DISCLAIMER: Although this is a post about English, I would like to apologize if there would be errors on this post, spelling, grammar, thought. I like typing things off the top of my head, like a stream-of-consciousness thing and there are times I won't be able to notice such errors, unless I've read the whole thing over and over again. Sometimes I'd skip or repeat a word, excuse me for that. I do "live edits" which I edit the post after I've posted it. Sometimes I would add or annotate, but it won't change the whole thing. So, I apologize as early as now, for anything "wrong" you're about to read. If you were to nitpick on my OpEd, that's totally fine. Do what you must, but please consider the points I've aforementioned. You have the prerogative to speak up and tell me your opinions, but do not just say you have one by twisting mine. I wrote this not to insult or belittle people, on the contrary, I just want people to realize that's it's easy, you just need to WANT it enough for you to learn it.

Everyone has the potential to learn, understand, and speak English. It's just not going to come out by complaining, it's about harnessing knowledge from your resources, and honing it.

If you think this post insulting, you're proving the point made by that headline up there.

"Did I said I'm only interested with because of other things in mind?" said a guy who claimed to have an "8.5 bands in IELTS" and then told me after I called him out that it's "fine" to talk like that because it was an "informal" conversation.

I don't get the unnecessary "flex" of the IELTS band, to be more blunt, I haven't even reviewed for mine since my work does not exactly 'require' such test to be taken. But what truly irked me were two things: (1.) Is his indirect excuse for the grammar that it was just an informal conversation, and (2.) He assumed that I was "good" in English because I work/I've worked for a BPO.

First point, what he's said and that I've quoted was so bad, it felt like graffiti that I just want to paint over with anything. It was wrong in so many ways, and he found it "acceptable" because we ain't at work nor it was a business conversation.

This excuse, I'm sorry, is something that tolerates the incompetence of most people who need to learn and practice English and THEN complain about not landing a job, let alone passing the interview. Unless it's used as a satire, irony, or just plain sarcasm and mockery, there is no excuse for you to say, "it's okay" to have blatant grammatical errors and THEN brag about being good in English.

Second point, I've been fairly good in English since I was a kid. I know I have my lapses, I know I don't have perfect grammar, but at least if someone pointed it out, I'd be okay with it and not get salty about it.

Sidebar: When I was a kid, I used to watch tons of shows and movies because we had cable TV and we used to own/rent movies a lot because my parents both loved watching movies. It helped me learn English, how words are said, and when they could be applied. From all the cartoons, to All That, to Art Attack, to Matilda, to Mrs. Doubtfire, shows on National Geographic, Discovery Channel-- I've learned how to speak and understand English.

Unlike most people, I'm not fond of novels but I do liked reading textbooks. My mom's accounting books, my brother's medical books, law books, and a lot more. I wasn't really a voracious reader, but I liked learning. From learning visually, through movies and TV shows, I've adapted to learning through technical writing and expressing thoughts in a more concise manner.

From then on, I've won multiple competitions, both in speaking and writing, was a part of the school paper and represented for our school in press conferences, been part of the Rotary Club, been a guest speaker, and taught seminars, worked alongside local and international entrepreneurs, and have had multiple published articles, stories, and write ups, and voice-over, and voice-acting work.

You might think I'm "flexing" here but I've just mentioned all of those to make a point: I learned English by watching TV and movies, read and wrote in English, and practiced it, used it, got paid for it AS OFTEN AS I POSSIBLY CAN.

I've worked in a BPO, yes. Not as an agent, and I would never be ashamed of that, but I've worked for one because I already spoke English, not for me to learn it, which usually is the case amongst those who started by pronouncing internet as "IN-ter-net" and now just glides through the "iner-net".

So, I found it truly insulting (no hate towards people who work for BPOs), that my decades of hard work and experience have just been deduced to "BPO experience" as his defense as to why I spoke English fluently.

When I read this headline, I wasn't surprised, but more... disappointed. In this day in age, where almost everything is at your fingertips, most people still fail to learn and practice English.

So my question is,

How the fuck did that happen?

The Philippines is a country blessed with multiple languages--dialects, but what's common to those who study is our stride to learn English, which will pave the way to our future globalization.

From your meek days at the day care center, to kinder, grade school, high school, senior high school, and even in college, English is being taught. Because it transcends the differences in dialects amongst the multiple regions in the Philippines. When you say, "Hi." or "Hello." you'd know what it means, but if you say it in an unfamiliar dialect of a native speaker, then there might be confusion, or worse, a misunderstanding.

This is why it is such an edge for Filipinos to learn English. It's not because I adore or patronize colonialism (I know those snarky comments), but this expands the horizons of the Filipinos across the globe, a reach farther than our peninsula, with just a few words.

Will continue this later.