Sunday, September 06, 2009

Thinking Out of the Box 10

Give the Ladies a Break

Foreigners speaking the Tagalog language are deemed cute by many Filipinos. However, we are quite unforgiving with our fellowmen speaking in broken English. A second or third language to some, English has awfully become a measure of one's intellect. Our stomach ached in seeing candidates in beauty pageants gasp out of English. We ridicule and laugh at them. And yet we also speak in hyphenated language.

The organizers of these kinds contests are guilty of perpetuating this kind of English hysteria. They should be the one to be laughed at because they do not have the decency to switch to the vernacular when the need arises. The ladies have a sensible message to tell and yet could not deliver flawlessly because of the laughing crowd. In international pageants, a language translator should be in order. And that is perfectly alright. By meeting many people from all over the globe, I realized that as long as the message were delivered, it is still okay.

These ladies should not apologize for anything. They were in a harsh situation watched by cruel people who never and will never represent the country in a beauty pageant.







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