Paman: (Writes a sentence on the board & gives us a minutes to memorize it)

Then she makes us read it out loud.
Then she tells us:

Paman: Look at the papaya (tree outside the window)

Then while we’re looking away, she erases the sentence.
Then she makes us say it out loud.
If you say “ammmmm” or paused for a couple of seconds… she says:

Paman: You’re telling the whole world you’re lacking vocabulary.

——
In connection, I was just speaking to a PAL agent today… and despite the fact I speak (hopefully good tagalog), I stayed with the english communication. Selfishly, I so enjoyed giving her the hard time…making her try to talk in english. Make her worth receiving her pay check, right? LOL.

But as soon as I set foot in Iloilo, I’m back to STRAIGHT Ilonggo. NO english, no tagalog. No Accent. LOL.

And just like you Weng.. I so very hate the TagLish. No offence, I’d rather speak in Tagalog or Ilonggo. Even Khloe, I talk to her in Ilonggo & Tagalog.

i copied and pasted too this writing on my fb notes a few days ago. very few of my contacts liked it (esp. esl teachers and those who’ve worked and still working in a call center). uhmm.. or maybe they didn’t open their fb that day (wink).

many filipinos still deny that they don’t sound american however they try and imitate americans or the english people. by the way, i can tell easily tell whether the person who speaks with a twang is a call center trained or a native speaker. the american accent sounds like there is a microphone installed in their throat. while the filpino accentuation of vowels and syllables is “maarte” and sounds the same. ex. band sounds like bend. the syllable “tant” in the word important is pronounced strongly. and many more.

it’s okay to exert effort on improving one’s accent/diction/pronunciation, etc. what is not good is “halos maputol na sa kaka-twist ang dla” just to sound “sosyal” which only makes them a laughing stock.

‘di naman laking mayaman, ‘di rin naman galing sa english speaking schools. ‘di rin naman lumaki sa english speaking environment, ni hongkong nga hindi pa narating pero nagpupumilit maging kano.

i don’t want to sound condescending, but when i pass by buildings where there are many call center “tambays” i freak out inside. halata naman kasing mga hindi lumaki sa may-kayang pamilya pero trying hard sumabay sa mga co-workers nila who, obviously, grew up speaking the language comfortably.

i acknowledge the fact though that english writing and speaking ability is very, very important especially that most job opportunities in the country today require mastery of the language. this skill, in fact, for a decade now, has saved many empty stomachs. in call centers, kahit hindi college grad as long as the applicant can converse in english fluently, he can be guaranteed a spot. however, many pinoys are going overboard and are overdoing the accent.

o baka naman sobrang hirap na talaga ng buhay ngayon and this is just pinoys way of forgetiing their problems — dinadaan sa pa-english-english ^.^