Expert: Ralph Salier - 1/29/2011

Question
Greetings!

We are Mass Communication students from the Philippines, and we would like to know the opinion of an international expert regarding the Filipino-American Students who choose to study in the 3rd-world country such as the Philippines for our Journalism class.

They are half Filipino’s and half American’s who actually first time to study here in our country, even though they already know that there country where they came from is a progressive country.  These interviews seek to know if what the effects of it when the Filipino-American students like them  adopted the new environment.

We are hoping for your immediately response.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Dhez

Questions:
1. What period did Fil-Am’s Start to study in the Philippines?
2. When did the population of Fil-am’s begin to increase and why do you think so?
3. Do you think that they can easily understand and use the Filipino language?
4.  Does the culture here in the Philippines might have a big influence to the Fil-ams?
5. Why do you think Fil-ams chose to study in a 3rd-world country such as Philippines?
6. What are the common problems that they encounter during they stay here in the Philippines?
7. How does Fil-ams adapt to the Filipino beliefs, folkways, language. Etc.?
8. What are the disadvantages of Fil-ams if they study in the Philippines?
9. How does their stay in the Philippines affect their cultural development?
10. What do they earn or improve while studying here?"

Answer
I will try  to answer these but this is not an area of expertise for me.  I apologize that I may not be able to answer all of your questions.

1) I do not know
2) It probably began during WWII when the Americans helped to rid the Philippines of the Japanese and then stayed.  The American service members had children with local women and this was the start of the trend.
3) If they were born and raised for a time in the Philippines then they would have learned it from their environment as children do.  If they grew up else where then they would have learned it from their parents.
4) That depends on where they live.  If they live in the Philippines then yes of course.  If not then only by virtue of how much influence the mother inparts on the child.
5) I do not know
6) cultural conflicts between American and Philippino culture
7) Generally this will depend on how strongly they have been taught alternative values and how the mother would have taught the child.
8) None that I am aware of
9) Multi-cultural people have a great advantage over most others as it provides a much better understanding of the broader world.
10) This broader cultural understanding.