There is a saying that language is the soul of a society. It is the entity that nourishes the communication process. Nowadays, teachers, professors and other specialists in the field of education debate on the efficiency of teaching science in terms of the Filipino language. As a result, a new generation of science books was born. These are the science books which were written in the Filipino language. One of these books was Dr. Florentino Sumera's “Kemistri ng Karbon”. Join me as we explore the visions and goals of this book and how it can help you to survive one of the most challenging subjects in the realm of chemistry.

“Minabuti (ko) ng may akda na hindi gumamit ng mga salitang inimbento upang maging katanggap-tanggap ang aklat sa mga estudyante. Bagamat may ilan- ilang mga salitang hiram na ipinanukala ang kabuuan ay inaasahang katanggap-tanggap sa mga gagamit nito. Kung ang aklat ay makatanggap ng magandang puna , binabalak (ko) ng may akda na payabungin ito upang maging isang aklat na nararapat sa estudyanteng magpapatuloy sa pag-aaral ng kemistri.”

According to Dr. Sumera, “Kemistri ng Karbon” is written for the students that would need knowledge of organic chemistry in their respective fields. These fields include: Material science, biology, molecular biology, chemical engineering, food technology, medicine and the like.

There are four major goals that this book tries to achieve. These include: 1) To provide an alternative way of teaching organic chemistry to us the Filipino student; 2) To provide a low cost book in the said subject; 3) To promote the Filipino language in the field of science, and lastly, 4) To encourage other scientists to write a science book for the betterment of the Filipino masses.

However, like any other attempts of writing a book, there are obstacles and challenges that need to be faced and surpassed.

One of these is the nature of the subject itself. Organic chemistry is field of science that has a lot of foreign terms; translation or the equivalent Filipino terms are very difficult to find and be established. As a result, the author has decided to adopt some of the foreign words. “Minabuti (ko) ng may akda na hindi gumamit ng mga salitang inimbento upang maging katanggap-tanggap ang aklat sa mga estudyante. Bagamat may ilan- ilang mga salitang hiram na ipinanukala ang kabuuan ay inaasahang katanggap-tanggap sa mga gagamit nito. Kung ang aklat ay makatanggap ng magandang puna , binabalak (ko) ng may akda na payabungin ito upang maging isang aklat na nararapat sa estudyanteng magpapatuloy sa pag-aaral ng kemistri.”

I have already seen the book and some of the terms are really acceptable. Some of these include: pagkasunog (combustion), kompuwesto (compound), and sipatan (projection). Maybe you would wonder how I know such words. This is because the author himself has provided a dictionary of Filipino-English and vice versa so that the student could readily see English counterparts of the Filipino words being used.

Maybe another thing that would puzzle you is how the book is written. Dr. Sumera had elaborated the steps in writing the book. “Ang mga hakbang na ginawa sa pagsulat ay ang mga sumusunod: 1. inendentipika ang mga leksiyon na ginagamit sa pagtuturo ng Surian ng Kemistri, 2. isinulat ang bawat kapitulo ng may maikling panimula at sa bawat grupong kemikal ay tinalakay ang a) katawagan, b) kayarian, c) katangiang pisikal, d) paraan ng sintesis, e) katangiang kemikal. 3) Nilagyan ng pagsasanay ng katanungan ang bawat kapitulo upang lubos na maintindihan ang paksa. 4) Nilagyan ng halimbawang pagsusulit upang magamit sa pagbabalik-aral. 5) Nagdagdag ng paksa tungkol sa ispektroskopi ng mga kompuwesto ng karbon upang magkaroon ng kabuuan ang aklat. 6) Upang hindi maging sagabal ang paghahanap ng mga salitang isinalin, minabuting maglagay ng talatinigang Filipino-Ingles at Ingles Filipino sa mga huling pahina.”

In addition to this, the book also contains a cd rom in which through internet connections, you may visualize the mechanism of the reactions. It also contains some facts about famous organic chemists like Markonikov.

This book is really interesting; you could easily understand organic chemistry. Also if you were a student of UP-Diliman and currently taking up Chem 31 or Chem33, it would be handy to have one in your shelves. I've said it because the content material of this book is very similar to the course outline of organic chemistry in UP-Diliman.

If you are interested, the book is available at Dr. Florentino Sumera's Office at the Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines Diliman. Each copy of the book costs P500. The price is very reasonable compared to other imported texts that costs P1500. Note that you can save a lot from this book. It is just 33.33% of P1500.