SOCIOLOGIST and University of the Philippines professor Randy David stressed the need to translate significant literature and other intellectual products from foreign cultures to develop the national language.
“There is no language that does not flourish if it is not used as a vessel to carry the products of consciousness and other ideas from different societies,” David said in a language forum sponsored by the Center for Creative Writing Studies at the St. Raymund’s Building last Aug. 22.
In the forum “Wikang Filipino at Kamalayang Filipino,” David said that in the process of modernization, where global corporations usually dominate, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) could help promote Filipinol culture and language abroad.
According to David, Filipinos who leave the country do not completely embrace foreign cultures.
“Filipinos in America do not become Americans,” David said. “Contrary to how corporations that control the process of globalizations expect, globalization does not only promote one culture.”
David said globalization has developed since it has no choice but to provide space for local cultures to emerge. He described this sociological phenomenon as “glocalization”—global and local at the same time.
“McDonald’s in the Philippines has copied Jollibee now. McDonalds from other countries do not serve sweet spaghetti like we do here. Filipinos are the only ones who serve sweet spaghetti,” David said. “Fast-food chains even offer native delicacies on their menu nowadays.”
In the same forum, UST Social Research Center director Ernesto Gonzales said that it is not only the middle class and the elite who advocate change in our political system and national consciousness since OFWs gradually break the barriers of the educated and modern culture from the popular culture.
“Filipinos who go abroad see the responsible leadership of foreign governments and they want to see this in our own country, Gonzales said.” Edsel Van dT. Dura
