Why My Mother Can T Speak Language By Garry Engkent

Doors of Children Immigrants, a person or a family who moves from one country to another to get a permanent resident. Moving from one country to another is difficult. The two short stories “Why My Mother Can’t speak English” By Garry Engkent and “Ancestors- The Genetic Source” By David Suzuki has a focus point about immigrants and the variety of problems they face in Canada. Why My mother can’t speak English is a family that has migrated from China to Canada. Mr. Engkent’s mother came to Canada with her husband and son when she was forty. she was put at the restaurants kitchen right away. She worked straight seven days a week

from six in the morning until eleven at night and this state lasted for about twenty-five years, almost to the death for her husband. In “Ancestors - The Genetic Source” are immigrants from japan. David Suzuki grandparents moved from Japan to Canada and they were recognized as Issei (first generation). There were severe restrictions on how much and where they could buy property. Their children, who were Nisei (second generation) were born and raised in Canada, couldn’t vote until 1948 and had many other restrictions too.

As in David Suzuki, he was sansei (third generation). Both the short stories have a similar piece of writing. Mr. Engkent’s mother faces some difficulties when she moves to Canada and David Suzuki faces difficulties when he goes to Japan. The thing both stories have mentioned is about vast of cultures and customs, due to that they went through environment change or incense of different language, which somewhere lead to dominant influence or a persons Identities. To begin with, immigrants who have settled in a country with new cultures and customs are often scared to lose their cultural values, not only for themselves but also for their family. They tend to hold on their artistic souls and customs when adapting to a new country. Mrs. Engkent hates everything about Canada, she feared losing her Chinese culture if she conformed to the “fan gwei” way (different countries culture). “If you are here long enough, they will turn your head until you don’t know who you are— Chinese” (Engkent, pg.144) Mrs. Engkent did everything in the Chinese way, she

always converted the month and the days into the Chinese lunar calendar.

She did not want it to accept Canadian culture. As in with David Suzuki his family and people in his country treated him like a foreigner. “I am pure-blooded member of the Japanese race” (Suzuki, pg.367). People do not accept him as Japanese due to his Canadian Culture also because he does not speak Japanese. “Because of my name, they had expected a “real” Japanese. Instead, I was a gaijin (foreigner) and the owner told us he would not take us” (Suzuki, pg.369). David was refused to stay at the Japanese's inn because he was a foreigner to them. David did not know the customs of Japan, that they always take their shoes off when entering because of the straw mats. (he had bad experienced with other people so they think everyone is same). But somewhere David Suzuki had two personality and cultural restriction, he preferred to be a Canadian but had to be Japanese to keep his parents happy. Furthermore, another main point is environmental change. Most often when you step into a different country, people have a hard time communicating with others and

adapting other languages. Mrs. Engkent could only read and speak Chinese. For thirty- some-years she did not learn English, not because she was not smart, but in a fear of losing Chinese soul. Also because of dominant influence as Mr. Engkent did not allow her to learn English. Due to that Mrs. Engkent faces problem in future. “The requirements are that the candidate must be able to speak either French or English” (Engkent, pg.141). At the age of seventy Mrs. Engkent wanted to apply for citizenship, but her attitude towards English was always negative. It is also because of her husband, but somewhere she never really took a stand and never said “no” to him. In the kitchen were she worked for twenty-five years, she only learnt a few words in English like French fries, pork ships and she only learnt this to survive in the kitchen. Other than that she had no interests in learning English. Although the amount of English she knew wasn’t enough to apply for the citizenship. On the other side David Suzuki only spoke English not Japanese. Every time he visits Japan, he's reminded of how much of Canadian he is and not Japanese. As he is the 3rd generation he only spoke in English, on his first visit he went to meet his grandmother’s younger brother. He came to see David Suzuki with two of his daughters. “None of them spoke any English, while my Japanese was so primitive as to be useless” (Zuzuki, pg.368). David was not able to fit in with his family and cousins. All they spoke was Japanese and all David spoke was English. Due to lack of communication between them, there was a lot of awkwardness.
Finally, the last point is dominant influence or a persons Identities. Mrs. Engkent was a target of a dominant influence, as her husband had put restrictions on her. Her husband interface was a failure to her learning English. For thirty some years she didn’t learn English, not because she was not smart enough. She was put in a kitchen, where she would have no communication with people who spoke English. “I begged him,” Mother says. “But he would either ignore my pleas or say: ‘what do you need to know English for? You’re better off here in the kitchen” (Engkent, pg. 142). Mr. Engkent had a fear that if she learns English she would change into a non-Chinese woman. “He was afraid that I would leave him. I depended on him for everything” (Engkent, pg.143) She always obeyed her husband, agreed to anything he would say. Mrs. Engkent did not have her own identity she totally depended on her husband for everything, he drove her to work and back to home. She would do whatever he would tell her, whether he want it her to sign bank cheques or legal documents. On the other side, David Suzuki was having trouble with his identities. “I’m a foreigner and I can’t speak Japanese” (Suzuki, pg.368). They think someone who looks like Japanese should speak Japanese. He felt that he did not have a good time with them because even though he looked like them but could not speak like them. Even though he has a Japanese blood, he would still consider as a foreigner because of his looks and his language.
In conclusion, every immigrant faces problem in different ways when it comes to interacting with others. The two short stories “Why My mother Can’t Speak English” and Ancestors- The Genetic source, had shown the problems immigrants face. Both the stories had different backgrounds but faced the same concept. The main points of the story were that how each individual felt when it comes to culture and customs, which they had problems with environment change, because of the environment it determines the behaviour of a person which leads to dominant influence or building up their identities.

References
Engkent, Garry. “Why My Mother Can’t Speak English.” Pens of Many Colours: A Canadian Reader. 3rd ed. Ed. Eva C. Karpinski. Scarborough: Thomson Nelson, 2002. 139-145. Print

Suzuki, David. “Ancestors-The Genetic Source.” Pens of Many Colours: A Canadian Reader. 3rd ed. Ed. Eva C. Karpinski Scarborough: Thomson Nelson, 2002. 367-371. Print