Mother Tongue

Last night before going to bed I was asked about Tagalog noun- adjective order. I'd say it depends. I didn't study Tagalog formally, but I know what sounds right to me. For example: 

Babae = woman ; Maganda = beautiful

Beautiful woman = maganda ng babae OR babaeng maganda 
(they both have the same meaning but the usage depends on the context)

After answering that question and using that example, I couldn't sleep. I laid in bed, eyes closed trying to speak Tagalog to myself in my head. It went something like this:

Hindi ako nagsasalita ng Tagalog ngayon kasi walang sinoman sa buhay ko na marunong mag Tagalog-- ingles o kaunting espanyol lang. Ang aking mga magulang, lola, at mga pelikula nagturo sa akin upang magsalita Tagalog. Hindi ako marunong magbasa o magsulat. Hindi ko alam ng anumang mga bastos na mga salita. Ito ay mahirap na isulat.

I need practice. It actually made my head hurt. Each sentence took for-e-ver to write-- having to sound it out first each time. It made my hurt last night too. I had to force my brain to stop trying so hard. 

My pronunciation is good, and in conversation, I can do well. Luckily Filipinos learn a lot of English, so Tagalog sounds more like Tagalog w/ English words popping up pretty often. Funny thing: I remember trying to practice Tagalog with my parents, but they'd answer me in English. HAH. Of course they'd do that. Like I said in that painfully executed paragraph above, I learned the language from my parents, grandmothers, and Filipino movies. The movies I watched were mostly romantic comedies that I'd borrow from my uncle's Asian foods and supplies market. The plots were always the same: boy meets girl in some unusual circumstance, they are either stuck together or keep running into each other, she resists as he persists, then she sees him without her and falls for him, told with a lot of slapping and yelling. One in particular was called _Maging Sino Ka Man_ (no matter who you are), starring Sharon Cuneta (Filipina megastar). It was kind of Bodyguardesque because I think she played a megastar and had to hide with this rough and tuble dude, played by Robin Padilla. Looking at the movie poster it may have been more of a drama... But don't let the gun fool you, Filipinos love their guns.

Out of all 18 cousins, I was the second to be born in the US. There are 5 that were born Americans after me. I'm sure that they can understand at least some Tagalog, but I never hear them speak it. My sister, who is one of the 5 barely understands it. The older ones don't speak it either, but I'm sure they can and at the very least can easily understand. There's a story about one of the older ones who refused to speak English once he got to America because he was embarrassed of what Tagalog sounds like. He was probably around 10 at the time he immigrated.  

I like to think that I have the best Tagalog skills overall among all my cousins. I really wanted to learn the language when I was younger, probably because of all the time I spent with my maternal grandmother who was MY grandmother and I didn't have to share her with any of my paternal cousins. She lived with us when I was young enough to pick up language really quickly. My other grandmother would take naps and put Tagalog movies on for me (like _Maging Sino Ka Man_). 

Our parents will still speak Tagalog to each other and just as I think I have the best Tagalog, I think my dad speaks the best English. He's a retired sheriff's deputy and started his career with the LAPD. I'm pretty sure that once picks up language pretty quickly when you work with a bunch of LAPD cops. 

So all this was brought on by me thinking about how long its been since I've had anyone to speak Tagalog to. It might be time to find some Tagalog workbooks to keep it alive.. better than trying to actually meet people, eh? LOL....