LEGION OF MARY_ACIES@De La Salle

A throwback, copy paste to google: LEGION OF MARY_ACIES@De La Salle

The Filipino Soul in Borrowed Languages

A favorite issue, one that is in fact brewing currently in the internet among egroups of Filipinos claiming to be nationalists and purists, is the use of a foreign language in all schools in the Philippines. Should English be used as the medium of instruction? Apropos this, though not necessarily on this specific topic, is the question "Does one's nationalism diminish when one chooses a foreign language as his/her medium of writing?" Here's the intro from my old paper in linguistics ages ago: "The Filipino Soul in Borrowed Languages: An Exploration of the Language Issue as It Affects Some Selected Filipino Writers." 
The paper, being rather long, however, and I having other duties urgently calling, may just see print elsewhere.
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In her article, "Issues in English Teaaching," Author Sue Brindley shows the Australian framework and curriculum statement for English as emphasizing the connections between language and identity.
...She points out that "learning a language is not simply a question of acquiring ever more complex linguistics skills. ...Children are necessarily aligning themselves with the language and culture of the school," and in the case of an alien tongue, the language and culture of the foreigner. Does this mean that learning a foreign language, and more, choosing to write in a foreign language causes one to lose something of his own cultural identity? Does the whole process of aligning oneself with the language and culture of native speakers of the second language cause one to eventually, and inevitably, acculturate to the point of totally assimilating?
This paper will explore some of the writings of selected outstanding Filipino writers who wrote either in English or Spanish to determine how their sense of nationalism has been affected..
 (Will continue later---have to attend a meeting.)