Sa Aking Mga Kabata / To My Fellow
Children
ni Jose P. Rizal
Ito ang kauna-unahang tula na isinulat ng
ating pambansang bayaning si Dr. Jose
Rizal.Sa edad 8, isinulat niya ito sa
katutubong wika at pinamagatang SA
AKING MGA KABATA.
Kapagka ang bayay sadyang umiibig
Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
Sanglang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.
Pagkat ang salitay isang kahatulan
Sa bayan, sa nayot mga kaharian,
At ang isang taoy katulad, kabagay
Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaan.
Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita
Mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
Kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
Na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.
Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin
Sa Ingles, Kastila at salitang anghel,
Sapagkat ang Poong maalam tumingin
Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.
Ang salita natiy huwad din sa iba
Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
Na kaya nawalay dinatnan ng sigwa
Ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.
(Nagsalin sa Filipino di kilala.)
To My Fellow Children
translated by Fank C. Laubach
Whenever people of a country truly love
The language which by heaven they were
taught to use
That country also surely liberty pursue
As does the bird which soars to freer space
above.
For language is the final judge and referee
Upon the people in the land where it holds
sway;
In truth our human race resembles in this
way
The other living beings born in liberty.
Whoever knows not how to love his native
tongue
Is worse than any best or evil smelling fish.
To make our language richer ought to be
our wish
The same as any mother loves to feed her
young.
Tagalog and the Latin language are the
same
And English and Castilian and the angels
tongue;
And God, whose watchful care oer all is
flung,
Has given us His blessing in the speech we
claim,
Our mother tongue, like all the highest that
we know
Had alphabet and letters of its very own;
But these were lost by furious waves
were overthrown
Like bancas in the stormy sea, long years
ago.
Interpretation of the poem, Sa Aking mga Kabata

The first stanza speaks that Rizal wants us to love our own language and it is a gift from above
that was given onto us to be grateful of. It is a blessing that like any other nationalities we were
gifted of. We are aware that Rizal was motivated to write this poem during the time of Spanish
supremacy because we were under their colony. He addresses us to love our language for it is
our step towards liberty. As Rizal correlated it to a bird that can freely fly up in the sky, it has a
will to fly wherever it wants to go and whatever it wants to do. But if this bird is in a howl like us,
Filipinos, who cannot stand for what we believe is right, we will never experience independence.

The next stanza implies that a nation that loves a God-given language also loves freedom. For
language is the final judge and reference upon the people in the land where it holds and sway.
A Filipino who loves his native tongue will definitely fight for his freedom seemingly like a bird
lumilipad nang pagkataas-taas para sa mas malawak na liliparan, a person who preserves the
marks of its liberty, as man preserve his independence. Language is not merely a
communication tool but as an expression of ones identity, of ones individual and social
consciousness. Without a common identity, there could be no real sense of nationhood. Love
and use of ones native tongues was one of the badges of a true patriot.

In the succeeding stanza, Rizal compared the person who doesnt love his native tongue from a
putrid fish. Just like a fish which originally lives in water, stinks every time it goes out of its place.
Like some of the Filipinos that we could observe, we could see that when they have reached a
foreign country and adapted the foreign language and culture, they tend to forget their own. And
as they have adapted that culture, they will be so haughty to despise and scorn their own
fellowmen. They hide and cover their identity for being a Filipino even though its very
discernible. They just make themselves look foolish and shameful. And with the last two lines
from the third stanza, Rizal addressed to us that our own language must be cherished and
should not be forgotten because its a very valuable possession of our own country.

Fascination when we discovered that Rizal was just an eight-year-old lad when he wrote this
poem. At a very young age and a boy who grew up speaking several languages, it is very
inspiring to hear someone say these lyrics with such great nationalism with great love of his own
tongue. Reflecting our past, we saw ourselves unconsciously patronizing foreign languages. We
wanted to be those whites who have slang tongues. Where have our native tongues has gone?
We were gaining colonial mentality without our awareness. The bad news is, we allow it to
happen. And what Rizal was trying to resound is that even our very own Filipino is also a
language to be respected and valued. It is also a language likewise with the angels and with the
others. There should be no hierarchy that the Filipino is the least. For rejecting it is like denying
ourselves of who we really are.

Finally, the last stanza implies that we, just like the other nations existing, have its own
exceptional characteristics that we can be greatly proud of, those distinct qualities of being a
Filipino such that the blood itself that runs through your veins, the culture, and your innate YOU
is a certified Filipino that you can never obliterate. Sad to say, the cornerstones established by
our forefathers to come up with a better country is now into annihilationAnnihilation caused by
the influx of challenges doomed to spoil what we have.