(no subject)
i’ve been asked to review the records of a case which was appealed to the secretary early this year. the case has remained idle since that time, and the lawyer to whom the case was assigned has not had occasion to lift even one page of the records. so i suppose the guys here think i can do a better job at expediting the process. anyway, i was reading through the records, and i’ve had the hardest time in making sense out of the awfully crafted narratives here. i am certainly not asking for any of these guys to be gifted with the precision of gabriel garcía márquez or the grace of ben okri, but it’d be very helpful if they could at least express themselves with the same english i used when i was in my first grade. basic grammar isn’t even at issue here. it’s logic.
one of the longer documents is the transcription of the investigation conducted by a policeman. most of the people investigated are illiterate, and presumably do not speak or understand english. but the entire transcript is in english, or at least appears to be english, because there are words there that show up in a dictionary of the english language. it’s likely that the investigator took the liberty of translating the responses of the people to english, thereby robbing the transcript of any trace of sincerity. pity none of these guys were assisted by counsel at the time the investigation was conducted. anyway, here’s a bit of the transcript which fried my brain:
Q: Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in this investigation?
A: Yes, Sir.
Q: Will you state your name and other personal circumstances?
A: I am Gxxxxe Rxxz, 43 years old, married, resident of Poblacion Maddela, Quirino.
Q: How long are you holding that position?
A: 7 years Sir.
now i’m in a bind here. i’m inclined to think that this G guy has either been married for 7 years, or has been a resident of Poblacion for 7 years. but it’s possible that the investigating officer is also asking this guy how long he’ll be seated (as i suppose everyone investigated is in that position). rhinitis has had several entries about the awful state of english in the country (his observations are really causes for concern because these are college kids in one of the country’s purportedly good universities), and i absolutely understand what he’s trying to say. i am not asking too much from anyone, and it would have been perfectly alright had the transcript been in filipino. that language i also understand. but sad to say is that many filipinos now are not competent in any language, their own or something they’ve borrowed. worse, that really awful mix of english and tagalog, which a friend of mine accurately described as the language of yayas, is becoming some kind of a status symbol. it’s both sad and scary.
i once lived in singapore for close to 5 months, and on my first day there, at least 3 guys observed that my english was so good. in the beginning, i was like, gosh, haba ng hair ko, but the comment became almost a daily thing and i got so sick of it. what do these guys expect filipinos to sound like anyway? singaporeans have their own variety of localized english which they call singlish, and when i first heard it, i swore it wasn’t anything like english at all. there’s been a debate there about being proficient in english and maintaining identity. i’m all for both, but the problem is that sometimes, we fail to realize that we’re trying to be too expressive of our identity even when there are other people around who may be absolutely unfamiliar with it.
this happens all the time whenever i hear other people (both pinoys and singaporeans) talking to foreigners. i notice that many pinoys inject their sentences with typically pinoy expressions. somehow, i’ve managed to avoid that. it’s almost like shifting gears when i’m speaking to someone who may not be too aware of the kind of english filipinos typically speak when among other filipinos.
it’s a few minutes before 3pm here at the office, and the staff near my table have taken out their cups and their sachets of whatever coffee they fancy. lunch certainly does not feel like a few hours ago, because many of these guys have accomplished very little. i should try to find something for them to do.
one of the longer documents is the transcription of the investigation conducted by a policeman. most of the people investigated are illiterate, and presumably do not speak or understand english. but the entire transcript is in english, or at least appears to be english, because there are words there that show up in a dictionary of the english language. it’s likely that the investigator took the liberty of translating the responses of the people to english, thereby robbing the transcript of any trace of sincerity. pity none of these guys were assisted by counsel at the time the investigation was conducted. anyway, here’s a bit of the transcript which fried my brain:
Q: Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in this investigation?
A: Yes, Sir.
Q: Will you state your name and other personal circumstances?
A: I am Gxxxxe Rxxz, 43 years old, married, resident of Poblacion Maddela, Quirino.
Q: How long are you holding that position?
A: 7 years Sir.
now i’m in a bind here. i’m inclined to think that this G guy has either been married for 7 years, or has been a resident of Poblacion for 7 years. but it’s possible that the investigating officer is also asking this guy how long he’ll be seated (as i suppose everyone investigated is in that position). rhinitis has had several entries about the awful state of english in the country (his observations are really causes for concern because these are college kids in one of the country’s purportedly good universities), and i absolutely understand what he’s trying to say. i am not asking too much from anyone, and it would have been perfectly alright had the transcript been in filipino. that language i also understand. but sad to say is that many filipinos now are not competent in any language, their own or something they’ve borrowed. worse, that really awful mix of english and tagalog, which a friend of mine accurately described as the language of yayas, is becoming some kind of a status symbol. it’s both sad and scary.
i once lived in singapore for close to 5 months, and on my first day there, at least 3 guys observed that my english was so good. in the beginning, i was like, gosh, haba ng hair ko, but the comment became almost a daily thing and i got so sick of it. what do these guys expect filipinos to sound like anyway? singaporeans have their own variety of localized english which they call singlish, and when i first heard it, i swore it wasn’t anything like english at all. there’s been a debate there about being proficient in english and maintaining identity. i’m all for both, but the problem is that sometimes, we fail to realize that we’re trying to be too expressive of our identity even when there are other people around who may be absolutely unfamiliar with it.
this happens all the time whenever i hear other people (both pinoys and singaporeans) talking to foreigners. i notice that many pinoys inject their sentences with typically pinoy expressions. somehow, i’ve managed to avoid that. it’s almost like shifting gears when i’m speaking to someone who may not be too aware of the kind of english filipinos typically speak when among other filipinos.
it’s a few minutes before 3pm here at the office, and the staff near my table have taken out their cups and their sachets of whatever coffee they fancy. lunch certainly does not feel like a few hours ago, because many of these guys have accomplished very little. i should try to find something for them to do.