![]() The author has a PhD in English from the University of Maryland. In this general line of language, Google Translate offers this as Filipino options for English "apology": And it may be true that Filipino conventional unapologies are more transparently not actually apologies at all - perhaps some readers who know Filipino can comment on this.īut surely Tagalog would allow the president to say things like "I made a mistake", or "I failed to prepare adequately for this situation", or "I ask you to pardon me for what I did (or for what I failed to so)", if he wanted to do so. It's true that the conventional English phrase "I'm sorry" is often used in unapologies whose content amounts to saying "I'm sorry that you've chosen to take offense at something that was not my fault and anyhow was not wrong and maybe didn't even happen at all". But it is important for the people in Hong Kong to understand that it is lingually impossible for a Filipino to apologize in the British or American sense, because the words for admitting fault do not exist in Tagalog or Filipino. Needless to say, there may be political or lingual reasons for Aquino's reticence when it comes to apologizing to Hong Kong. It's important to note that the personal pronoun used is in second person, not the first. There is no word for "sorry" or "apology." When Filipinos are at fault, they say in Tagalog or Filipino, "Pasensiya na." That literally translates into, "Please forget your anger" or "Please let it go". There is something peculiar about the Tagalog and even the Filipino language. The refusal so far of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to issue a formal apology for the hostage-taking incident in Manila in August, 2010, in which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed, may be blamed partly on a lingual misunderstanding.Īquino's mother tongue is Tagalog, once the national language of the Philippines, now replaced by Filipino, which is based on it. Cruz, " Lingual misunderstanding to blame for refusal to apologize?", China Daily : On the other hand, the 1920s saw the decline of many reform activities that had been so widespread after 1900.Following up on yesterday's " No word for rape" post, several readers have pointed me to another recent addition for the "No word for X" archive, namely Isagani R. Americans fell in love with the automobile, which radically changed their way of life. The major growth industry was automobile manufacturing. ![]() The incomes of working people increased along with those of middle class and wealthier Americans. The 1920s, also known as the "roaring twenties" and as "the new era," were similar to the Progressive Era in that America continued its economic growth and prosperity. Soon after the Great War, the majority of Americans turned away from concern about foreign affairs, adopting an attitude of live and let live. In 1917, the United States joined Great Britain and France-two democratic nations-in their war against autocratic Germany and Austria-Hungary. Abroad, it meant trying to make the world safe for democracy. ![]() At home, this meant expanding the right to vote to women and a number of election reforms such as the recall, referendum, and direct election of Senators. This generation of Americans also hoped to make the world a more democratic place. Alice Burke and Nell Richardson in the suffrage automobile "Golden Flyer" in which they will drive from New York to San Francisco. Many progressives were also concerned with the environment and conservation of resources. They worked to clean up corrupt city governments, to improve working conditions in factories, and to better living conditions for those who lived in slum areas, a large number of whom were recent immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. They tried to make big business more responsible through regulations of various kinds. The progressives, as they called themselves, worked to make American society a better and safer place in which to live. The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States.
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