Highlights
- Our own language can connect us more to our origins.
- Language can strengthen our family bond.
- Just like John Enego who aspires to use his own language to strengthen his culture and self-identity.
"I was born in Australia so there’s a lot of things that I feel like I am distant with in terms of culture," shares the young man from Sydney.
"When I was in my late teens I kind of figured I want to be able to speak the language of the people, my own heritage and culture. I am not able to speak it and it was like something that I wanted to eventually get around to be doing," he adds.
Language strengthens our family bond
Though he was never really forced into an environment that made him necessarily learn to speak Filipino, he's aware of its importance and a big reason for it is his grandparents.
"My lola and lolo only spoke Tagalog. That was a big reason why my older siblings are such a killer, learned a lot more than I did," says John.
Overall, the Bachelor of Sports and Exercise Science student almost fully understands the Filipino language, though he rarely speaks it.
"I haven’t spoken Filipino much before, I find it really difficult to actually form the sentences but I can understand it really well."
I wanted to learn more about my own culture as well, but it was mostly just actually learning how to speak my own language to bring out feelings and make you feel connected.
Learning his parents' language
When the opportunity came for John Enego to learn his parents' language, he grabbed the chance to take the Tagalog learning class.
"Let’s finally do it, let’s finally be able to speak to my family and relatives, especially my relatives in the Philippines, let’s finally speak to them in Tagalog, instead of English or Taglish."
And even though there are challenges in learning to speak the Filipino language, he's determined to overcome them.
"I know what each word means but I find it really hard to structure the words, to make sure I’m using the right terms, if I’m acting too formal or something."
Eventually, he believes that in the future he would be able to confidently speak his parents language and hopefully when he visits the Philippines, in particular his father's place in Batanes and his mother's in Manila, he would be part of the community there.
"I do hope that in the future I can travel to the Philippines together with my family or by myself and be able to be confident that I can speak my language and be part of that community as well."
John (front) with his family. 'Stay interested in learning your own language and to talk to your family to understand your culture a bit better.' Source: John Enego
Encouraging others to learn about their culture
John Enego gives some encouraging words for his fellow young Australians who have different cultural heritage.
In every story, there is a lesson and new knowledge that we can learn.
"Have conversation with your parents and especially your grandparents. I feel like there’s a lot that they have to share in regard to how they lived or the culture that they had around".
It is also a way to get to know yourself better.
"I feel that there’s a lot of interesting stories that they do have to tell, and I find it nice, because it also feels like through the process, I get closer to my family as well as I understand that bit about myself a bit more."
And most of all, stay close to your family and relatives. "Stay interested and to talk to your family to understand your culture a bit better."
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