Language of the Heart, nanalo sa CMMA!

Nakatanggap ng Special Citation mula sa 2013 Catholic Mass Media Awards ang artikulo kong "Language of the Heart". 

Isinulat ko ito para sa Crossroads, isang magasin para sa mga estudyante. Maraming salamat sa kanila na itinuring nilang karapat-dapat na ilaban ang sanaysay ko.

Ingles ang wikang ginamit ko. Pero tungkol pa rin sa Filipino.

Ipinaskil ko uli rito ang burador nito sakaling may gustong magbasa.

Parangal mula sa CMMA. Kuha ni Ser Rene Carvajal.

LANGUAGE OF THE HEART

Paolo Ven B. Paculan

She graduated with a degree in Sociology and Filipino-Tagalog Language Studies with a minor in Philippine Studies. She was a volunteer in Madapdap, Pampanga, where toxic waste victims suffer from conditions such as congenital heart disease, lukemia, and cerebral palsy. She uses Tagalog to help people get access to government services. And she’s from California.

Imagine a cousin of yours, the one who was born in the U.S. Your tito and tita migrated before both of you were born. They’re in California or one of a hundred places outside the Philippines where Filipinos are a thriving community. She’s your Facebook friend but you’ve only met a few times face-to-face. You call her ate. She looks just like you. And she sounds just like you. That’s how I would introduce Ivy Dulay.

I met Ivy at the 3^rd International Conference for Filipino as a Global Language held in Manila last August 3-5, 2012. She gave a talk on how Tagalog is the 3^rd most commonly spoken language in America besides English, on how Filipino-Americans yearned to connect with their “heritage language”, and on what she and other Filipino-language advocates were doing to fill that need.

She recalled how she once “didn’t care about learning Filipino” since proficiency in English was what schools required and rewarded. But her attitude changed for a very Filipino reason—her family.

“I grew up thinking that I was American, and that my family was American, and we were the same as everyone else,” relates Ivy. “But then I witnessed a family member being denied services because she spoke with an accent.” She also remembers her father and how “I would have been closer to him if I had learned his native language.”

So when she found out that Filipino was being taught in her college, she jumped at the opportunity. And from there her passion grew. She would eventually be the first person to graduate with a degree in Language Studies—Filipino and Tagalog in University of California San Diego (UCSD). She got a Fullbright Scholarship to study Filipino in the Philippines. Through the University of Californias’s Education Abroad Program, she was able to study Panitikang Pilipino and Sociology at UP Diliman.

After college, she did development work in the Philippines. Then she returned to the US and worked at Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), an organization based in Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles and provides health services and cultural preservation projects. In 2006, she was one of the first 18 to be given a professional license to teach the Filipino Language.

She has published several major works including Isang Pag-aaral Tungkol sa Epekto ng Bilingwalismo sa Pakikipagtalastasan ng Ilang Pilipino (A Study about the Effect of Bilingualism in the Communication of Filipinos) in a University of Michigan Journal. She has given talks on Filipino Language and Culture in different parts of the U.S. and, more recently, in the Philippines.

During that conference held in Manila, she was with fellow Filipino advocates from Malaysia, Japan, and Hawai’i. “The Filipino language is as global as the Filipino” was one of the messages in that seminar. She was very happy then because: “My greatest joy is being able to get to know another person’s story and experience with the help of knowing how to speak, read, write, and understand Filipino. Before, when people would ask me ‘Marunong ka bang mag-Filipino?’ I would often just shake my head and the conversation would end shortly after. Now, I can say, ‘Opo, marunong po, pero nahihiya pa rin!’ Then, the other person will continue with the conversation in Filipino, and we’ll share beautiful stories and many laughs.”

And she’s keeping at it. She’s presently doing graduate studies on Dual Language Development in Education at Cal State University Long Beach. She says she dreams of starting Filipino language schools and programs in Los Angeles. She already started a pilot class in Filipino Language and Culture at the Los Angeles School of Global Studies.

I asked her what she would say to Filipino students and she replied:

“View the Filipino language as a beautiful asset! There are many Filipinos born in America who wish they had Filipino language classes in schools. Napakahalaga ang pambansang wika natin. It is a beautiful language which will continue to open doors for you and for others. Do not be embarassed by any type of accent – we were all created uniquely and in God’s image.

“Take any opportunity you can to commend each other for speaking Filipino. Often, we see younger generations getting praised for speaking English, but if they hear positive atittudes towards Filipino, then it can help others become more proud of being Filipino. Mabuhay ang wikang Filipino!”

Recently, Ivy showed up in my Facebook timeline. She greeted her fiancée a "happy birthday, mahal." A good definition of language of the heart would be—it is the language you use to give names to those you love the most. If so, then I know what Ivy's is.

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Sa Historic Filipinotown, LA, kung saan ginanap ang kasal ni Ivy. Mula sa FB ni Ivy Dulay.