For anyone looking for a great class to take, I have a suggestion! Filipino language class.
Filipinos make up one of the largest immigrant communities in the United States. Tagalog is the third most commonly spoken foreign language in America. However, Southeast Asia has only recently been put on the map at Harvard. Up until the fall of 2023, which was the start of my junior year, Harvard had no Filipino language class, let alone classes centered on the Philippines, and very few on the greater Southeast Asian region in general. Thus, as an international student from the Philippines, I was really excited to learn that Harvard would be offering Filipino language classes for the very first time.
Filipino class was something that I was keen on taking. First off, I wanted to support the Filipino language and any Philippine Studies programme if given the chance at Harvard. Second, even though I grew up around Tagalog language speakers, I had not studied Tagalog formally and could barely speak coherently. Perhaps, embarrassingly so. Despite being able to understand the language, I couldn’t really form sentences myself - it was challenging for me to say a full sentence using the proper grammatical structures. Hence, when Filipino was finally introduced to Harvard - a language course Filipino-heritage students have long been advocating for - I decided to start from scratch, taking the beginner Filipino course, and moving up into the intermediate class this semester.
This is a class that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested. The atmosphere of the class is really great - it perfectly captures the Filipino spirit of bayanihan (community). Both the students and our teacher, Ate Lady (older sister), are enthusiastic about diving deeper into the language and Filipino culture. Although I will admit that most students in our class are of Filipino heritage, I can assure you that no matter your background, it is a very warm and welcoming class where you’re sure to learn something new and applicable.
As for the course itself, there are three levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Regardless of which level you are in, which can be determined by the Filipino placement exam, each class provides many opportunities to practice and hone your Filipino skills while also immersing yourself in Philippine culture. Last year, all three class levels helped create an exhibit at the Peabody Museum, which gave us the opportunity to better understand indigenous traditions and history, as well as interact with Philippine cultural artifacts. This semester, we learned about the vocabulary of cooking and recipes, doing our own in-class cooking demonstration and exchanging a variety of classic Filipino food recipes like polvoron, sinigang and lumpia. Not only were we able to apply our learnings to a real-life situation, but many of us also got to experience a slice of home while away here at Harvard.
What has truly inspired me and made me even more excited about the class is how invested and enthusiastic everyone is about learning. I've heard classmates using the language when they visit the Philippines, and perhaps even more importantly, I've seen how impactful it has been for some to communicate with friends and family in their native tongue. As for me, the class has made me feel more in touch with my home community while abroad. I’ve learned a lot from taking Filipino, feeling more immersed in my own culture (which is ironic, given that I am from the Philippines but speak more Filipino here at Harvard), and have made new friends as well!
It is important to me that I can do my part here at Harvard as a member of the Southeast Asian community. I love that I can support the Philippine Studies programme through taking this class, as well as through other avenues, like my senior thesis, to further put Southeast Asia on the map. This language class is not only a great learning experience and a wonderful time, it also makes me excited about my identity, my culture, and the Philippines as a whole!
Finally, the introduction of the Filipino language class actually coincided with new Thai and Bahasa Indonesian language courses. This is part of a broader initiative to offer more Southeast Asian courses here at Harvard. So, if you're even considering taking a class in any Southeast Asian language, including Filipino, my suggestion is—just do it!
