Wanted: Professor Higgins

A few years ago, my business partners and I put up a call center. After setting up the technical aspect of the business, we had to interview people whom we could train to be our operators. The most important requirement we had was that they be fluent in English, as call center operators have to answer inquiries from different countries. When we went to school, the medium of instruction was English. So, we thought that doing this would be no sweat. We expected the interviews to be over in five days and after that, we would hire the best 50 of the lot. To our surprise, out of the 100 applicants who responded to our ad, only 10 passed the test. To be specific, seven were acceptable and three were marginal. It took us a few months to get the 50 operators we wanted.

What my partners and I did not realize was that many years ago, some stupid law was passed which made our education system bilingual. Today, most subjects are taught in Filipino and only a few in English. The result, as I saw for myself, is disastrous! Most of our college graduates now cannot even speak a straight sentence in English. A doctor friend of mine in Morristown, New Jersey told me that he used to be proud of the Filipino nurses in his hospital. They spoke better English than their American counterparts and had very good bedside manners, as they were gentle and kind with the patients. Today, the Filipino nurses who go to the US often fail the tests because they can’t speak English. He wonders why it is like this since we have American movies and TV shows here. The answer is simple: Our educational system has gone down the drain. Our youth speak Taglish. Sad.

Just when most of our Asian neighbors have shifted to using English as their medium of instruction, our Department of Education sold the future of our youth to the lowest bidders by depriving them of one of the most important languages in the world today. Most of the Filipinos working abroad are contract workers, domestic help or entertainers. Every applicant claiming to be a professional lawyer, nurse, or doctor lose their chances because of their limitations in the English language.

Even China, which was anti-English in the past, offers free English lessons to their students today.

I have a funny story to share that happened in a department store in Shanghai. In the ladies’ department, I overheard a tourist asking a salesgirl if she had the green blouse in medium. The salesgirl obviously did not understand the tourist. Exasperated, the tourist made her English simple by saying, "This color (pointing to the green color), medium size, got?" The salesgirl understood and said, "You see there, got, got. Not there, no got." I burst out laughing and even the tourist laughed with me. What the salesgirl wanted to say was, "What we have are all out there. There’s nothing more in stock." Sure, she was able to communicate, but do you want to speak that way?

In Tuesday’s Philippine STAR, there was an article that caught my attention on the front page. It said that GMA authorized Congress to pass the bill making English the medium of instruction! Finally, we have a president who recognizes that the main impetus in filing this bill is that English is a global language. In fact, one professor calls English the "turbine engine of globalization."

But it is not enough to just learn how to speak it. It is also important to learn how to pronounce the words properly. What is the point of knowing the grammar if we can’t be understood?

I was with a group of friends in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. One of my friends ordered shrimps with spinach. I noticed that she pronounced spinach, "speenutch." The dictionary actually says it should be pronounced "spin’ich." Short I on the first I and short I again instead of A. The dish that was served was a shrimp with peanuts because that was how the waitress understood him. My friend was so mad at the waitress but the waitress was not to be blamed.

I remember a tour guide in St. Petersburg. He was an intelligent tour guide, well versed in Russian history. He spoke English like a Brit so I asked him if he was British. He said he was pure Russian. He explained that in Russia, a student may study a second and a third language. He chose to study English because he knew the importance of the English language. "But, before we were taught the grammar, we were taught pronunciation and diction for a whole year. As a result, most Russians who speak English speak it like I do. Or others opt to study it with an American accent. So they are taught the way Americans pronounce and speak," he explained.

There is some logic in this Russian method because I notice that we Filipinos speak English with a horrible accent. Is it because we are comfortable speaking it the Taglish way? Now that English is the medium of instruction, teachers should make an effort to teach proper diction and pronunciation.

From the taxi driver to the banker to the tourist guides and hotel operators, we all have to speak and write good English if we want to attract much needed tourism in our country.

Perhaps every school should hire a Professor Higgins who will not stop until the students pronounce the words correctly. If you remember the movie My Fair Lady, Professor Higgins did not stop until Eliza Doolittle got rid of her horrible cockney accent.

I look forward to the day when Filipinos will be able to speak English properly.