Spokening Inglis: A Buwan ng Wika story

(Conclusion)

Any listing of Filipino authors I have to thank would not be complete without mentioning my wife Che Sarigumba, an award-winning novelist and newspaper editor in Filipino. Her novels – Puso Pa Rin ang Nagpasya and Sana Kahit Minsan – gave me the chance to delve into the nuances and refinements of the Tagalog language in ways I would have not learned in universities during my stay.

Her serialized novel, Walang Makitang Langit, published weekly on the Facebook site of San Anselmo Publications Inc., helps me navigate the Filipino language while simultaneously improving my vocabulary.

She remains my most exacting mentor – the harshest when sloshed in Red Horse – in all my attempts to write in Tagalog. And I have tried, believe me, I have.

She would whip up a storm when editing my Tagalog poems, ever reminding me of what she had learned as a fellow of the 2010 Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo poetry workshop: “Baby, you have to improve your Filipino vocabulary.”

I admit that I am a long way from mastering the Tagalog language, to say little of Cebuano of which my wife is a native speaker. My grandmother spoke Hiligaynon, but hardly consistent enough for me to grasp it.

Filipino is broader, more nuanced; it may take me decades to master even the simplest expressions. At 58, I feel I don’t have much time on my hands. But I am happy with the littlest triumphs, despite it coming few and far between.

They offer me a perspective of the Filipino psyche I would not have seen while writing in English.

But am I Filipino? You can bet your pink sweet Tootsie Rolls I am. – Philstarlife