Republic of the Philippines

Sorsogon State College

Sorsogon Campus
Sorsogon City

Name: Kathleen Camille M. Bonos
Course Year & Section: BSED-3C
Academic Year: 2014- 2015
Subject: Creative Writing
Professor: Mrs. Mari Grace Carretero

Looking Back while Moving Forward
(Reflection Paper)

We are all aware of what Dr. Jose Rizals saying Ang di magmahal sa sariling wika ay
daig pa ang amoy sa malansang isda. This shows the patriotism of our national hero in our
country. It is a reminder to never forget the language that we have and that we should cherish
and develop it for the sake of our country and that a certain that does not love his language
would be someone who should be shameful for not loving his own language which is used in our
country for source of communication. But in our century now, would this still be applicable? We
all know that in our times, we are all globally competitors so we need to be competent with the
other countries. English is the Universal language in our times so we have to practice it. And
learning to speak in English would be so much help to us students because there a lot of learning
materials that is printed in English. Thus, we would be able to acquire more information that we
need. From my own perception in the essay that I just have read, why would we have to erase or
eliminate English in our spoken discourse? Why would we deprive ourselves in a tool which we
know we can put into good use in so many areas in our lives? We had been proficient in it
compared with other Asian countries that have problems in speaking in English. Wouldnt it be
nicer if we were proficient in both languages having two or more that we can use in our spoken
language? This is something that we can use not only in our country but also in the other
countries that can make a big development for us globally. We are not trying to replace our
language, which is Filipino, we are just using English because number 1 we are using it for own
development for information acquisition, number 2 its for language acquisition and number 3 it
is for the development of our country in terms of globalization. Making use of the English
language as an instrument to make our country noticeable and have an advantage from the
others, which will us prosperous. Life is addition, not subtraction. These is from the essay
which I agreed to because I am not going to improve if I dont acquire knowledge and add
information that may help me in many ways. Why would I limit myself in terms of getting
information and acquiring knowledge? I am not going anywhere with just stored knowledge with
me. In terms of speaking, wouldnt it better if we can speak in many ways as possible? English
can be a guide in helping us to have not just one language but 2 or maybe more. We would be
able to understand more people and more people would be able to understand us. But, we should
not forget our own language which is Filipino. Because we wont be able understand English if
we dont master our own language first. English has been a part of the curriculum here in the
Philippines and that lots of people have been proficient in speaking such language and used it in
their conversations. This shows that the Filipinos are great in English speaking because we can
learn fast. But as we are moving forward and developing, we should look back and remember
that we have our own language that we should forget for this is the language that made us
different from others and this is something that makes us Filipinos. What I am trying to say is
that it is not bad to use English in our every day conversation and that it should not be taken out
or eliminated because it has been a help to us and still has a lot use for us in terms of
globalization. But we cherish and love our own language which is the Filipino language because
back then we have been conquered and been slaves to other countries which are powerful than us
and some of the cultures that we have been practicing for generations have combination with the
cultures of the countries that had conquered us. The language that we have now is something that
we have; its something that is ours, its has something to do with our nationality which is being
a Filipino. I know that who we are is not determined by what we speak but in our case, we
should value our language because practically its the only thing that makes us Filipino. Theres
no other country that can speak Filipino, only us. While we make use of the English language we
should also make use of the Filipino language, if the context requires it, then thats the only time
that we should use the English language. We should not acknowledge those people who use the
English language than our own just for them to be noticed by others. Because their aim is not to
improve, they just want people to think that they can speak English that means their intelligent
and that their rich or something. English is the universal language, which that means that
everybody across the world uses this language. And this is something we use if we go to some
place here in the world. So if we are going to look back and just stay there and get stuck there,
then we wont be able to move forward. If we would relate it to the language use of English then
we should not just rely on the language that we have, which is Filipino, because English has so
many uses for us in the different areas of our lives, which we can be able to have improvement.
So if we would just stick around with just what we have then thats how far we can go, its the
stop for us, but while we are looking back, we should not get stuck with the past we should let
the past be source of what we should do in the future. And so as we look back we should move
forward so that we could be able to improve and be a success.