Being good in English – will it help me succeed?

During one of those quarantine days , I stumbled upon two Filipinos on TikTok who were exchanging nasty comments because of their disagreement on how to pronounce the word domestic. I’d say the exchange was infantile, bordering on stupidity as these  two good looking   people clashed  on  how the word should be articulated. It was so silly that the bone of contention was whether the word be pronounced as duh-mes-tic or de-mes-tic. 

Here's what I found. American pronunciation is duh·meh·stuhk while British pronunciation is duh·meh·stuhk. 

Going back to the topic, is it really a must to speak like a native speaker? If you don’t sound American or   British, does it make you less of a communicator? This one is a very good question to start an argument. Will you become more successful when you can mimic native speakers? Or will you get better jobs when you are more maarte? 

I am an English teacher  and for my answers to these questions....  your guess is as good as mine.

Here’s the thing. Knowing the grammar of a language and having good diction  are just a little portion of being a good communicator and it is not even close to get to the conclusion that  these skills will make you more successful. Let me put it this way, if there is a recipe in order to be successful, language accuracy is just one of the many ingredients. Is it an advantage, definitely yes! But to say that those who are poor in English will not succeed is wrong in so many different levels. 

But why do English teachers force you to use the language? Well simply because learning a language is like learning a set of habits.When it is already part of your system, then it just comes out naturally. Modern teachers of English should no longer give much fuss about accuracy except when a change in form would cause a change in meaning. 

Remember that man who asked a lady to dance with him? He asked, "may I dence (para tunog native speaker like ate demestic) over you?" Excited, the lady replied, " centerly...with pressure." 

And they danced like they had never dance before. Ang saya di ba? 

You might ask, how about grammar, kids these days should be taught grammar with a stick. (Yung sabog ang ihi sa takot sa teacher para matuto) Sorry, if you are thinking that these kids must be schooled the way you were, you are wrong. Since the language of the Internet is English, they can easily learn it. Grammar is all over the web, just waiting to be learned. 

Going back to my argument, are language skills necessary? Yes. And there are many other linguistic competencies to be mastered like knowing when to shut up even though you know what to say or simply knowing the right words and the right way to say something as the situation dictates. 

Well, that's the big problem of the world these days. Everyone's talking and everyone's talking a lot irregardless of who will get hurt.  (Grammar nazis out there, kill me. I used irregardless). 

No, language does not exist in a vacuum.  It is not airtight (paulit ulit?)  It must be used based on norms and social conditions. Imagine if a woman would go to the wet market and ask, "how much is your eggplant?" The right way to ask is "magkano po sa talong?" May tamang lugar. 

This is the reason why I got irked by the demestic/domestic argument.  Such argument is moot, academic and futile when all flights and trips were cancelled. (ang laki ng problema ko sa demestic). 

Anyway, moving on, if you have language accuracy and you use language responsibly, is it a sure ticket to seccess (misplelling intended)?Probably but i will not kill other people's dreams because they can't speak  good English. I have seen so many kids who were average in school and made it big later. I can give you names if you want. 

On one hand, if you can improve your English, that's wonderful. Read a lot. Listen to people who speak good English.   Learn new words everyday. Try to use them at least six times, so you would remember it.  (That's according to research.) 

On the other hand, if you are not linguistically gifted, that should not define you as a person.  Maybe you already know why I am writing this blog and that's saving you from feeling sorry for yourself when you get confused when to add /s/ in a verb or when you use /f/ instead of /p/. "Let's go to the chafel to fray."  It's ok, such is a carry over of Tagalog usage, which had no /f/ sound.  Yung mga kano nga di nila mabigkas ang /ng/. "Mahal ko kayo lahat," sabi nila. 

Pero aral aral din. If you can have a better version of yourself, that's great. That's better. Basta wag lang OA. Yayaman ka pa rin kahit hindi.