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Amy tan mother tongue
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Amy tan mother tongue analysis
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Life is tough when one doesn’t speak the native language or is new to a country. “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan is written in a first person point of view that tells the audience a story of a non-English speaker.Tan states the difficulty for her mother to communicate with another because people disrespect her mother. The presupposition that people treat one differently or without respect when one doesn’t speak English is a categorical truth. Tan’s purpose is to share her story and give the audience the message of how tough life is for non-English speaker, and that one has to work hard to achieve success, therefore non-English speaker deserve the same respect as other people.
In the article “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, she share her experience with different types of English that she uses with her
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mother, and at school. Tan believes that her mother’s English is perfect. The way her mother speak makes the world more clearly, and thoughtful. According to Tan, “Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (Tan 491). Tan states that her mother English was perfect, and easy to understand. Tan wants to show the audience the beauty of English, and how one can express oneself through the way one talks. Tan is not ashamed of her mother’s English, she is proud of the way her mother express herself. Tan’s purpose is to show the native speaker how tough life can be for non-English speakers, because one have to work hard to become successful. According to Tan, “ While my English skills were never judged poor, compared with math, English could not be considered my strong suit” (Tan 492). Although English was not Tan’s best subject, she continues to study English in college, which leads to success. Tan’s book became the best selling book, and is easy for her mother to read. In “Mother Tongue”, Tan shared a story of herself as a child of a Chinese parents who doesn’t know English or speak very little of it. Tan states that “The fact that people in department stores, at the bank, and in restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended to not understand her or even acted as if they did not hear her” (Tan 491). Tan indicates that people disrespect her mother because her mother’s English is imperfect. Throughout highschool,Tan has to help her mother translate or pretend to be her mother, and complaints. Tan states that “When I was a teenager, she used to have me call people on the phone and pretend I was her. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her” (Tan 491). Tan states that life is tough for her family because mother doesn’t speak English, therefore people treated her mother differently. Tan’s experiences are similar to mine because my parents doesn’t speak English fluently, therefore people treated them differently. For example, my parents doesn’t speak difficult English, therefore I have to help them translate, ask questions, and complain. One time, my mother went to the doctor to get her health check. The hospital supposed to call my mother and sent her the result, however, she never received anything. When my mother found out about the result, she was angry, because the hospital didn’t let her know sooner. The front desk workers blame that it was her fault that she didn’t understand English, and that they tried to reach her. Overall, I had to go to the hospital and complain about the bad services. Although Tan’s story is similar to mine, there are some difference between our experience.
Even though Tan came from a bilingual family, Tan is an excellent writer, and speak English fluently while I still have trouble in English. For example, I didn’t speak or understand English when I came to the United States. I had a hard time learning English, and can only use simple words, also known as “broken” English. In elementary school, I didn’t understand my teacher, therefore the school has to switch me to a class that has someone who speak Vietnamese. It takes time to learn a new language especially when one doesn’t have any experience. Amy Tan’s story is different because she speak English fluently, therefore she didn’t have to go through these obstacles. The similarity that Amy and I have is that math is our best subject. According to Tan “ Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience” (Tan 493). Tan states that math is easier to interpret than English because math only has one answer, whereas, English has multiple correct
answers. In summation, Tan wants to share her story to native English speaker and to show one how hard it is for an immigrant to learn a new language. Tan’s purpose is to leave a message to the people who have disrespected her mother, and people with similar experience to let one know that life isn’t easy for non-English speaker but if one work hard, one will become successful. Tan’s statement is a categorical truth because I’ve experience it. Tan’s experience is similar to mine because both of our parents speak broken English, therefore I have to help them communicate and complain. The differences between Tan and I is that Tan speak English fluently while English is my second language.
In analyzing both writers, Tan and Rodriguez express conflicting emotions. Tan describes her bilingual experience as a language of intimacy, a kind of English
The conclusions that can be drawn based on the two articles are similar as well. Both articles seem to conclude that language shouldn’t be a barrier for those who do not have a complete grasp of it. Baca wishes that those who are illiterate would try to learn to write because writing can help unleash emotions, while Tan wants people to understand that her mother is not disabled, but rather enriched with her knowledge of English. Both arguments that are presented are convincing. These arguments can appeal to a wide range of people and motivate the general public to be more understanding.
Language can defined the type of person you become and it has an influence on our choices as well as lifestyle. Language itself has become a way of seeing life in a different perspectives. Tan discusses the many ways in which language has played a role in her life and the result from it. I can relate to Tan’s experience to some extent because I come from a bilingual household too. Just like Tan, I am one of my mother’s main source of communication with people who don’t speak spanish. I believe the notion of Tan’s “Mother Tongue” is stating that just because someone who cannot speak the English language perfectly, is considered less intelligent to many compared to those who can understand and speaks it fluently. But what makes us all unique is that it is rare to find two or more people who speak the same exact English. Even though both Tan and I helped our parent and come from different ethnic backgrounds; Tan came from a Chinese family while I came from a Hispanic family. We both share similar ideas about the language spoken in our household, and it was also a big challenge for both of us while we were being raised by an immigrant parent who spoke only “limited English”(Tan
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?
In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...
...determine a person’s creativity and intelligence. Here comes the dichotomy of reactions. As for bilingual speakers, they sympathize for Tan and become agreeable with her argument because they have walked miles in her shoes. As for the scholars, professors, teachers, and the people who do not speak multiple languages, they might find it hard to relate to Tan because the education system values the standard tests’ results as they determine whether one will get into a good college, a great university and a dream job.
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
Amy Tan tries to spread a non-discriminatory message through her words; telling not judge people based on the way he/she speaks a language. Amy Tan also tries to impose her idea of language bringing people closer. The “broken” English that she invented, just like many immigrants, brought her closer to her mother, even though she was looked down upon in her community due to her ability to speak fluently. This is seen when she had to speak to a doctor when her mother was diagnosed with brain tumor and the doctor told her they had lost the CAT scans. The doctor at this moment was not cooperating with her mother due to her inability to speak English properly. When Amy finally talked to the doctor they were able to find the results and had to give her an apology. This along with many other examples in the essay show how Amy had to help her mother out to get her message across. Using pathos in her stories, Amy Tan is able to connect deeply with those who have encountered such people that speak “broken” English or have judged others in the past. This also makes the audience sympathize for
Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants. Her mother understood English extremely well, but the English she spoke was “broken.”(36) Many people not familiar with her way of speaking found it very difficult to understand her. As a result of this, Tan would have to pretend to be her mother, and she called people up to yell at them while her mother stood behind her and prompted her. This caused Tan to be ashamed of her mother throughout her youth, but as she grew, she realized that the language she shares with her mother is a “language of intimacy” (36) that she even uses when speaking with her husband.
Amy Tan, the author of The Joy Luck Club, talks about in the article, Mother Tongue, how her mother’s broken English would affect her daily life, how people treat her because of it, and how she feels about her mother’s language. She also talks about when she was in school she was pushed towards science and maths because of her cultural background, as an Asian American student; when she really wanted to write English and become an English major. In the beginning paragraph of the article, Tan explains how she has to depict the different Englishes she uses throughout her daily life in writing and how she is able to deal with it. Tan recently learned about the different types of English she uses daily. When speaking to a group of people about her book, The Joy Luck Club, she didn’t realize a difference in the way she was speaking until she saw her mother sitting in the room listening to her speak.
The problem started with her mother because she spoke broken English. She had a hard time during her life when she moved to the US because she couldn’t speak English well. The first reason was mixed the English with Chinese, and they used code. The family didn’t practice the language. On one day Amy Tan 's mother exposed to a lot of attitude and that’s bothering her because when she spoke to the native speaker some people understood 50% and the other did not understand her. Since she wants to order something they didn’t give her a nice service, or tried to ignore her, but Amy Tan always tried to fix the problem for her mother because she can speak the English clearly. Amy Tan 's mother felt depressing and Her daughter decided to make her mother glad, so she made a huge deal for her mother because she made her mother tried to speak English by explaining the English words to Chinese, and that’s made the English for her mother more easily just to be in touched with the American people. Even Amy Tan 's mother was struggling with English, but she plain in her life goal that’s mean nothing impossible to do it, and everything from learning could be possible. If anyone would something they
The article Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan is a personal look into how language, and the dialects of that language, can affect a person 's life. It 's a look into how the people inside the cultural circles who use dialect derivatives of a major language are treated by people who exist outside of those cultural circles. It shows us how society treats a person using a "broken" or "limited" dialect, and how society 's treatment of these people can also affect the children who grow up using these "broken" dialects. Tan wrote this article try and convey to the reader that English is a colorful, and ever-changing language that has many dialects. Tan makes the point, several times throughout the article, that society judges you based on the type of English that you use. Throughout the article, Tan uses both her mother, herself and society 's treatment of them as evidence to support her idea. The purpose of pointing this out is to show the reader that the language a person uses, whether it be taught to them in school or by a parent at home, isn 't indicative of a person 's intelligence or value, and they shouldn 't be judged as less for using it.
Tan never acknowledged her use of two different "Englishes" until shortly before she wrote "Mother Tongue." In her story, she mentions that she was giving a speech to a large group of people about her latest book "The Joy Luck Club," when she "remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. [Her] mother was in the room."(Tan 61) It was at this point in time when she paused, and discovered that she had unknowingly kept two social worlds apart by the use of her spoken language. She felt her speech was burdened with forms of English that she normally did not use with her mother. Even though Tans mother spoke "broken" English, Tan argues that her mothers' conversational skill "belies how much she actually understands. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stock...
In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, she states that “ Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use.” This wasn’t something I really thought pertained to me until I thought about it a little more. As I thought about it, it did I would change how I talked depending on who I was around or texting. As I read this essay I was thinking that this was more about someone who English is a second language, but it’s not we all have a different way of talking to certain people.