by Francisca Aguirre
This Spring we will be publishing a series of spotlight articles about multilingual students and faculty at DU. These articles are based on interviews that Dr. Kamila Kinyon and a group of multilingual students conducted about interviewees’ lived experiences, including continuing connection to heritage languages, role as writers and teachers at DU, and thoughts about multilingual and multicultural identity. This project is funded by a Faculty Research Fund Grant awarded to Dr. Kinyon for 2023-25. We welcome this opportunity to celebrate DU’s multilingual community.
A fluent speaker of Filipino and English languages, Ynosh Ilagan is a sophomore at DU, pursuing a Biology and Film Studies degree with minors in Math and Theater. A natural extrovert and enthusiast of meeting new people, Ynosh sees his multilingualism as present and fundamental to his role as a campus tour guide, desk assistant, and DUPB member, where he shares a lot of interactions with students of all diversities and ethnicities.
Ynosh, who was born and raised in the Philippines for 17 years, comes from the metropolitan area of the Philippines, where Filipino and English are the official spoken languages. When Ynosh recalls his early language experiences, he emphasizes the dualities of growing up in a bilingual environment where both languages were taught equally in school, as opposed to most of those in non-English-speaking countries who learn English as a secondary language: “Our education is structured in a way that it teaches English as if it were our actual language.” Yet, despite receiving Filipino language instruction at school, Ynosh notes how common it was for most Filipino parents in the city to prioritize their children speaking in English rather than Filipino: “In my case, my parents taught me to speak English at home.” This occurs because for 49 years the Philippines was a colony of the United States, which resulted in the westernization of the educational system.
Despite being taught language in this context, Ynosh developed a stronger connection to his native language, Filipino, when his interest in acting, or, as he says, “acting gigs,” was ignited, as most of the acting roles required him to speak in Filipino: “I would cry about not being able to speak Filipino because I was taught to speak more in English.” It was then that Ynosh decided to embrace his native language and use Filipino as his primary language to speak with friends, family, and in informal interactions. Eventually, this evolved into Ynosh adopting Filipino as his primary language over English.
When talking about his experience speaking both languages, Ynosh highlights how he developed a habit of speaking “Tanglish,” a way of speaking using both Filipino and English words simultaneously: “There are certain English words and phrases that allow conveying certain emotions only through English and vice versa; thus, it becomes easier to speak using both languages.”
Coming to the US as a Filipino immigrant, Ynosh recognizes having a very smooth language transition. Despite having a “thicker accent” and certain difficulty with diction and finding the right English word to speak his mind: “Having started in a customer service summer job and spending my last year of high school in Arkansas, I was able to rack up more English proficiency, confidence, and efficiency.” Having lived for almost 4 years in the US now, Ynosh says English has become more prominent in his everyday interactions, particularly because DU is mostly an English-speaking campus. But his native language is always on his mind. Ynosh desires that there be more spaces or people with whom to speak Filipino at DU: “My language is rich, and I don’t want to forget it; I want to keep preserving my culture with other people, but also in my heart and mind.”
As a multilingual student, Ynosh recognizes that, having learned in an academic environment where English was heavily present in his academic learning, he does not experience the educational challenges of being a non-native English speaker: “Academically, I don’t see the English of learning biology or the lack of Filipino that comes with taking Writing 1133.” He finds his experiences as a student at DU very similar to those back home. Yet, in the social aspect of college, Ynosh recognizes that he sometimes finds himself being self-conscious and scared of sounding incomprehensible or not fluent enough to others: “A lot of the time I have to think more when speaking in English on the spot.”
As part of his student involvement on campus, Ynosh is a member of the Asian Student Alliance at DU, a valuable place to share his Filipino identity and connect with other Filipinos at DU: “Last year I performed with a Filipino friend a traditional Filipino song at ASA’s Anual Expressions Showcase talent show, which was nice in a sense I could share my language.” He finds student alliances to be great spaces for students to connect and share their cultural identities with a community, although he wishes DU could offer more spaces for students, like him, born and raised in a non-American culture, to be supported in their journey towards making DU a place where they can feel close to home, share, and stay connected to their native language and culture.
For Ynosh, multilingualism is the heart of his identity as a student belonging to two cultures that have merged. He sees multilingualism as a powerful drive to build connections with others: “Every time in my tour groups, I find it easier to approach people of color and make them feel welcomed; there is just an easier flow of connecting with people through those experiences unique to those who come from different cultures and speak different languages.”
Ynosh advises other students to know, embrace, and share their culture: “That’s a big thing that makes you, you; it’s good that we’re in this country where people are diverse; it’s like a melting pot of different cultures, in the sense that we are all united because we are all diverse. So know yourself and your culture, and share that with other people.”