Previous Story
Learn languages, win hearts!
I would like to thanks and congratulate Mr. Oliver Gonzales for making bilingual education in schools a priority. This gentleman is setting an example of how knowing—or at least understanding—other languages can benefit individuals and the community in whole. Including bilingual education at homes in the form of using two or more languages is a way of enriching parents and children and making tolerance effective.
Last week, students from Kagman High School visited us man’amko at the Aging Center. The meeting was warm and mutually enriching. The elderly loves being busy with the young, sharing life experiences and learning from the young ones about where are we heading in the near future. Mr. Pangelinan, the King of the Man’amko, expressed the congregants’ stand, reminding the students of how important is loving our culture and nurturing it. He advised the students to learn to speak Chamorro or Carolinian or Tagalog as much as they can. And use this asset to a better life, a life full of international interactions to create a more respectful linguistic environment.
As an 84-year-old, I also found a few words of encouragement in addressing the students of Kagman High School. I shared with them some parts of my life story. I told them of my marriage to a woman born on Saipan. Overcoming the language barrier, we have a nice life together and we have two bilingual daughters. At home, we speak English but I would try to use Chamorro. I did my best but, still, I blame myself for not mastering an even better Chamorro. Also, I did not find time and put more effort into making my family speak Tagalog but at least they understand it.
Sure, learning other languages takes a long time and persistency but you get rewarded so much. You show respect, you get respect back and even more! A second language is a kind of universal key to open another heart. Miles and miles of distance between two gets erased in a few minutes!
So, my dear young ones and the not-too-young, make your own life and the others’ lives a little brighter just by mastering as many languages as you can! As the Russians say, you cannot spoil the food by adding oil.
Teddy Guiao
Lower Navy Hill, Saipan
