Tagalog language

Considered one of the most brutal shows of barbarism in the United States, the infamous Bataan Death March of World War II devastated the lives of thousands of Filipinos and Americans alike, completely and utterly blind in its disregard for human life and relentless in its desire for bloodshed. Mere days before the exhausting journey began, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii simultaneously as they began their vicious attack on the Philippines. With the Japanese extremely close to capturing the capital of the Philippines, Manila, the remaining Americans and Filipinos made a final push, hoping to resist Japanese fire until their promised back-up of nearly 130,000 American soldiers appeared to rescue them from the volley of bullets and explosives. However, to their dismay, General Douglas MacArthur’s guarantee was nothing but a hollow lie, only resulting in 22,000 untrained American soldiers and some Filipinos, bearing a similar amount of training. Consequently, the Battle of Bataan ended in surrender after a valiant effort, and after holding the Philippine Peninsula for nearly three months before, eventually, as a precaution and a bout of pride, the Japanese captured the 72,000 American and Filipino troops hostage, with the cruel Bataan Death March itself beginning on April 9, 1942. The walk lasted days, spanning over sixty-five miles, however, many soldiers would not make it to the imprisonment camp. Split into groups of a hundred to make travel easier to manage, the…

America: The Bigger The Better It’s Christmas day and Alex Tizon goes to open your first gift; he automatically picks the biggest present to open first because he’s been taught his whole life that bigger is better. Almost all Americans have the philosophy that bigger is better because we live in a world where everything needs to be bigger: our phones, meals, computers, watches, cars, and everything else. It’s not just our appliances though, Alex Tizon captures this in his piece “Land of The…

ways. They would ask whether I was Chinese or Vietnamese—or simply speak to me in their respective language—due to my light skin and Asian-looking facial features. Similarly, when I was in Nicaragua, people I would walk by would yell out “china” at me, implying that I am from China. When told that I was Filipino-American, they either denied that I was Filipino or denied that I was American. In both of these ways, outsiders would label me as something I was not; while I did correct them, I did…

I find it easier and more comfortable to be around the friends that I’ve made here in Thailand than those that I’ve made in the Philippines. I think it’s due to the fact that I grew up and spent more time with my friends here. (I. Amurao, personal communication, 10 December 2014) Paulo showed the opposite sentiments, however, when he said that he is still adjusting to making friends in Thailand, at the same time still feeling close to friends he had left behind in the Philippines. It was…

still alive. Jee was working at a resort in Cebu, when she met an American businessman who would stay at the hotel. He would ask for her every time he stayed in the Philippines. He told her he was going to marry her, and bring her to America. Her friends told her “Don’t believe him, he is American, they all say that and never come back. “ She eventually started to talk to him and they dated, and he did marry her and bring her to America. Jee was very fortunate that her studies at the…

Pre-World War II The Hawaii Sugar Planter’s Association along with five other companies; such as, Alexander & Baldwin, Amfac, Theo H. Davies, C Brewer and Castle & Cooke assigned Filipinos to work. In 1906 to 1935, the HSPA labor agents recruited about 120,000 Filipinos’ to work at the planation (Alegado, 1991). In 1934, U.S. congress restricted Filipinos’ when the Philippines Independence Act was passed to the lobbying pressure of American labor leaders. The HSPA-affiliated plantations…

Languages have different aspects and characteristics that may establish their own identity from other languages used all around the world. One of these aspects is the phonological properties of these languages. Languages share a content common to all people; however, they differ with regard to their specific and nation-dependent phonetic means used to express it. These phonetic means grant a particular sound to each language. A phonetic system is usually based on segmental units: phonemes,…

Different Country Same Language Growing up and understanding one language was never an issue, but when the day comes from when you have to move to a different country, where in that country the language you known primarily is not the main language. How the experience of having a language barrier among the people around you can cause such difficulty. From America to the Philippines was the realization of the importance of communication. When I was growing up my parents always speak to me in…

In the United States it is reported that 55.4 million people spoke another language other than English. Bilingualism only gets more common as the years pass. In 1980 only 11 percent of Americans spoke more than one language at home. Many families, strive to live in a bilingual home, because it is said that Bilingualism is the future of America. It keeps alive cultures, and is known as a natural resource. It also enhances a person social sensitivity, problem solving, and rule-discovery tasks.…

to me. The word “literacy” to me is just being able to read, write, and speak. As I stared at my blank computer screen, waiting for an idea to come up, I remembered that I have a unique trait about me that other people in my area do not have: I am bilingual, but my first language is Tagalog, not Spanish. Most people believe that Tagalog is the same language as Spanish because they have a similar alphabet, but it is different in many ways. Some of our words are derived from the Spanish language,…