A Personal Journey from Iloilo to The Heritage Downtown
Recently, I was reading about the Austronesian language family, one of the largest language families in the world. It stretches across an astonishing geographic area from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east, and from Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south and via the Philippines. It includes more than 1,200 languages spoken by hundreds of millions of people.
As I read about this remarkable linguistic family, I suddenly realized that language has been one of the quiet privileges of my own life.
I am fortunate to have been exposed to four languages during my lifetime: Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Tagalog, English, and Spanish, with a little Latin thrown in for good measure.
I sometimes wonder how many people of my generation have had a similar linguistic journey.
For me, these languages are much more than words and grammar. Each one represents a different chapter of my life.
My First Language: Hiligaynon( Ilonggo)
I was born and raised in Iloilo, Philippines, and for the first 26 years of my life, Hiligaynon, commonly called Ilonggo, was the language of my everyday life.
It was the language I heard from my parents, relatives, neighbors and friends. It was the language of childhood, school days, family conversations, jokes, stories and ordinary life.
Hiligaynon is an Austronesian language, part of the extraordinary linguistic heritage of the Philippines and the wider Austronesian world.
When I think about my childhood in Iloilo, I don't merely remember the words of Hiligaynon. I remember the feelings associated with those words.
Language carries memories.
A word spoken by a parent can bring back an entire childhood.
A familiar expression from Iloilo can suddenly transport me thousands of miles away, even after more than six decades in America.
Tagalog Came Through Marriage
My second Philippine language became an important part of my life after I got married.
My beloved wife, Macrine, was a Tagalog speaker. We were married for 63 years, and Tagalog became one of the languages of our home.
Tagalog, of course, is the basis of Filipino, the national language of the Philippines.
For more than six decades, our household existed comfortably between Tagalog and English.
Marriage gave me something that no classroom could have given me: another language embedded in everyday life.
There is something beautiful about learning a language through the person you love.
Tagalog became not simply another language I knew, but part of our shared life as husband and wife.
English Became My Language of Opportunity
English entered my life through education and eventually became the principal language of my professional career.
As a young Filipino, I learned that English could open doors to a much larger world.
It became the language of higher education, science, professional communication and eventually my life in America.
I came to the United States in 1960. Over the years, English became the language in which I pursued my scientific career, earned my Ph.D., worked in industry and eventually served at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
But I never regarded English as a replacement for Hiligaynon or Tagalog.
Instead, I added English to my linguistic collection.
Perhaps that is one of the great gifts of learning languages: you don't have to give up one language to acquire another. You simply gain another window through which to see the world.
Spanish-and a Little Latin
My fourth language is Spanish. I studied Spanish for two years in college. I also studied Latin for one year during my first two years of college as a pre-med student.
I would not claim that I am fluent in Spanish. That would be an exaggeration!
But I can carry on a simple conversation, and I can understand perhaps 80 percent of ordinary Spanish conversation when the speaker talks slowly.
And today, at The Heritage Downtown, I have discovered a wonderful opportunity to keep practicing.
My Spanish Classroom Is Now at THD
Many of the wonderful people who help make life comfortable at THD speak Spanish.
They work in housekeeping, the kitchen, the restaurant, maintenance and landscaping.
So I have decided that instead of letting my Spanish disappear into the distant past, I am going to use it.
I speak to them in what I affectionately call my elementary Spanish.
Sometimes I make mistakes. Sometimes I search for the right word.
Sometimes my Spanish is so elementary that the person I'm talking to smiles or laughs.
But I don't mind. I smile with them. And I keep talking.
I suspect that many of them are actually proud of me for trying.
There is something wonderfully human about two people trying to communicate across generations, cultures and different levels of language ability.
They may have better Spanish. I may have better English.
But somewhere between the two languages, we find a way to understand each other.
And isn't that what language is ultimately about? Connection.
A Privilege of My Generation
When I think about my linguistic journey, I realize how unusual it may be for someone of my generation.
Growing up in the Philippines gave me Hiligaynon. Marriage gave me Tagalog.
Education and immigration gave me English. College gave me Spanish and a little Latin.
And now, at age 91, life at THD is giving me another opportunity to practice Spanish.
I consider myself extremely fortunate.
Being multilingual is not simply an intellectual accomplishment. For me, it has been a privilege.
It has allowed me to communicate with people from different backgrounds. It has helped me understand different cultures. It has allowed me to maintain a connection with my Filipino heritage while becoming fully American.
Most importantly, it has taught me that learning does not have an expiration date.
Languages Keep Us Young
At my age, I have learned that keeping the mind active is just as important as keeping the body active.
I play Bridge. I play Mahjong. I read books. I write my daily blogs.
And now I practice Spanish with the people who work around me at THD.
Perhaps my Spanish vocabulary is not expanding very rapidly.
But that is not the point. The point is that I am still learning.
I am still curious. I am still willing to make mistakes.
And I believe that willingness to learn may be one of the secrets to staying intellectually young.
Four Languages, Four Parts of Me
If I were to describe my life through language, I might say:
Hiligaynon is my childhood. It reminds me where I came from.
Tagalog is my family and my marriage. It reminds me of the woman with whom I shared 63 years of life.
English is my American journey. It represents education, science, career, immigration and citizenship.
Spanish is my continuing education.
It reminds me that even at 91, I can still learn something new and, more importantly, I can still reach out to another human being in his or her own language.
And perhaps Latin represents something else: a reminder of my youthful ambitions and the education that helped shape the person I eventually became.
The Language We All Share
There is another language I have come to appreciate even more as I have grown older.
It doesn't require vocabulary. It doesn't require grammar. It doesn't require translation.
It is the language of kindness, humor, gratitude and friendship.
I may struggle to find the correct Spanish word when talking with a THD staff member.
But a smile needs no translation. A "thank you" needs no translation.
A joke needs no translation. And genuine friendship rarely needs translation.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson my four languages have taught me.
Languages may divide humanity into thousands of different linguistic communities, but they also give us thousands of different ways to connect.
A Privilege I Don't Take for Granted
When I look back over my 91 years, I realize that knowing several languages was never something I deliberately planned.
It simply happened. I was born into one language. I married into another.
I was educated in another. I immigrated into another.
And now, in the later chapters of my life, I am happily rediscovering another.
What a privilege!
I know that many of my fellow residents at THD did not grow up with the opportunity to use several languages every day. For most people of my generation, becoming truly comfortable in three languages and having some familiarity with a fourth is not a common experience.
So I don't take this gift for granted. Instead, I celebrate it.
And I hope to continue using it for as long as I can.
Because perhaps the greatest privilege of knowing several languages is not being able to say more words. It is being able to meet more people.
And at 91, I have learned that meeting people, learning from them, sharing a laugh, and finding a way to communicate are among life's greatest gifts.
Four languages have given me four windows to the world.
And I am grateful that, even after all these years, I am still opening new ones.
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