Joseph's Republic

An ordinary guy who loves to move around a lot Joseph Vizcarra, (that's me), is at home practically anywhere (well except for a few hell holes I happen to find myself once in a while in quest of coffee money).

Currently based in Manila as a knowledge worker, Joseph successfully crashed his way through the fields of news media, marketing communication and institutional advocacy. These days he work as a senior technical expert in a government corporation but remains true to his freelance work ethic, (at least just to keep me from getting burned out again and again..).

Offline, he dabbles in everything that deals with entrepreneurship, management, corporate planning and human development. (Online, however, sky's the limit!)

He lives a quiet life (well, almost) somewhere in the Metro with his wife, three lovely kids (ooopps! make that four..), two pensive cats and a big, all-black and all-clumsy Dalmatian. And yes, Joseph's a regular weekender at Apalit town in Pampanga, where he finds nourishment for his soul listening to his all-time favorite bible preacher in the whole world.


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My experience in self-studying English (back in first year high school) serves as a mental yardstick today in studying Spanish. I was then able to break the barrier from functional illiteracy to active comprehension by a mere three months or so of intensive immersion. (Of course my exposure to Sesame Street English was a plus factor). What worked especially well for me was my translating English articles into Tagalog, and my maniacal deciphering of English text (of science-related reading materials) into an even more basic English.

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.