Language for change
The month of August reminds us of the significance of language. And for this year's language celebration, it highlights the very idea that language is changing. This incessant change owes to the dynamic shifting of people's needs in response to certain requirements in place and of time.
For language that is dynamic, it continues to open its doors of influences both inside and outside. And so just a thought for a man who has been asleep for even a few years and would wake up and wonder the richness of language compared to the years while he was awake.
Language becomes an avenue for change-for worse or for the better. For language to be truly significant, it has to be used to change a perverse frame of mind, transform a society for the better. With information technology within our midst, the impact, be it positive or negative, can be felt so fast because it only takes a click for it to spread.
From the words we speak to the points and topics we articulate, language is the vehicle that helps our audience understand and agree with our statement or argument.
Using the language in our daily undertakings, we should not forget that its use is for the betterment of the people and the society. Whether spoken or written, it should not be used for deception or manipulation.
The language, whether one that we widely used at home, in the office or school, is so dynamic that it accommodates various words from various sources in the course of our interaction. The social media provides the rich source of terminologies that evolve as people with diverse backgrounds converge in a virtual world.
Languages are constantly changing. In biological evolution that fact has been given a lot of attention, but the fact is that in languages this is happening all the time. It is in the evolution of languages that we need to open ourselves for transition and the complexities along with it.
Language has internal conflicts among its users. Misunderstandings arise when personalities, points of reference, social backgrounds, among others, contradict. One may think that much more when we interact with foreigners who don't care of own language and they communicate with us with the language that we both know, English.
On the celebration of the Buwan ng Wika, let us be reminded of the seriousness of the impact of language to our lives as well as our responsibility of using it for positive change. Regardless of whether national or international language, its very core lies on the utility as a medium that brings about positive change to the people.
As part of a society's identity, language can hopefully be used to unite not divide. It can be a potent vehicle to sow understanding and not confusion. It is used to express love and not hatred.
While others still don`t want to learn from the mistakes of history and are on the futile road to repeating all the same mistakes, time has come that we need to rethink of making progress as a people and as a country.
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