\/strong> – from Austronesian and Tagalog word kuto<\/em>, which literally means “head lice”<\/p>\n

Machin<\/strong> – a grayish brown long-tailed macaque (Macaca philippinensis<\/em>), from matsing\u00a0<\/em>meaning monkey or ape<\/p>\n

Ylang-Ylang<\/strong> – type of flower known for its fragrance; used for perfumes, from the plant\u00a0ilang-ilang<\/em><\/p>\n

Yo-Yo<\/strong> – the toy, from Ilokano word yoyo<\/em><\/p>\n

In many ways, Filipinos have wowed the world, especially when it comes to language.<\/p>\n

Most tourists love the Philippines because of the almost non-existent language barrier.\u00a0Go to the city or the barrio and you will find someone who can speak \u2018Carabao English.\u2019\u00a0Still English, some might say.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this time, we can wow the world by showing how much we appreciate our\u00a0Mother Tongue.<\/p>\n

Maligayang Buwan ng Wika. Ipinagmamalaki ko na ako\u2019y isang Pinay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many ways, Filipinos have wowed the world. Some are bad, some are good, and\u00a0some are great. When it comes …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":22336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art-and-culture","category-breaking","mauthors-ching-dee","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}