SONA in Tagalog, except when Noynoy coughs

President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address lasted for about an hour and a half, his longest in three years. That is also about how long members of the diplomatic corps endured the presidential speech.

Noynoy delivered his speech entirely in Tagalog except for the few times he had to cough and say “excuse me.” Those were probably the only two words that the diplomatic corps understood throughout the whole ordeal.

Why Noynoy has to deliver his SONA everytime in Tagalog escapes me. The SONA is not just the most important speech a president can deliver to his people, it is also the most important policy statement from the leader of a nation that the rest of the world pays attention to.

To be sure, the members of the diplomatic corps were given English translations of the speech. But there is a whale of a difference in listening to it spoken live and understanding it immediately.

Besides, it is a matter of courtesy that when you invite guests to your house, you have the responsibly to make them feel comfortable and accepted. One way of conveying that message is in the manner you talk to them.

For example, if you have an American for a guest in your house, you do not talk to your wife or some other member of the family in front of the American in a language that he does not understand.

I have nothing against Tagalog. And while I would admit to some difficulty in speaking the language, I do understand it almost perfectly. I find it fascinating, just as I do the other Philippine languages that are fairly within my grasp comprehending.

It is just that I find it more practical and appropriate for the president to deliver his SONA in English. Noynoy may think it is more patriotic and nationalistic to use Tagalog, but he should be told patriotism and nationalism do not rise or fall on the language of a speech.

It does not advance the cause of patriotism and nationalism one bit to deliver the SONA in Tagalog. It is the content of the speech that matters. And for the content of that speech to matter, it needs to be universally understood by everyone.

Perhaps Noynoy has forgotten that he is the president of an increasingly young country, where more than half the population is below 35 years of age and that most young people, for reasons that are entirely their own, have chosen to prefer speaking and communicating in English.

From what we saw on television, it would appear that Noynoy was addressing only the joint session of Congress, most of whose members were there only for the Oscars red carpet-like atmosphere than given to listening to what Noynoy had to say, which they can read later anyway.

But in truth and in fact, Noynoy was addressing the entire nation and much of the world that cared to listen. But how can Noynoy make himself understood to the English-speaking youth, the one sector to whom the future matters, as embodied by the essence of his SONA?

A SONA can only be as good and as significant as the extent by which its message is fully grasped by those who hear it. Between English and Tagalog, it is a no-brainer which is more widely understood, both in this country and abroad.

There are hundreds of speaking opportunities that Noynoy can have in the course of his six-year term. And I do not care if he speaks in Tagalog in all of them. But for the SONA, the president should speak in English. It is almost bad manners if he does not.