THE UNIQUE FILIPINO COMMUNICATION STYLE
by Antonio C. Antonio
August 26, 2014
The biggest export of the Philippines is an English-speaking
workforce. In fact, the Philippine
economy is largely spurred by remittances from these expatriate Filipinos. Another interesting fact is that all Filipino
families normally have a member who is working somewhere else in the world. The acceptability of Filipino workers abroad
is strongly embedded on an educational system which uses the English language
from day one. Filipinos are considered
the 3rd largest English-speaking group next to the United States and
the United Kingdom.
The Filipino communication style is quite unique and often funny. Although the communication pattern seems
American or British, the coded language is very Asian in origin. These actions and thought processes become
very confusing at times. Prior to
English there was also the strong influence of the Spanish language. This curious mix of language influences
resulted to what is commonly known as “Taglish”… a colloquial term for Tagalog
and English. I remember a former Pinay
beauty queen who wanted to say “great/big” but had a Filipino word in her mind,
“bonggang-bongga”… result: she ended up saying “major-major”.
On Filipino English: There are
approximately 111 dialects in the Philippines but everybody can speak acceptable
and readily understood English. A
Visayan tour group leader asked for directions at the information counter of a
convention center in England: “Sir, how do we get to the Lord Cornwall
Hall?” The Brit politely responded: “Please
take the lift to the 3rd floor.” The tour guide said “Thanks”, turned around
to address his fellow Pinoys and said: “Uki, sa kalewa daw tayu magponta.”
On One-Syllable Filipino Words:
Pinoy words may seem peculiar sometimes but unique in application. Imagine you’re inside an elevator. Suddenly the doors open to a beautiful lady
who asks: “Ba ba ba ba?” (Going down?)
Then another lady inside the elevator answers: “Ba ba ba!” (Going down!)
This may seem odd to foreign ears but
the difference in expressive intonation would make the conversation between the
two ladies logical.
On Cross-Signal Meaning:
Filipinos, because of their friendly and accommodating nature, often
have difficulties saying “no”. An
American PH country manager was emotionally explaining his discomfort to
another American in a bar. He, in what
he thought was dishonesty, noted that his Filipino employees could not say “no”
when they actually mean “no”. Later, as
his friend explained, Pinoys would rather say “yes, however…”, “yes, but…” or
“maybe” and generally have a penchant of saying “yes” when they actually mean
“no” because saying “no” is considered unfriendly, undiplomatic and
confrontational. And that Pinoys have difficulties
contending with frankness; also considered to be rude and not polite. Filipinos, however, relentlessly avoid
hurting the feeling of others.
On Body Language: Filipinos have
a whole gamut of non-verbal communication styles, such as: (1) Raising the
eyebrows or lifting the head slightly mean “yes”; (2) Using the index finger to
point at a person or something is considered rude and aggressive so Pinoys will
choose to use their mouths and lips to point at anything; (3) Pinoys who
accidentally fall on their knees will never cry in spite of the pain; and would
prefer to smile and say: “Kaya ba ninyo yan?” (Can any of you guys do that?); (4)
The ubiquitous smile of the Filipino should never be considered as an
expression of happiness; they smile even when they are angry or hurt; and, many
other peculiar body language only Filipinos can show.
Having mentioned just a few peculiarities of the Filipino style of
communication (plus others you know), it does present a very interesting study
worthy of continued studies. But please
allow me to say that communication styles evolve and change and, therefore,
make a continuing study necessary. Also,
no one study could really capture the sense and essence of the unique Filipino
communication style.
Just my little thoughts…
(Please visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders and Landscape Ecology
UPOU on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment