By: Sara Susanne D. FabunanA darte voy alegre la triste mu
stia vida, Y fuera más brillante, más fresca, más florida,También por ti la diera, la diera por tu bien.
Who can forget the Last Far
ewell of the Philippine National hero Dr. Jose Rizal?
When you hear even just the first few line of his last words, you can
determine that it is the famous Mi Ultimo Adios.
Anne De Leon, 57 years old, a retired travel agent, recalled that when sh
e was in 4th year high school, they have to memorize the Mi Ultimo Adios before she can graduate.
“The study of
the literary compositions, novel and life of Rizal was really integrated in our curriculum from Grade six until College… I remember, we can’t graduate not unless we can memorize and recite fully the Mi Ultimo Adios” she recalled adding that because of the thorough study she can still remember fully the poem.
She said that during her time, the curriculum was an exhaustive stud
y about Rizal; from the time he grew up in Laguna until he was transferred in Manila to study in Letran and Ateneo Municipal or the now Ateneo de Manila in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City unti
l he was executed in For Santiago in Intramuros, Manila.
“He is a very intelligent man and he is very nationalistic. Most of his writing has a little foresight. In his writing you can realized that there are some suggestions of what people should do to develop themselves and most of all, he is advocating
education” De leon said in an interview.
She added that during her time, they have to write a summary on how they understood his two popular novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
According to Instituto de Cervantes, the Mi Ultimo Adios, aside
from being popular in the Philippines, is also considered as the most translated patriotic poem in the whole world.
As of the y
ear 2005, there were at least 35 popular English versions and translations that was published globally, 46 Filipino langu
ages and has been interpreted into at least 38 other languages such as Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean to name a few.
“Poetry delivers messages and evokes our e
motions. It provides us great wisdom, a moment of clarity, and extracts deep thoughts” the only Spanish Cultural center in the country director Jose’ Rodriguez said in his speech during the Dia del Español or the Day of the Spanish language celebration in Instituto Cervantes in TM Kalaw, Manila.
To recall our history, the Mi Ultino Adios of Rizal was originally written unsigned, untitled and undated poem of 14 five-line stanzas. It was during the afternoon, a day before his ex
ecution on December 29, 1896 when Rizal handed the small alcohol stove or cocinilla to his sister Trinidad and told her in English that there was something inside the stove.
In line with the Dia del Español or the Day of the Spanish language
celebration, the Instituto Cervantes in tribute to the birth of Rizal, today, June 19, hold the first and largest Spanish choral reading of Mi Ultimo Adios or Huling Paalam in Tagalog.
“This is our tribute to Jose Rizal. Many of the great works
in Philippine literature were written in the Spanish language during the Spanish period and the first half of the 20th century. And Rizal’s Masterpieces are, definitely, no exception”, Rodriguez said.
“Jose Rizal perhaps one of the most influential Filipinos of all ti
me, but also to one of the most prolific writers in the Fil-Hispanic literature” he added.
To commemorate his writings, some 150 Spanish language enthus
iasts, Spanish Students, member of diplomatic course and the curious in general performed the first and largest Spanish choral reading of Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios in Spanish.
One of the readers who has participated the choral was Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Teddy Casiño.
“Kita sa tula ang kanyang puso, pagasa at pagmamahal sa bay
an kahit siya ay mamatay na… Mas maganda ang tono [when
we utter in Spanish]. Kahit papaano malalasap mo kung papaano iniisip ni Rizal yung maganda basahin sa original na language” Casiño told the reporters at the sideline of the event.
Rodriguez said that since Rizal [former surname Mercado] came from a very rich clan, he was fluent with the Spanish language. And noticing his literatures we can see all of his novels were written in Spanish.
“We are paying tribute to the language of Rizal” he added, urging all Filipinos to learn to speak the Spanish language.
He said that learning the language, individual may understan
d fully how deep the formation of every words used in the
writings of Rizal.
Rodriguez said that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world in terms of native speakers and the second largest language for international communication.
There were 450 million people speak Spanish worldwide; around 14 million students study Spanish as a foreign language.
In 2007, there were around 237,000 students travelled to Spain to learn Spanish.
Also base from the data collected in 2005, English, French, Spanish and German, are the most studied foreign languages.
Rodqiguez projected that by 2030, 7.5 percent of the world population or 535 million people will speak Spanish.
“This percentage is significantly higher than that for Russian with 2.2 percent; French with 1.4 percent and German, 1.2 percent. By that time only Chinese native speakers will outnumber Spanish native speakers in the world.
“We are all taking part in this international fiesta to promote an ongoing effort to raise awareness about the importance of Spanish and to establish a meeting point for all Spanish speakers,” Rodriguez said in parting words during his speech in El Dia Español or Day of Spanish language celebration.
The Day of Spanish language was celebrated simultaneously all
over the world, after the choral reading of the poem of Rizal, it was followed with the traditional “shower words” from the Insti
tuto Cervantes façade and run throughout the day with a full program of cultural activities for all audience
El Dia Español is organized by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines, Spanish Agency International Cooperation for Development (AECID), Light Railway Transit Authority (LRTA) and Casino
Español de Manila.
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