Why isn this Yahoo Blog (Philippines) written in its native language, Tagalog?
I know how you feel. But while we are at this point, we can also ask why is the Yahoo Philippines Website in itself not in Tagalog? Much like Yahoo Argentina, Yahoo Brazil, Yahoo France, Yahoo Italy, Yahoo Japan, Yahoo India, etc. etc. are in their native language. And as far as I know it is only Yahoo Malaysia, Yahoo Singapore & Yahoo Philippines which are the only Yahoo International Sites in English of course aside from Yahoo UK, Yahoo New Zealand & Yahoo Australia, which have English as their native language. Your guess is as good as mine. Although the only thing I could think of is that Malaysia, Singapore & the Philippines are unique in the sense that they are small enough to have English as their national language together with their native language & the people who do speak their main native language also speaks English. India should have been included in this select if not unique group but they are just too big, population wise.
If it were written in the native language, then you or other English speaking cyber citizens will not be able to ask or answer in this section. English is an official language in the Philippines. It is the language of business, and the language of instruction in higher school and college. Most of our textbooks are written in English. What brought this about? We were a colony of the USA far too long, and they brought their culture, their system of education, the political system etc to this nation. In fact our first constitution was patterned after the USA constitution. English literacy here is 83%. So English is a “normal” language around here.
It is because English is the international language and the Philippines is the third largest English speaking country. The blog is not only intended for a Filipino reader but to the world. If you can read the blog then that is not a problem. Unlike the other countries that you have mentioned, mostly their citizens does not know English. That is why it is written in their tongue. So we should be proud we can communicate to the world. Speaking in English should not be a negative trait, but it should mean that Filipinos are intelligent and competitive. Learning another tongue is not that easy but for us Filipinos we are gifted. No wonder why we made trade to other countries in Asia before Spanish era, and no wonder why the Spaniards landed on the Philippine isles. I think because Filipinos can communicate.
English has been the official medium of instruction of the country for a long time now… and besides, Tagalog isn’t exactly THE native language of the Philippines. other areas have their own native language such as Bisaya, Ilonggo, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Batanguenyo, Bulakenyo, Waray, Chavacano, (insert your native language here), etc. while national news feeds and some nation-wide newspapers are in Tagalog, everyone can agree with English eitherway.
