Word of the year: Pandemya

MANILA, Philippines — The word “pandemya” was chosen as word of the year by the Filipinas Institute of Translation (FIT).

The word “pandemya” bested the other nominees “ayuda,” “contact-tracing,” “blended learning,” “quarantine,” “social distancing,” “testing,” “virus,” “webinar,” and “2020.”

“Social distancing” was chosen as the second word of the year, and “contact tracing” as the third.

Other important words of the year like “frontliner” and “mañanita” were either not chosen or not nominated, but it does not mean these words are any less significant, the institute said during the virtual awarding ceremony on Saturday.

University of the Philippines-Diliman professor Zarina Joy Santos, the presenter of the word “pandemya,” said she was able to defend the reach of the word by using Google Trends to show that netizens looked the word up only after March when quarantine restrictions were declared in the country.

It seems the word pandemic was relatively new in the Filipino public’s consciousness based on internet trends, she added. News reports in Filipino often quoted the word “pandemya” to refer to the global virus threat.

She said she wanted to educate the public about the importance of preparing for a pandemic, which is bound to happen in our lifetimes.

“There is a need to talk about the pandemic for the concept to sink in, that this word is that significant, and that it is important to prepare for the future,” Santos said in Filipino.

“We have to realize that word is there, it has entered our consciousness, and we need to prepare for it,” she added.

Professor Eilene Antoinette Narvaez of FIT said while the winning word of the year encompassed other entries, all the nominated words could still be considered this year’s most significant as the world reels from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Narvaez collaborated with Google to launch the COVID-19 Filipino dictionarydiksyonaryongcovid19.com/ which also features Cebuano translations.

Professor Galileo Zafra touted the work of the institute to document select words annually to instill awareness among the speaking public about the development of language in people’s consciousness.

“This is not to pit words against each other, but to instill a vital awareness among the public about the effect of language, of words, on us, how language is changing and how we are also changed by language,” Zafra, who was chosen by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino last year as one of four “Kampeon ng Wika.”