| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « May | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
Filipinos have English as their second language. We use it differently from english nationalities. Cultural differences also make us behave differently when English is spoken.
Just yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with someone who engaged in this experience. Point blank she said, that Filipinos are not as expressive as foreigners. Seldom would you hear Filipinos saying “I miss you”, “I love you”, “my dear”, etc. to other people unless they are in relationships with them. Many times, this type of expressions causes conflicts. If you hear english speakers say “I miss you” to other mates, more often Filipinos react or get jealous, sometimes becoming more envious.
I reflected on her sharing and find them somehow true. We connote those phrases to intimate meanings even if there’s none because that’s how we use our own language. Culturally, it is “hard evidence” that we also find it hard to express the same intimate feelings even with relatives. It also reflects in our actions. Even among friends, we are not that “touchy” or “huggies”.
We always had our conservative nature to pull back and keep feelings to ourselves for fear of rejection. Damn those colonizers.
