Joseph's Republic

Tagalog constructions can generally be made to follow English syntax. With a minimum of conjugational intricacies, the mystery of the English language soon enough was made plain to me. I was not sure if the same is true for me with Spanish. But with plenty of materials at the bookstore and over the Internet for my Spanish studies, I am now realizing that the language is just as easy if not easier.

My mother tongue, Tagalog, has been steadily hispanized for more than three centuries of Castilian conquest of the Philippines. Although it remains most distinctly Autronesian in sound and grammar, modern Tagalog’s lexicon has become latinized with about fifty percent direct borrowings from Castilian and a steady stream of indirect contemporary Latin borrowings through English. This means that, para mi, a study of Spanish lexicon is not a big burden.

Additionally Spanish pronunciation is so much easier than English because it almost feels like Tagalog. Now I understand why Spanish is not at all considered as a foreign language by Filipino academics.

Now my bigger struggle is retaining what I’ve learned. With my memory gap growing strong by the day, I might actually forget English after mastering Spanish. But that may not necessarily be too bad. Who knows it just night permanently cure me of mental fatigue and memory loss all in one sway.

With my appetite whetted, I’ve come to a momentous decision, why not revive my study of the Spanish language? I was among the last few students who took 9 units of Spanish in college after the government decided to scrap it as a required subject. Of course I have nothing to show for it apart from the “tres” in my school records. I’ve decided that if I can learn English, I can learn any language I choose. I’m prone to making wrong decisions of course.

As for new language study as cure for my writing fatigue, well I theorized that perhaps, the part of my brain responsible for processing language has become too hardwired to English that it starts to “short-circuit” or “overheat”. By thinking in Tagalog and by learning to think in a totally different language maybe, just maybe, my language processor gets to relax, cool down and regains strength.

A curious thing about life, from a fiction point of view, is that the main actor is also the number one audience. Incidentally, this is how blogging works, on the surface at least, as I see it.

I, the blogger, write stuffs and then read them once, twice, over and over again, that's my choice and my curse. Then people come in to my blog, just as they do in my life. Some stay for a while or for good. Others just pass by, or get out at once and swore never to be back. That's just how lives and blogs are.

Unlike blogging, however, you cannot edit your life. The least you can do is write about it, in your blog or private journal... write often, read often. Learn from yourself. Learn from that inner man, who tells you just what is it like to be you then, as Michael Jackson would say, make that change.

I'm a writer by profession, by choice, by accident, and most of all, by compulsion.

Just between you and me, writing is simply my way of life. No I'm not saying I'm a great writer, nor even a good one. Just ask the poor guys who have to endure editing my poor excuse for a draft. What I simply mean is, it's just me really. I write, because, I am. I offer no further excuse than that.