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my turn to rant!!!

Discussion in 'Expat Section' started by expatron, Nov 2, 2013.

  1. LoneWolf

    LoneWolf DI Junior Member

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    Unfortunately, our 8th class citizenship carries over into the home. I am just waiting for the day that my 4 kids start speaking Mandarin in front of the wife (since they all go or will go to Holy Cross in the future). It will be a good moment. I won't understand them either, but I will laugh at her frustration because I am used to being treated like crap and ignored. Until then, I am teaching my kids to THINK in English, which their mother will never be able to. ESL has limitations.
     
  2. march

    march DI New Member

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    when filipinos talk in their native langauage in a foreigner's presence, they do not mean to offend the foreigner and doesn't mean that they are talking about the foreigner behind his back. It's just that they are more comfortable in expressing themselves in their native language and what they are talking about does not really concern the foreigner so it does not really matter if the foreigner understands what they are talking about. Even if filipinos can speak english fluently, it does not come instinctive to them to speak in english. It's like they have to translate first in english in their mind what they have to say, which is tiring to the mind. This is also true for foreigners who tries to talk in tagalog.

    Also, most filipinos, especially those who do not belong to the upper class of society, find it akward to speak in english with another filipino. It seems like there's a mentality that filipinos who speak in english on a regular basis are only those who belong to the upper class and if you do not belong to the upper class you will be mocked as trying to belong to the upper class. But here in manila, some filipino families, mostly middle class, are already grooming their kids to speak in english as early as 1 year old so that they will be comfortable speaking in english on a regular basis. Some of these kids can not even understand tagalog and having trouble in filipino classes in school.
     
  3. LoneWolf

    LoneWolf DI Junior Member

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    So march, obviously you are NOT Filipino (due to your ability to write in English) and seem to know how their minds work (based on your analysis). How long have you been here? Please tell us about yourself!
     
  4. march

    march DI New Member

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    Im Filipino, born and raised in the philippines. There are filipinos that have the ability to write/speak in english the way I do, mostly in the middle and upper class. After all, English is taught in elementary, high school and college. Unfortunately, not all filipinos have a high degree of skill in terms of speaking/writing/understanding in english even if they went to school due to various factors such as IQ level, the lack of desire to learn, etc. Poor filipinos will have the hardest time in speaking english since most of them did not attend school or did not complete even their elementary level. they can speak some words, but constructing a complete sentence with correct grammar would be difficult. This might be the reason why there are some (or maybe a lot of) confusions when a foreigner talks to a filipino. A filipino might not even fully understand what a foreigner is saying since filipinos are not used to hear how an american, a brit, or austrailian speak. When a filipino speaks in english, it has a hard accent and this is the accent that filipinos are accustomed to hear since the time they learn to speak english in school, because those who are teaching them are also filipinos who have the same hard accent. So a filipino will just eitheir say "yes" or "no" (most of the time yes), just to stop the painful, nose bleeding conversation with a foreigner. What I do not understand with some (or maybe most of) filipinos is that why dont they just admit that they do not fully understand what the foreigner is saying. Well, maybe its the filipino trait that they do not want to get embarrassed by not being able to understand the foreigner. But still, it does not make sense since it is more embarrassing to have a transaction or a deal that went wrong just because the filipino pretended that he understands what the foreigner is saying.
     
  5. LoneWolf

    LoneWolf DI Junior Member

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    Thanks for the correction!

    I have 3 kids in private school here and none of the teachers have the mastery of English that you do. Thanks for the intro and your input.
     
  6. march

    march DI New Member

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    @LoneWolf. Well that is sad to know. that's just mean that the educational system in the philipines is not progressing, may be its even regressing. Even at this time wherein teachers are now required to take the professional licensure exam (well some teachers are still practicing even if they are not licensed). When I was still studying there was no professional licensure exam for teachers in the philippines yet. I dont know how much a teacher earns during these days, but decades ago their salary is not competitive as compared to other professions such as doctors, engineers, lawyers and accountants. So filipinos who have better IQs enter those lucrative professions, while those who do not have good IQs (some are even below average) just take education because its easier to pass and most likely than not, they will have a job. But, Im not saying that all teachers are bad. Mine are not, thankfully. But what I really liked about my teachers is that they were able to inspire me to learn more beyond what they teach in the classroom which is quite limited.
     
  7. HappyTraveler

    HappyTraveler DI New Member

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    LOL nose bleed conversations, yes I get that a lot when I try to talk to some of the family or neighbors. Seems the ones that didn't finish high school have hardest time speaking English. The ones that went to college seem to speak it just fine. Could either be from teachers not knowing English well enough to teach it, or maybe the kids when in school have no motivation. Seems popular that all the woman here are looking for a foreigner so maybe there is the motivation for learning English, which might explain why more woman than men speak English where I live here.
     
  8. brian ausie

    brian ausie DI Forum Patron

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    Actually I spoke to a Pinoy the other day, it was a pleasure to speak English with him, he understood everything I threw at him, I was that amazed with his level of comprehension I had to ask the question: where did you learn such good English, he replied in Dubai Sir, I was an O/seas worker, the Forman’s were English speaking.
     
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