Languages

It’s great that I have started writing again, but this time I will use the language that will help all the readers understand: English. This has been my least favorite subject since elementary up to college. Yes, I am not good in English. I just developed my written and oral skills throughout my experience at work. I never liked working on new languages. We had a foreign language in college and it was Mandarin. It’s cool that you know how to say “hi hao ma?” instead of “how are you?” but after that semester, I forgot everything about Mandarin. Well, not everything because I still know how to say “shu-bao” which means a bag. With “ni hao ma” and “how are you”, I guess it’s more sincere if you say it with your native language, “kumusta ka na?” When you feel grateful to someone you say “thank you” but it has more meaning if you say “salamat”. You can feel the words coming from their mouth. But I will not use native language in this journal because I have fans across the earth and I don’t want to disappoint them.

Going back to what I’m telling you earlier, I am writing again because I had the right motivation. Last February 2014, I felt love-lessss (with much s’s) and had self-pity for not having a date. I wrote an article about anti-Valentines day but I didn’t feel any better. I missed writing actually. It has been my past time since high school. I even wrote down Journalism as my second choice in every school I applied to. But I didn’t pass and you would not want to know why. I suck at English. I hate the fact that I have to worry with my grammar (use of words, tenses of verbs, punctuation marks, and all other sentence patterns) whenever I write something or post something on my Social Network accounts. I am just like everyone else and you are included. We love correcting people’s grammar so whenever it’s our turn we get conscious. (This is you’re 10 seconds to reflect. See I’m correct.) Some of the mistakes I notice is confusion with “your” and “you’re”. “Your” is a possessive noun like in the statement: “This is your life, don’t let anyone take it from you.” “You’re” is a shortcut of “you are” like in the statement: “You’re no longer my friend.” Whatever my definition was, don’t dare correct it, as I don’t have Internet right now to confirm. 

Back 2007, I worked for a resume-writing company for American people. Most Americans we’re not also aware of how to write professionally. It’s like here in the Philippines. We say things in our language informally. Some people don’t have any idea how to write professional Filipino compositions. You remember in elementary and high school you have this “Formal Theme Book” and “Sulating Pormal” where you have to write stories about your summer and Christmas vacation. When I was in Grade III, I wouldn’t forget my teacher, Mrs. Epdilma Tolentino, because she corrected my formal theme a lot. I thought when you watched a film, you use the word “show” like in “Now Showing” so my statements go like this “We showed Titanic while we are in our cousins house.” I’m so stupid for using “showed” instead of “watched” and I am also a liar because I never actually saw the whole film. I’m only 10 years old, who would want to watch a romantic film on a ship. I just enjoyed the sinking ship part. After 10 years, I watched the movie again and now understand why it earned billion of dollars. 

As time goes by, I continuously learn and realize they don’t teach everything in school. I took Accountancy in college and encountered the word “assumption” wondering what does that even mean other than it’s a name of a school and part of the Assumption school song way back high school. My professor didn’t ask if anyone in the class understand the word “assumption”. I have to look for it in the library. During that time we don’t even know how to use Google and the Internet. There are no apps like Merriam-Webster dictionary that you always open now whenever you encounter a stranger word. After I learned how “assumption” works, I now use it at work “Don’t assume the client knows what the hell are we doing with their accounts” or “don’t assume that you will receive your bonus because you have the most number of clients” or even worse “don’t assume she likes you because she said I like you.”

I know you’re my number one fan and you always think I am so bright, smart, and intelligent but I just learned on my own and developed this knowledge thingy through experience. If I can do it, you can do it, too. Now you realize how trying hard I was in writing this story. Well, sorry I lied, I still love writing my stories in Tagalog so enjoy reading! Haha.