EASY WAY OF PROPAGATING SPANISH IN THE PHILIPPINES
I believe it's easy to learn Spanish mainly because the Filipino is already familiar with most of the words- the derived words found in the local languages like Tagalog,etc. & the Latin-derived words in English itself. If you're adept in Tagalog & English, when you start learning Spanish, you'll find you'll only lack 20% of the vocabulary you need to get by. English has an easy time becoming propagated throughout the world because of its dominance of mass pop culture so it was easily integrated into the consciousness of the people. & in the Philippines, monopolized as it is by American culture, the people really didn't need any language to get by. Do we even have any inkling of what contemporary Spanish popular culture can offer? That's the failure of the propagators of Spanish language.
Spanish generally has an antiquated appeal- di na uso, no longer trendy. & if anything, Filipinos are a very trendy-conscious lot. Because if anything, it is the contemporary Hispanic culture which could help propagate Spanish in the Philippines. Learning it is not hard, just make it cool, make it trendy to remove its reputation of being associated with bad friars & cruel hacenderos (I think this is the main hurdle to making Spanish acceptable). I VOCABULARY IMPROVEMENT
.
A. Books
1. Read Michael Crichton, Agatha Christie,ec. in Spanish or better read the great Spanish novels in Spanish. Here's a link to 500 ebooks:
http://internetmen.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/500-libros-fundamentales-descarga-gratuita/
2. You don't have to bother bringing out that thick dictionary. If you have a Palm or Windows Mobile device, you can install Lingvosoft English-Spanish dictionary so that when you find a word you don't understand, just point & click & presto you have the meaning in seconds.
a. download the file
Lingvosoft English-Spanish Dictionary 2007 thyen install:
http://www.lingvosoft.com/Spanish-items
b. register it by patching the exe file in the download folder:
http://rapidshare.com/files/2280873/Lingvosoft_Dictionary_2007_Unipatcher.rar
3. Most of the ebooks in the link are in PDF. It's hard reading PDFs in mobile devices so you should convert the PDF's into
Repligo format by using
PDF Mobilizer. Download it at
www.cerience.com
Register it with the following serial: FC47-E4H2-1X2Q-CECF
4. Phrasebooks:
A. H&H Spain2Go-
www.hnhsoft.com
Register with the following Serial : aSxPDA; EBSA8123 or MVFM4822
B. Lingvosoft Spanish Phrase Book-
download the file
Lingvosoft English-Spanish Phrasebook for Pocket PC then patch it with the Unipatcher in 2b.
http://www.lingvosoft.com/Spanish-items
II Familiarize with Spoken Spanish
1. Install
SelectRadio in your mobile device & listen to the different Hispanic stations via Wi-Fi
http://rapidshare.com/files/18538038/SelectRadiov3.0.1.CAB.html
2. In your PC, you can use
www.shoutcast.com
3. Watch video clips at
Youtube, the South Americans are very fond of posting music videos & even telenovela clips. Be aware that they have different accents, so we shouldn't be conscious of how we sound. Me, I try to maintain the Madrileño ceceo but I try to mimic the Italian lilt of Argentinian Spanish. Believe it or not, the Filipinos are more familiar with the Italian accent because of the Italians in the American movies we're fed (see the power of popular culture?)
You can watch at your PC, but if you want to take it with you, download it with
www.keepvid.com Then watch it in your Palm or Windows Mobile device using TCPMP with a Youtube plugin.
TCPMP:
http://rapidshare.com/files/17531905/TCPMP_Media_Player_0.81RC1Beta.rar.html
Youtube plugin:
http://rapidshare.com/files/36132847/tcpmpflvplugin-v0.3.zip.html
II Incorporate Spanish into local culture, with a goal of producing a Tri-lingual Philippines in time (which the Philippines actually should be)
I repeat, Spanish must be made trendy, to make it palatable to an Anglo-Saxonized Filipino. It can meet head-on with what America can offer- after all, it converted me.
A. Make efforts to maintain TVE in the local cables, it disappeared again at Destiny Cable (why?). In fact, efforts should be made to increase the number of Hispanic channels- Canal 9 of Argentina, Univision, etc.
B.
It will be contemporary music which will push Spanish into the mainstream. MTV Latinamerica's prescence here is imperative because this will give it the necessary appeal, it will be the main vehicle that will attract the young. & to promote the notion that a Filipino artist is as Latin as the other Hispanics, they should be included in the line-ups also. Initially, introduce Spanish music video clips in MYX . This will be easy inasmuch as the Lopezes are Hispanistas themselves. I have a strong feeling it will be the likes of Juanes, RBD, Kudai or Axel who will reinvigorate Spanish in the Philippines. Juanes, because his songs & posture are stuffs that Pinoys love. Kudai, their look is reminiscent of current Filipino rebel-types, & their sound is very British pop. Rbd's voice & song in Salvame is almost tailormade for the Philippine masses, semi-Abba, semi-Coors. Axel's love songs are the stuff of Pinoy hits: Tu amor por siempre, Amo, Que estas buscando (almost Christian Bautista/Martin Nievera) & his looks is idol-material, a counterpoint to the Anglo-Saxon idols. Among many others (a good reference is the Top Hits of Chile, they seem to have the same taste as the Filipinos). It's these popular idols who will supplant the friars in the minds of the Filipinos.
C. Sponsor visits/concerts of Spanish & Latinoamerican celebritie
this will bring closer to the Filipinos face-to-face the reality that Spanish doesn't necessarily mean snarling caciques which we read in our history books.
Moreover, this will be commercially viable in the long run. With its growing economy & big population, it will be profitable developing the Philippines market. Besides, with the oncoming Asian Century, they will have a jumping board in the Philippines to the Asian market.
I repeat, when you know Tagalog & English, it’s really easy to learn Spanish. Konting tulog lang. A small price for the great feeling learning a new language brings.