MANILA — Establishing Filipino as a “language of knowledge” is crucial in spreading and cultivating its use and continued development nationwide, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) said on Thursday.
In his speech at the Pambansang Kongreso sa Wika in Manila, KWF Chairman Virgilio Almario said the Filipino language still lacks respect or esteem from advocates of other languages in the country despite being a national language as mandated by the law.
“Hanggang ngayon kulang sa paggalang ang wikang Filipino lalo na mula sa advocates ng Ingles at may katwiran sila dahil maipagmamalaki nila na ang Ingles ay isang wikang internasyonal ng karunungan at sa malungkot na pangyayari ang ating wika ay wala pa sa ganoong antas (Until now, the advocates of English have no high regard for Filipino language and they’re right because they can argue that English is an international language of knowledge and unfortunately our language has not reached that level yet),” he said.
Citing that 99 percent of the researches and studies are in English, Almario stressed that the Filipino curriculum lacks research as its teacher-advocates are not skilled in scientific research.
“Hindi nailalahok ang halaga ng saliksik ng pagtuturo sa Filipino sa elementarya at sekondarya, ito ay batay sa pag-aaral ng kurikulum, angresearch ay isang kultura na dapat linangin sa isip ng isang bata, dapat mula sa kindergarten naitatanim na ang saliksik sa kanila (The importance of research is not included in the teaching of Filipino in elementary and secondary education based on the study of the curriculum, research is a culture which must be cultivated in the minds of the young, research must be planted in them starting kindergarten),” he said.
To solve this issue, Almario suggested the creation of Aklatang Filipino (Filipino Library), which would be a wellspring of scientific and technical knowledge in the vernacular.
“Magiging bodega iyon ng mga aklat tungkol sa iba’t ibang diskurso at gawain, para kung may bata na gustong pumasok doon na nag-aaral ng medicine meron siyang mababasang aklat sa medicine na nasa Filipino. Paano maituturo natin ang medicine, engineering at abogasyo sa Filipino, dapat magkaroon ng mga aklat nito sa Filipino (It will be a warehouse of books about different discourses and activities, if a student enters to study medicine there will be medicine books in Filipino. How can medicine, engineering and law be taught in Filipino, there should be books on these in Filipino),” he said.
In connection with this, Almario urged the board of commissioners and other advocates of the Filipino language to create a center for translation.
“Hindi man tayo makapagsulat ng orihinal, maisalin man lamang ang mga librong imported sa Filipino…at magkaroon din ng ganoon sentro sa iba’t ibang rehiyon sa Visayas at Mindanao (If we’re not able to write original books, we could at least translate in Filipino the imported books… and we’d have such center in other regions in Visayas and Mindanao),” he added. (Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)
