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Filipino Language and National Identity

President Quezon announced that Tagalog would be designated as the basis for the national language of the Philippines. He discussed that over 300 years of Spanish rule, Spanish did not become the common language, and English has not either despite being taught for over a generation. Adopting a native language as the national language will help develop a common national expression and thought as other powerful nations have done with their own languages.

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My Brightest Star Park Jisung
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331 views2 pages

Filipino Language and National Identity

President Quezon announced that Tagalog would be designated as the basis for the national language of the Philippines. He discussed that over 300 years of Spanish rule, Spanish did not become the common language, and English has not either despite being taught for over a generation. Adopting a native language as the national language will help develop a common national expression and thought as other powerful nations have done with their own languages.

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My Brightest Star Park Jisung
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Assignment:

DIRECTIONS: This time, read an excerpt from


President Manuel L. Quezon’s speech. In your pad paper,
write down three (3) statements indicating factual
information and three (3) statements expressing subjective
content from the speech.

[Radiocast from Malacañang Palace, Manila, on Rizal Day,


December 30, 1937]

My Fellow-Citizens:
It affords me an indescribable satisfaction to be able to
announce to you that on this the 41st anniversary of the martyrdom of
the founder and greatest exponent of Philippine nationalism, I had the
privilege of issuing, in pursuance of the mandate of the Constitution
and of existing law, an Executive Order designating one of the native
languages as the basis for the national language of the Filipino
people.
For over three hundred years that Spain exercised sovereignty
over the Philippines, Spanish was the official language; nevertheless,
when the United States took possession and control of these Islands,
Spanish had not become the common language of our people. With
the establishment of the American régime, English became the official
language of our country; but despite the fact that English has been
taught in all our public schools for more than a generation, it has not
become the language of our people. Today there is not one language
that is spoken and understood by all the Filipinos, nor even by a
majority of them, which simply proves that while the teaching of a
foreign language may be imposed upon a people, it can never replace
the native tongue as a medium of national expression among the
common masses. This is because, as Rizal asserted, the national
thought takes its roots in a common language which develops and
grows with the progress of the nation. We may borrow for a time the
language of other peoples, but we cannot truly possess a national
language except through the adoption, development and use of one of
our own.
There was a time when it seemed that it would be impossible for
the Filipinos to agree that one of the native languages be chosen as
the national language, but at last we have all realized that if we are
willing to accept a foreign language as the official language of the
Philippines, with more reason we should accept one of our own
languages as the national language of our common country. Without
giving undue importance to the role that a common language plays in
the life of a people, we may point to the fact that in the Orient the one
nation which has made the greatest progress and which has won a
high place in the family of nations, is the only nation that has one
common language—Japan. And every other nation which has attained
the highest state of culture, solidarity and power, both on the
American continent and in Europe, and even in Africa, is a nation that
possesses a common national language.
Today, with the adoption of Tagalog as the basis for the national
language of the Philippines, we have accomplished one of the most
cherished dreams of Rizal.
In no better way could we have honored his sacred memory on
this anniversary of his immolation to the cause of our free nationhood.
I wish you all a Happy New Year.

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