Sa Aking Mga Kabata

"Sa Aking Mga Kabatà" (English: To My Fellow Youth) is a poem about the love of one's native language written in Tagalog.[1] A passage of the poem often paraphrased as "Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, masahol pa sa hayop at malansang isda" (English: "He who knows not to love his own language, is worse than beasts and putrid fish") is widely quoted in order to justify pressuring Philippine citizens into using Tagalog; this ironically includes its majority of nonnative speakers.In the oft-quoted anecdote of the moth and the flame from Rizal's memoir, the children's book he and his mother were reading was entitled El Amigo de los Niños, and it was in Spanish.[5][10] Rizal also attempted to write Makamisa (the intended sequel to El filibusterismo) in Tagalog, only to give up after only ten pages and start again in Spanish.[5][7] In his memoir as a student in Manila, a year after the poem's supposed writing date, he admitted only having 'a little' knowledge of Latin from lessons by a friend of his father.If a nation's people certainly love The gift of their language bestowed by heaven, So too will they regain their pawned freedom Like a bird who takes to the sky.For language is a measure of worth Of cities, nations, and kingdoms, And each person alike deserves it, As does any creation born free.
The oldest known copy of the poem appears in Kun sino ang kumathâ ng̃ "Florante": kasaysayan sa buhay ni Francisco Baltazar at pag-uulat nang kanyang karunung̃a't kadakilaan (1906) by Hermenegildo Cruz . Note that the poem uses the Philippine Commonwealth -era Tagalog spelling with a 'K'. If Rizal had indeed written it, it should have used the phonetically equivalent Spanish 'C'.
The abakada in Baybayin , a native script of the Tagalog language . This script is perhaps alluded to by the author in the last stanza of the poem.
native languageTagalogFilipinonational heroJosé RizalHermenegildo CruzPhilippine CommonwealthSpanishnationalisticpressuringPhilippine citizensnonnative speakersFilipino languagePascual H. PobleteNoli Me TangereAustin CoatesJuan LunaNational Historical InstituteexecutionsMariano GómezJosé Apolonio BurgosJacinto ZamoraAmbeth OcampoNational Artist of the PhilippinesVirgilio S. AlmarioMarcelo H. del PilarFriedrich SchillerWilliam TellPacianoMakamisaEl filibusterismoEnglishManilaAmerican Commonwealth of the PhilippinesSpanish orthographyLope K. SantosabakadaBaybayinTagalog languagestanzaA la juventud filipinaCode of KalantiawKundimanOcampo, AmbethPhilippine Daily InquirerPoblete, Pascual H.Teodora Alonso RealondaFrancisco Rizal MercadoSaturnina HidalgoPaciano RizalTrinidad RizalJosephine BrackenDelfina Herbosa de NatividadGemma Cruz AranetaTeodoro HerbosaAteneo Municipal de ManilaUniversity of Santo TomasUniversidad Central de MadridUniversity of ParisUniversity of HeidelbergNoli Me TángereHimno al trabajoMi último adiósEl Consejo de los DiosesThe Turtle and the MonkeyFilipinas dentro de cien añosThe Triumph of Science over DeathSobre la indolencia de los filipinosInternational Association of FilipinologistsLa liga filipinaLa solidaridadLa vida de José RizalRizal sa DapitanBayaning 3rd WorldHeneral LunaGomBurZaBayaniKatipunanIlustradoVida y Escritos del Dr. José RizalThe First FilipinoRizal Without the OvercoatBust of José RizalGlobal FellowshipKnights of RizalMaría ClaraNew Calamba, North BorneoPhilippine ₱1 coinPhilippine ₱2 noteRizal DayRizal LawRizalista religious movementsIglesia Watawat ng LahiMonumentShrineDapitanKatipunan, Zamboanga del NorteMadridEncarnacion AlzonaTomás N. AlonsoHarold AugenbraumCharles DerbyshireMaria Odulio de GuzmanFrank Ernest GannettLeón María Guerrero IIINick JoaquinPatricio MarianoCamilo Osías