When I started my whole blogging journey from years ago, to promote the country–my country–had been one of my goals. Well, promote in my own way. I wanted people of other nationalities to see Filipinos in a positive light, not just always in the negative:
- Yes, we are third-world, but we do have well-educated “Pinoys” (Filipinos).
- No, we’re not terrorists just because we’re Pinoys, and what a few of us do, they do not necessarily define the Filipino.
- Yes, we are Asians, but we’re not all Chinese, although there are “Chinoys” (Filipino-Chinese).
- Yes, traffic does suck big time in the metro. (Sure, that’s not positive, but you can either choose to be positive or suffer a heart attack getting mad at traffic, right?)
Etcetera…
But it was a more personal blog, too, and I ended up pouring my heart out sometimes and showing too much of my opinionated side. Both were not really bad, plus such fell under my rights as a blogger and an individual, except I was not able to do more.
Now that I’m in WordPress, it has rekindled this urge to let others know what Pinoys are about. I have been slowly trying to do that, except my efforts are still lacking, IMO. So I am to amp the effort some more. And while I aim to promote the Philippines, I will not be so pretentious as to deny anything negative that is going to be brought up. I’d rather explain it clearly than lie or avoid any negative questions that may arise. I’d rather you hear the truth from me.
So in connection with this, I am going to post more Pinoy-related stuff here and all links can be found on my soon-to-be-added page called PH Box. I have already posted a few Pinoy-related stuff before (such as my recent explanation on why Pinoys are said to be good singers, in connection to David DiMuzio‘s vlog post) so the links to them will be there, too. There’ll be articles and blogs. I will be sharing videos, too, that I can find.
Vlogs from popular vloggers like Mikey Bustos (Pinoy) of PinoyBoy Channel and his #MabuhaySquad, Wil Dasovich (half-Pinoy) and the rest of the #VlogSquad, and Kyle “Kulas” Jennermann (Honorary Pinoy) of Becoming Filipino channel, and some others will be shared from time to time. Feel free to check out their vlogs now, if you want.
So for “opening salvo”, I am sharing this viral video called 8 Days in the Philippines. This is by Nuseir Yassin, a.k.a. Nas, known for the videos he creates for Nas Daily, particularly his travel vlogs. Eight minutes seem long, but I promise you, you won’t regret watching it. It shows some of the good in this country, as well as some of the bad.
Now, just to let you know more of my people, here’s a kind of intro from comedian-vlogger (not to mention, Canadian Idol alumnus) Mikey Bustos, known for his parodies and wonderful efforts to show the Filipinos to the world. He does a Moana parody, so check it out! 😉
Any questions about the stuff you’ve seen here, like do we really all speak English? Just ask. I will answer honestly 🙂
Oh, and (not) sorry for the many links because we do have to give credit to people, correct? 😉
The End Justifies the Journey 
I’ve actually not met many Filipinos in real life. Of those I’ve met, many come across as Americanised – they tend to speak good English like an American and well educated too – and also very driven in terms of personality, very out there to say the least. Not that that is a bad thing. Haha, Chinese Filipino. I’ve heard that somewhere before. Maybe all of us are closer than we think 😀
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“they tend to speak good English like an American”
If you mean that they actually sound American, well, most of them didn’t sound like that before. Maybe they pronounced words well and they already had good diction, but the more common accent/tone here when speaking in English is different. (Sometimes, I’d watch Asian-looking people being interviewed abroad and immediately, I’d know they’re Pinoys). I think they become American-sounding because even without intending to, many have the tendency to adapt to the people they mostly talk to. Filipinos are great in adapting.
If you get to watch that vid of Mikey’s, you’ll sometimes hear him speak in a non-American accent/tone, even pronunciation (though he’s from Canada, but well, no difference in accent, I think). That’s how Pinoys here regularly sound when they speak in English. Don’t worry, I’ll share something next week so you’ll understand better. 🙂
Chinese-Filipino. I’m sure you have heard it before, probably from other bloggers, maybe even me, maybe your Pinoy acquaintances. The Chinese, being real traders at heart, came here long before the Spanish conquistadors. Many of the rich here are actually often pure Chinese or half-/part-Chinese.
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Yeah, I do mean they sound American. A Filipino once told me that they grew up with a lot of American TV and movies in the 90s (e.g. Friends) and that’s why they sound that way, and their English sounds good. Haha, I would love to watch the YouTube you shared but darn internet data limits 😀
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It’s true. Until their generation, we grew up watching English shows (mainly American). Those were times when anything non-Filipino was either already in English or dubbed in English. I learned better English that way, aside from learning it in school. Nowadays, every animation is dubbed in Filipino, most movies/shows on TV are also dubbed in Filipino. That is why this new generation’s English is not so good anymore…Oh, this is another idea for a blogpost! 😉
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It is interesting to hear that Filipinos these days are embracing their heritage and language. That is what I feel from the many Filipinos here in Australia – they speak American English, but they tend to speak their own language amongst each other 😀
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That’s good to know. It’s probably because they mostly grew up here in the first place.
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