Film subtitles boost English learning, says Cebu lawmaker

If Hollywood blockbusters shown on the boob tube are dubbed in Filipino, shouldn’t producers of Filipino movies or telenovelas be compelled to have English translations at the bottom of the screen?

This was suggested by a Cebuano lawmaker whose father pushed for the use of English in the previous Congress as the medium of instruction in schools to retain the Filipinos’ advantage in English proficiency in the labor market.

“If we can dub foreign-language telenovelas in Filipino, then surely we can also put English subtitles in locally produced shows,” Assistant Majority Leader Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said in a statement.

“Subtitling will contribute to our learning and use of English, considering the mass appeal of Filipino movies and TV programs.”

Imperative

With the economy dependent on the remittances of overseas Filipino workers—$20 billion a year, or double the annual revenues of call centers—Gullas said it had become imperative for “Filipinos to master English, which is not only the world’s working language but also the language of technology.”

“There’s no question that young Filipinos with superior English skills are bound to enjoy greater opportunities in the technology-driven global labor markets of the future,” he said.

English proficiency

Gullas claimed putting subtitles on Filipino films and TV shows would “help build the average Filipino’s proficiency in the world’s lingua franca.”

Gullas has targeted movies and TV for English translations because Filipinos still spend 13.3 hours a week glued to their TV sets, watching mostly Filipino soap operas and variety and game shows.

Filipinos also spent P1.8 billion last year watching the top 33 highest-grossing Tagalog films in theaters.

In the 15th Congress, former Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas filed a bill to make English the medium of instruction in elementary and high schools, although the regional dialects would be used from preschool to Grade 3.

At present, only college classes have to be in English as required by the Commission on Higher Education.

Why not math?

The elder Gullas claimed students suffered low grades in subjects like social studies, character education and values education after the education department adopted a bilingual policy to use both Filipino and English in elementary and high schools.

The younger Gullas has refiled the bill to reinforce the use of English at all school levels.

Critics claimed that if Gullas wanted to improve the quality of Filipino labor, he should push for the development of math and sciences, rather than focus on a language that would serve only call center needs.—Gil C. Cabacungan