KWF discourages public from speaking Taglish

The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) on Friday discouraged the public from using Taglish, the mixture of Tagalog and English, as the two languages differed in their structures.

"'Yung mga batang gumagamit ng Taglish ay ibang level po kasi 'yon. Iba 'yung Filipino sa akademya na pormal. Ito po kasi, ang paggamit ng Taglish ay hindi ho sinasang-ayunan dahil ang dalawang wika, ang English at Filipino ay nasisira ang istruktura," KWF chairman Arthur Casanova said at a public briefing.

(For children who are using Taglish, the language has a different level. Filipino is different in terms of formal academics. We disagree with the use of Taglish because the structures of two languages, English and Filipino, get mixed up.)

"Kaya kapag nagta-Taglish ang mga mamamayan, hindi lang ho kabataan, marami rin tayong mga may edad na nagta-Taglish, at iyon po ay dapat nating iwasan kasi mas gugustuhin po ang pagsasalita sa wikang Filipino nang diretso at pagsasalita sa wikang Ingles nang diretso na hindi nasisira ang istruktura ng anuman sa dalawang wika," he added.

(If the public uses Taglish, and not just the youth but there are lots of adults that use Taglish, it should be avoided because it is preferable to speak Filipino correctly and English correctly without confusing their structures.)

Casanova clarified he was not discouraging the use of English, saying that the youth learn the language faster nowadays because English is the medium of instruction in their gadgets.

"Mahalaga rin naman po na ang mga bata ay marunong sa wikang Ingles. Ngunit binibigyang diin ko po na dapat higit na pahalagahan ang ating wikang pambansang Filipino."

(It is also important that children know English. But I would like to point out that our national language, Filipino, should be valued even more.)

Casanova stressed that the Philippines was a bilingual country, with the Constitution listing English and Filipino as the official languages.

Filipinas

As the current KWF administration pushes through with "Pilipinas" as the correct spelling for the name of the country in Filipino, Casanova said the commission will not discard previous educational materials that used the spelling "Filipinas."

"Hindi po natin itatapon ang mga materyales na 'yan dahil milyon-milyon po ang halaga ng mga 'yan. Ang amin po kasi ay gamitin pa rin ang mga materyales na ang baybay ay 'F' o 'Filipinas,'" he said.

(We won't throw away those materials because they cost millions. On the part of the commission, materials that use "F" or that spell it as "Filipinas" should still be used.)

However, Casanova urged supervisors and teachers to explain to students the reason behind the previous shift from "Pilipinas" to "Filipinas."

In 2013, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, then chairman of the KWF, pushed for the use of "Filipinas" instead of "Pilipinas" as the official spelling of the country.

Almario argued that "Filipinas" is the original name of the country, which was named "Las Islas Filipinas" by the Spaniards in the 14th century. He also said "Filipinas" was based on the new Filipino alphabet composed of 28 letters.

Meanwhile, Casanova said the celebration of the Buwan ng Wika last August was "successful."

He added that the commission was set to hold a national conference on endangered languages in October. — DVM, GMA News