The Shift of the First Language During Migration

Abstract

Nine teenage Filipino-Germans were challenged to learn two languages when they moved to Dumaguete City, Philippines. These German native speakers were born in Germany and migrated to the Philippines with their German fathers and Filipino mothers. In this new environment, they have been exposed to communicating in Cebuano, the dominant language, and develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing English skills in school. The Can-do Scale test of Keijzer (2007) demonstrates their ability to learn a second language, with all responders willing to read, speak, and write in Cebuano and English. Short-term Filipino-Germans (who stayed in the Philippines for less than five years) prefer to listen to German on the radio or television, while long-term respondents (those who lived in the Philippines for more than five years) with dwindling German vocabulary favor listening to Cebuano and English. The study concludes that German respondents have gradually acquired Cebuano and English through time. The long-term migrants have forgotten their first language, as seen in their reading, speaking and writing skills. In contrast, the short-term migrants are still proficient in their first language despite the competition of the other two languages.