The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-04-18
DIALECT ED|CT STIR PROTESTS
 IN PHILIPPINES
TagalOg Lacks MOdernity
 As New National ,s Language
BY RICHARD c. WILSON United Press Staff Correspondent)

o1 NAN1AND V. WALOON
 United Press Staff CorrespondenD
 Manila, April 18-(UP)-Although President Manuel L. Quezon has de- creed the Tagalog dialact the na- tional language for the Philippines, the controversy which rages in the islands today indicates Spanish and English will continue to be the most commonly used languages.
 Critics of the Commonwealth Presidents selection point out that none of the 87 Malay dialects of the Philippines are sufficiently elas- tic or complete to become na- tional languages. Illustrative of this point was the case of Nicasio Cali pot, postmaster of Santa Cruz, La- guna province. Eager to be the first government servant to use Tagalog in official business, Galipot attempt ed to send a telegram in dialect to the bureau of posts in Manila.
 Galipot, who is a Tagalog, found himself in quandry when he came to the terms "triplicate copies" and records of collections" The post master finally was forced to make his telegram a mixture of Tagalog and English.
 Council Members Fail
 Similarly, the Manila municipal council attempted to conduct a meeting in Tagalog Not one member of the body was able to make a speech completely in the dialect.
 Designation of Tagalog as the national language" does not infer that English and Spanish will be abandoned by the Philippines. Those two languages continue to be the official language" Educational laws make it compulsory for all schools, both public and private, to teach English. That fact probably explains why English is understood by more Filipinos today than any other tongue. Although Spanish still is spoken extensively, it's use has been gradually declining in recent years.
 The circulation of English lan- guage newspapers in the islands greatly exceeds the combined cir culation of Spanish and dialect newspapers.
 Tt will take a long time to make any language truly national in the Philippines" observed the American owned Manila Daily Bulletin. Eng fish comes nearer to being national th0n any other of the numerous lan- gusges spoken here. Time is required to teach a language and more time required to work it into general use.
 Question of Time Argued
 'Even if Tagalog were complete language, with an approved gram mar and comprehensive dictionary, even if there were teachers in suf- ficient number prepared to start teaching it immediately, it still would be utterly impossible to unjty the language and dialects of the Philippines in any way except through many years of work. Adop- tion of a national language is more than a matter of passage of a law and the issuance Of an order"
 Ignoring the lack of Tagalog text books, dictionaries and the incom- pleteness of the dialect, Prof. James c. de Veyra, president of the Ma tional Language Institute at the University of the Philippines, hailed President Quezon's choice. He said Tagalog is easy to grasp.
 However, Prof. de Veyra admitted that the institute had not solved the problem of obtaining teachers to propagate Tagalog. The National Council of Education adopted reso- lution providing for Tagalog to be taught in public school 40 minutes daily, but the resolution had to be set aside until the question of pro- viding teachers could be settled.