Quick update on all things real estate. I have been giggling that Dean is now a part-time stager. The guy has single-handedly staged my condo. I don’t even provide feedback anymore because he completely disregards my suggestions. When you see the pictures, it’s all his work. Pictures of the unit were taken this morning so hopefully it will be up on MLS soon. I will share when they’re ready.
I went to my parents’ place this past weekend and while I was chatting with my mom, she said a phrase in Ilokano (which is our Filipino dialect). Although I understood exactly what she said, she didn’t think I did, so she repeated it in English.
This made me sad. I suddenly felt a pang of anguish, realizing my kid will never be able to understand our language—such an important element of anyone’s heritage.
My sister and I were partially robbed of the language because my parents communicated with us in English, not knowing that we would pickup English perfectly fine in school and in our environment. They only spoke Ilokano to each other or when they were mad at us and started mumbling Filipino obscenities which we completely understood! We picked the language up by association so we can understand, but we cannot speak. Because I cannot speak it, my kid will never know it. It’ll just be this kid with an Italian last name with no ties to my ancestral land with the exception of having some Asian features.
A lot of my readers are raising mixed race children. What are you doing or what plans do you have to teach your kids about their full heritage? I keep a journal of parenting advice and would love to add your thoughts.
Please comment and share here on my blog.
We don’t have language issues (given that we’re both strictly English speakers!) – you’re right, that’s kind of a shame. I wonder if you could make a point of asking your parents to speak to your kid in Ilokano? At least that way, s/he, like you, would be able to understand.
We don’t seem to have many cultural issues (I’m English/Irish/German, Marc is mostly French), but we are an interfaith couple. Unlike you, we have both sort of fallen away from regular religious practice, but we have realized that we place some value on the cultural values imparted by our respective religions. We just try to address it by talking regularly about the reasons/history behind the holidays, and we try to make sure that we both talk about both the Jewish and the Christian holidays. It’s mostly an effort to communicate our respect for both sides of the family. That said, Calvin is just now getting old enough that it feels like it might be time to start thinking about more formal religious education – and who knows where that will lead us???
HI Catherine! I don’t have any children but I agree with the Mom above, maybe your Mother can speak it to your future children. I don’ think it’s too late for you to become fluent either. It can be a personal project of yours. I do think it’s sad but common. My BFF from school nor her two sisters were able to speak the lingo and their parents spoke Filipino (sidebar – I didn’t know it was spelled that way, I thought it was Ph…learn something new everyday in blogland)!
We asked our parents to speak to our nephews in Pangasinan which was easier when they didn’t speak back in English. But the oldest does understand quite a bit although he only speaks a few words integrated in his English. I will drop whatever Tagalog I know on them too. It is hard to hold conversations in multiple languages but we believe anything is better than nothing. The nice part about my parents speaking to the nephews is that it as helped be build my own vocabulary and speaking phrases in Pangasinan.
The largest population of Ilocanos is in Hawaii and you might be able to learning materials from there.