People ask me why I am trying to learn to speak Tagalog. They say, in the Philippines they speak English, why bother?
Today
I had an example of why. I went to a local medical clinic to get my
blood work done. The technician who took the blood was a middle aged
Filipino Canadian (Filipina). We were together for maybe 5 or 6 minutes
but by the end of our time together, she was giggling, laughing and we
were sharing stories about the Philippines.
Why? I told her I
was learning to speak Tagalog for a visit to Manila. I said a few words,
horse, dog, she understood. We joked about the word friend KAIBIGAN
which can also men lover depending on the pronunciation. At the end of
our time together she said SALAMAT (thank you), I replied WALANG ANUMAN
(your welcome). She said "YOU PASS!" , with a smile.
When you
take the time to learn another countries language, the natives of that
country appreciate it, it is a a way to build trust and become friends
more quickly.
So imagine this. You live in poverty, you live in Tondo slum in Manila. A big white, foreign guy shows up with expensive cameras and starts hanging around. What do you think? Your most likely unsure and maybe a bit afraid of this guy. Then this dude starts to talk to you but instead of speaking English (like most of the other foreigners) he tries to speak in broken Tagalog. You snicker, laugh a bit, help him with the words. You relax, you tell the people around you about this guy speaking silly Tagalog, and add "he seems polite". You start to become friends.
"Friends" is always good when it comes to social documentary photography. From that "friend" point you can move on to better things.
For me learning to speak to my subjects in their language has always been hugely important.
