Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis

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Different Englishes “I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with,” Amy Tan says in her essay “Mother Tongue” (268). Tan is referring to the fact that she varies her type of language based on her audience. Once Tan realized this, she began to write books with her different types of English, instead of just using one kind of English for writing books. Tan was born in America to parents who were a Chinese immigrants. English was Tan’s mother’s second language, so as a result, Tan grows up in a house where English isn’t perfect. Tan learns to speak different types of English with different groups of people. Tan’s personal life examples of different Englishes shows the idea that all people have several different types of English. …show more content…

Tan uses this when she wants to appear sophisticated. This English is worded properly according to grammar rules, verb tense and vocabulary meaning. Tan says when she answers the phone for her mother, she sounds polite and sophisticated (264). “Yes, I’m getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send me the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived,” Tan says as she talks to her mother’s stockbroker on the phone for her mom (265). This is how Tan talks when she is dealing with business for her mother. She wants to appear highly knowledgeable and versed in the English language, so she is careful about how she words her sentences, in order that it sounds perfect. I also use perfect English. I use this English when I’m composing emails to important people such as college admission counselors, college swim coaches, and professors. A couple sentences in an email to a college swim coach might be: “When would be the best time to set up a phone call? I would love to schedule a call to chat about the swim program you run.” I take the time to check that my English is perfect, because I need to leave an excellent impression on certain people. Making sure there are no errors shows that I’m educated and draws a positive reaction. Tan and I both vary our Englishes to appear perfect to certain

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