This article argues that the ability to speak and write in English is a significant advantage for Filipinos, due to its global status as the lingua franca. It highlights the benefits of English proficiency in communication, access to information, international labor market competitiveness, and ease of travel. While acknowledging the potential displacement of other languages, the author emphasizes the need for balanced language policies that promote English while preserving Filipino and other Philippine languages.
THE answer to the question posed by the title is categorically and emphatically yes! The ability to speak and write in English has been of great advantage to Filipinos, more than what some might think of as disadvantageous.
One does not have to be a Filipino to realize that the ability to speak English is advantageous. The world recognizes such a linguistic reality. Even major economies speaking major world languages — China, Spain, France, Portugal, Japan — also recognize the need to speak English, and they are all doing everything to enable their citizens to speak it more fluently.And why is this so? The global lingua franca is indisputably English, and no other language comes close. To be able to speak in English is to be able to communicate with the world. Hence, why the abovementioned countries are all rushing to study English? Because even with artificial intelligence widely available, the ability to use English without these technologies is still invaluable. It can be predicted that English will have a much bigger role because it is now the most common language in the world. Communicating with the rest of the world will be much more convenient if one is able to speak in English. Therefore, in terms of being able to communicate with the world, English is advantageous for Filipinos.In relation to that, through English, Filipinos also easily access a wealth of information and ideas in the language. As I mentioned earlier, communication with the rest of the world is usually in English. More than half of internet content is in English. This only shows how widely used English is, and how much knowledge is stored in English and is available to anyone who is able to speak it. This again makes English language proficiency advantageous for Filipinos.As a major migrant-origin country, the government has recognized the importance of English in the international labor market. This I have to say: Although this reality should not be the basis for an English language policy in the country, research has suggested that English makes an individual more competitive in the international labor market. And let us not talk about migration; let us simply talk about mobility — or temporary movements, such as business trips and holidays overseas. Filipinos' ability to speak English makes it more convenient for them to travel around the world. That is not to say it is useful and spoken in all places. But the likelihood of English being understood — albeit roughly — is higher than any other language. And this is another advantageous point for Filipinos' ability to speak English.But we do not live in a perfect world, which is OK. The space given to English will definitely take away some, or even a lot of, space that other languages could have occupied, and the language most affected by this is, sadly, our national language, Filipino. Many critical applied linguists and sociolinguists have referred to this as 'the hegemony of English.' I shall not dispute the fact that English has been hegemonic in some ways. Perhaps what must be done then, most especially on the part of the government, is to take full advantage of the ability to speak in English while also ensuring that Filipinos learn the local languages, too. The government, together with linguists and language educators, must carefully craft language policies that will allow for the maintenance of English, the intellectualization of Filipino and the maintenance of other Philippine languages. That is the kind of linguistically diverse future we all must want to live in.Ariane Macalinga Borlongan is one of the leading scholars on English in the Philippines and is also doing pioneering work on language in the context of migration. He is the youngest to earn a doctorate in linguistics, at age 23, from De La Salle University. He has had several teaching and research positions in Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland and Singapore. He serves as a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. He is presently an associate professor of sociolinguistics at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan.
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