In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Tan claims the idea that we speak different languages to communicate with each other and that our intelligence is judged by the way we speak. As a fictional author, Tan is amazed by language and uses it as a part of her work. Tan observes experiences that helped her notice the different type of “englishes” she uses. As child born in a chines culture, tan had to speak to types of languages. One language she used was academic English, which she learned from the books and used it in a normal conversation Second language, which was only used by her family. Tan’s mother is chines and she talks about “giving respect” in the chines culture with her “broken english.” Tan mentions in her essay about her mother’s …show more content…
English as “broken English” because tan’s mother cannot speak english fluently. Since tan’s mother cannot speak English fluently, they have developed a special language to communicate. This showed Tan that speaking in a different language with her mother caused problem for her in normal conversations. Tan would say things that did not make sense or say something that she would only refer to her mother. Tan’s mom has a hard time communicating with other people she cannot say certain things in a proper way. Sometimes her mother receives bias treatment from different people because she brought diversity in the conversation. The diversity her mother brought caused people to ignore what she was saying and to pretend that they did not understand what she said. When Tan was young, her mother would make her talk to different people so the problem or the situation could be handled more clearly. After dealing with her diverse mother, Tan believes that language spoken in families, especially immigrant families, plays a huge role in creating a language for children and it will affect their lives in the future. Tan mentions Asian students being good in math and science but are skilled in English. Tan says that this has to do with culture because in chines culture, children are always introduced to math and science very well but are discouraged when it comes to English. Tan also points out that as child with immigrants’ parents; her English was limited due to her mother’s culture and broken English. Tan says that she felt more comfortable with math than English because for math there is one right answer. For English, multiple answers made sense and her broken English came in the way. Tan explained that she likes to be test and one of her boss told her that she was a bad writer. The criticism motivated her to write more and change her major from premed to English major. She was happy with the route she chose and did not live up to people’s expectations that people had for her because for bad writing skills and language skills. She was influenced by her mother and decided to write stories for people like her, people who have “limited” or “broken” English. Like Amy Tan I also grew up in an immigrant family, who’s English was “broken.” Many of the times I have to talk for my parents.
The idea of people judging your intelligence by the way you speak I believe is wrong. When my father tries to speak English, sometimes he makes a mistake at pronouncing something. This does not make my father look unintelligent or he lacks education. But when he makes deals with big companies makes me realize how smart he is. Just because you cannot speak a language fluently does not make you look unintelligent. Reading “Mother Tongue” helps me become more patient with my parents when they make a mistake. Before reading “Mother Tongue” I realize that I use make false assumption about people who could not speak English properly. I use to think that if you can speak proper English, you are not well educated. Now I realize that every house has its own language and families have created it to communicate with each other more easily. I believe it is necessary to have a second language, especially if you come from immigrant family like I do. Second language helps families understand things faster. After reading “Mother Tongue” I have also learned to respect people who cannot speak a language properly. I should be more respectful when others are expressing their feelings are sharing something. Also, I should also avoid criticizing people who cannot speak a language fluently. “Mother Tongue” has also inspire me to help other who cannot speak English properly or do not understand the American culture. I know how it feels because I was once new to this country and I know how it feels to be new in United States. This essay made notice that many new immigrants in the United States are treated very unfairly because of the way they speak English. Many Americans make a false assumption that someone who cannot speak English is uneducated. This leads to racist and prejudice behavior, which makes all the Americans look bad in front of other countries and
cultures. After reading “Mother Tongue” I learned that we should learn more about other cultures because the United States is becoming more diverse every day. Learning about other culture will help us respect new immigrants and it will be easy for us to be more comfortable around them. I am happy to read “Mother Tongue” because it opens my eyes to many things. It helps me remember that I had the same problem Amy Tan had when she was young. I had to be the spokesman for my parents so they can understand things in a better way. It showed me that I should be more willing to help someone who is having trouble with a language or is having trouble adjusting to the American culture. This is what Amy Tan talks about how she was “limited” to English or she had “broken” English. This caused many types of problems for her and I learned that I should be more willing to help someone with the same problems.
In the course of reading two separate texts it is generally possible to connect the two readings even if they do not necessarily seem to be trying to convey the same message. The two articles, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, and “Coming Into Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, do have some very notable similarities. They are two articles from a section in a compilation about the construction of language. The fact that these two articles were put into this section makes it obvious that they will have some sort of connection. This essay will first summarize the two articles and break them down so that they are easily comparable; also, this essay will compare the two articles and note similarities and differences the texts may have.
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
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?
An individual’s background is where one comes from and how he or she is raised. Tan is Chinese American. She has a traditional Chinese mother who speaks “broken” English. Tan states that, “It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ‘broken’, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed[. . .]” (Tan 43). Tan is an American school girl. As Tan listens to her mother use that type of dialect, it causes her perception of her mother to be distraught. Tan believed it “[. . .] reflected the quality of what [her mother] had to say” (Tan 43). For instance, department store clerks, bank employees and restaurant workers will ignore her mother when they can not understand her. Tan is a writer who loves the use of language. She says, “Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with” (Tan 41). She is able to adapt her dialect to her audience. With her mother, she uses “broken” English; with her colleagues, she uses correct English grammar.
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...
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
In the essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldua and the essay, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, the ignorance shown by many people is highlighted. Amy Tan’s essay focuses on how some people look down on others who do not speak English without an accent. Anzaldua’s essay focuses on how people do not have a broad view of language and often look down upon others who do not speak the language that they speak. Both of the essays address language, but the broader topic that they acknowledge is more important. The essays both acknowledge how humans feel uncomfortable around people that are different from them, and often demean others. People demean others due to people wanting to look more powerful by giving their views correctness while discrediting
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
In the essay “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan, the author, gives a different, a more upbeat outlook on the various forms of English that immigrants speak as they adapt to the American culture. Using simple language to develop her argument, she casually communicates to the audience rather than informing which helps the audience understand what is being presented at ease. Her mother plays an important role in her outlook of language, because she helps her realize that language not only allows one to be a part of a culture but create one’s identity in society. Amy Tan shares her real life stories about cultural racism and the struggle to survive in America as an immigrant without showing any emotions, which is a wonderful epiphany for the audience in realizing
The purpose of Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue,” is to show how challenging it can be if an individual is raised by a parent who speaks “limited English” (36) as Tan’s mother does, partially because it can result in people being judged poorly by others. As Tan’s primary care giver, her mother was a significant part of her childhood, and she has a strong influence over Tan’s writing style. Being raised by her mother taught her that one’s perception of the world is heavily based upon the language spoken at home. Alternately, people’s perceptions of one another are based largely on the language used.
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.
If you are not fluent in a language, you probably don 't give much thought to your ability to make your personality attractive, to be in touch with the people and be understood in your world, that doesn’t mean you are an underestimated person. Every person has something special to make them more unique, remarkable, and gorgeous between people. The opinions could lead towards success, or those opinions could be one that is losing, and have a negative impact on how people connect with you. In Amy Tan 's “Mother Tongue” she made this book for several reasons. She had started her life by learning language, and she always loved to spend her time to learn language, but this story focuses about Amy Tan 's mother with her terrible English,
Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” essay fails as a rhetorical essay. This can be proven with a substantial amount of evidence, with a definitive lack of ethos and logos throughout the essay. This makes her point lack a backbone due her lack of credibility and proof. With the lack of these two rhetorical tools she fails to convince her audience of what is truly the issue of the stereotypes Asian Americans face in society and the education system. In failing to do these objectives for rhetorical pieces, the essay loses meaning and it’s message.
Amy Tan is the author of the essay Mother Tongue. In this essay, she explains how the power of language has influenced her life through her mother and the experiences they have had together concerning her mother's English-speaking ability, or lack there of. She was born into a Chinese family where both Chinese and English were spoken. She is sensitive to and accepting of people's lingual differences. She talks about how the inability to speak English well in America gives others the wrong impression: "...everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker" (Tan 13). She is saying here that prolific English speakers place limitations on people who have limited English-speak...
Limited or broken English can affect a person’s ability to communicate or make it difficult for others people to understand him or her. In her article “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan argues that the broken English, common in her households as well as other immigrant families did limit her powers in English. Tan purpose is to illustrate how speaking broken English does affect how people see you and limits people. Tan uses a humorous tone in order to attract readers with broken English, a majority of whom are immigrants of Asian origins. In the article, Tan uses dialogue and personal stories to support the concerning the use of broken or limited English. Tan article it is relevancy, sufficiently and credible.