IS IT REALLY ESSENTIAL TO HAVE A NATIONAL LANGUAGE?

 IS IT REALLY ESSENTIAL TO HAVE A NATIONAL LANGUAGE?

 By: MJ Ayes 

As I grow older my knowledge becomes broader. It is part of the development of a child that they learn how to speak even if at first it is not yet understandable, we feel so much excitement on what the first word will be may it be Tagalog, English or whatever language you have assimilated your child as they grow older. At first it is just a simple word such as "mama" or "papa" depending on what we have thought them all of this is part of the continuous development all of us undergone. The thing is we are not born in the same places each one of us hail from a particular region on where it has its own concept of beliefs, culture and even language. Having have said that we are a country of many regions, so we do have diverse aspects. 

I remember the time when I was a kid in my elementary day my favorite subject is Filipino a subject that tackles the different literature, and parts of Tagalog language. It makes me so interested in this subject because of the fact that I heard everyone around me speaks Tagalog language I even have a dream of becoming a Filipino teacher someday because somehow, I find it easier to master. Also, one of the reasons why I love speaking Tagalog language is because it is spoken and also used in different literary pieces that our great writers made. I find it wonderful and also patriotic to speak my mother tongue with dignity and pride, so I often utilize Tagalog as my primary medium of communication, also I find it easier to communicate using Tagalog language because I grow up using this language and also most of my communicators were speaking it also. 

As I grow older I discover that there are many languages that dominates all over the country and it is spread wide in every region. As I study I discovered that even my father knows a different language other than Tagalog maybe because of his province. He knows how to speak Ilocano language a native language which exist in Ilocos region and nearby provinces and this provinces where situated in the Philippines where only one language is deemed to be the national language. The point here is if there are many languages here in the Philippines why consider having one national language. Maybe instead of having a national language we should strive to nurture the different languages we have as part of our Filipino heritage. Lets say smart wise we let national language stay but we should hope that discrimination to other language must stop. I really hope that if it is truly essential to have a national language we must strive to nurture all the languages that our whole archiepelago have so that we can preserve our heritage.