Leitmeritz, Bohemia, Austria
Blumentritt is saddened by Rizal’s departure for his native land: “Don’t go to the Philippines but to Madrid where you can serve your country better.” – He believes that Tagalog, Bisayan, and Ilocano will absorb all the rest of the dialects – It is good for Spanish to be the official language to provide a common bond.
* * *
Leitmeritz, Bohemia, Austria
23 July 1890
Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt
My Brother,
Your letter of the 20th brings me sad news: You are going to your beloved country and I shall not see you before your departure. I’m a fatalist in many things and so I believe that we shall not see each other again in this world. But I’m sorry that the hope of seeing you here this year that we have so long cherished will not be realized. When I learned of the arrival of Serrano, this hope was revived, because I thought both of you would come together. “May God keep you, it might have been so pleasant, but it could not be.”
Don’t go to the Philippines [but] to Madrid where you can render better services than in Calamba to your country, as well as to your family in these sad times. With great pleasure I would join you, Ponce, Pilar, and Serrano, but it is absolutely impossible this year, even if I had the necessary nervus rerum gerendarum, because I believe that my nerves cannot stand the vibrations of the train in such a long trip.
With reference to the language situation in the Philippines I believe that Tagalog, Bisayan, Ilocano (and perhaps Pangasinan and Bikol) will absorb all of the languages there. This will happen soon with regard to many of the languages. I don’t have the slightest doubt that if the Jesuits will continue favoring the Bisayan as the language of the church and school, the Christians and the pagan youth of the towns will become truly Bisayan.
The great danger lies in this: If the population of the Philippines is finally reduced to three or five nations, the mutual fear and distrust between them can easily lead to the dissolution of the common bond. Consequently it is good for Spanish, being a neutral language, to play the role of interpreter, of an official language. There should be undertaken a propaganda for the diffusion of the Spanish language. Through the medium of Spanish, the Filipino keeps up his connection with the European circle of ideas to which he presently belongs. Also, Humboldt’s phrase is pertinent here: “As many languages a man possesses, as many times is he a man.” Besides this, it is an indisputable fact that the Filipinos possesses a phenomenal gifts for languages. Filipinos should need [not] confuse a wide knowledge of Spanish with contempt for the native tongue. To my mind that would be a crime. On the contrary, they should assiduously cultivate their languages and purge them of foreign element which might be superfluous. The political language of the country should be Spanish and the literary language Tagalog, in the same way that Latin played the role of Spanish among us Germans during the Middle Ages, while our poets sang the Nibelungenlied, Gudrum, etc. in the sweet maternal tongue. The Filipinos should follow the example of the Catalan singing societies. Philippine languages seem to have been created for poetry, for its richness in vowels makes them so sonorous.
The German botanist Wallis also says: “Among the Philippine languages, Tagalog is the best developed, at the same time sonorous and harmonious.” Wallis knew many Malayans, Indochinese, and South American languages. And Quioquiap…!
Cordial greetings to Serrano from me.
An embrace of your
Blumentritt
03-563 [Reformists]