Amy Tan Mother Tongue Essay

1200 Words3 Pages

The Essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan focuses on Tan’s perception of the way her mother spoke and how it shaped and ignited her need and love for English. Even with Tan’s advanced Knowledge of the English Language she still found that she spoke on several occasions with her mother's Broken English. That is when she learned that using this form of English could benefit her. Even with the constant negativity and struggle of speaking broken English she thrived and prospered in her field. Because I did not grow up with immigrant parents Language has not affected my life as greatly as it has Amy Tan’s. Language has not affect me as greatly because I was not influenced by my dialect to become a writer, study language or devote my life to learning about different forms of English. Tan had the ability to incorporate her knowledge of both Englishes into her work to connect with more people like herself and make her work appealing towards Immigrant children and parents.

Tan grew up with what she describes as two “Englishes.” The first English she grew up to know was Broken English. This broken English is what …show more content…

I mainly use this for professional reasons or speeches. As I grew older I learned all types of ways to speak the same language to a variety of groups of people, such as strangers, friends, family, Coworkers, bosses, and teachers. For most of these groups I do not alter the way I speak, but for those who are of higher authority I speak to in more of a formal way. I feel that I have to speak to this group of people in a formal way because these are the people who affect my future, whether it's getting high grades from a teacher, making new connections to the world with a new friend, keeping or getting a job when in an interview or at work. The only difference between my dialects is that I speak with more articulation and remove my habit of using my southern terms when speaking formally and leave it be when i'm

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