Mary21976
I’m a Filipino girl living in Canada, and my language situation is very similar to yours – my family lives in a mostly white suburb, I speak English and understand Tagalog but don’t speak it. However, other Filipinos who we know here don’t really frown upon the fact that I don’t speak Tagalog; it’s more of a curiosity than something they disapprove of.
I have mixed feelings – before, I didn’t really mind not speaking Tagalog, as I didn’t encounter a lot of Filipinos at school and English worked just as well at home. However, now that I’m older, I feel that knowing another language would really open up new worlds for me. I could probably speak it if I wanted to and tried hard enough, but I feel kind of embarrassed now to really try. It’s been too long without it, and I’m certainly not used to it.