The speech I wrote was revised from the Manifesto of a Filipino Creative. It is spoken in Tagalog, the national dialect of the Philippines. For context, it is spoken and written for fellow Filipino creatives and the youth who wants to explore the world of creativity. The basis of the manifesto is being proud of our culture and applying it onto our creative endeavours. I tried this speech said without reading too much on the written version and speak it by heart. It didn’t work quite easily as I thought. The most surprising part of this process is that, it is not any easier writing in my own language, nor speaking my language formally. It is definitely a more conversational language. I definitely ended up using some English words to feel a little bit more comfortable delivering the message to my audience. Whereas, conversationally, I find English to be quite difficult. I also realized that to moment I spoke in my language in a formal sense, and inserted polite terms such as “po” and “opo”, pulled me towards a polite tone. It is a very Filipino trait that are often pointed out by non-Filipino people.

https://youtu.be/auptgLeeqLg

Edit: Above is a 2-minute version of the speech from above.