Amy Tan Mother Tongue Analysis
Limited English
In Amy Tans's short store "Mother Tongue", readers are introduced to Tan who is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother. While in school, Tan always excelled in mathematics and science, but felt she had a disadvantage with English and Literature. This disadvantage was caused because her limited English she had to use with her mother. As a young girl growing up
Tan was embarrassed because of her mothers poor English "I know this for a fact, because when
I was growing up, my mothers limited English limited my perception of her" (Tan, pg#70). As time went on Amy accepted her mothers "broken"English and grew to dislike the term "limited
English". Do people judge others based on their inability to speak …show more content…
perfect English? Should one be required to speak the dominate language of a certain country once they migrate to that country? Amy Tan's perception of "limited" English is not a good perception.
Tan feels that one should not be judged because that person is not flaunt in English. Tan feels that the way one speaks does not perceive ones educational status or how smart that person is. Tans mother is able to read magazines such as Forbes, but she is still being perceived as someone with lesser value "My mother has long realized the limitation of her English as well...I was forced to ask for information or even complain and yell at people who had been rude to her." (Tan,pg#70) People should not be perceived as anything less due to the fact that their English is not as good as a person who speaks fluently in English. Tan also feels that her mother was never taken seriously due to her mothers "limited" English. Not even Tan's mothers doctor took her seriously. Tan's mother had a doctors appointment to get CAT scans back of her brain to see if there were any tumors. Unfortunately, the CAT scans were lost. Tans mother was left without any help. Tans mother demanded for the doctor to contact her daughter. Since Tan spoke in an English that was more understandable to the doctor the doctor then was willing to help "When the doctor
finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English...we had assurance the CAT scan would be found promised that a conference call on Monday will be held." (Tan, pg#71) It is unfortunate that Tan's mother had to contact her daughter every time she was not getting help on a certain problem. I too can say I am a victim to this to a certain extent. I work in a retail company and I deal with a lot of customers that have"limited" English.
When I am involved with a customer that takes the time to try to speak English I try my best to understand what they have to say as well as helping them to my best ablilty. When I get a customer that does not attempt to speak English I do not give it my best effort to help the customer. When one goes into another country that person should have the respect to learn the mother language of that country. It seems disrespectful going into another country without giving it your all to try to learn the language. How is one supposed to get around? How is one supposed to communicate with the world around them? Learning the main language shows your giving an effort to fit in. Though one might have a "limited" amount of words they could express at least they are trying. One should not be judge based on the amount of English that the person knows. There could be someone that knows close to no English, but could have their PhD. It is shown in the short story "Mother Tongue" and in everyday life that people are judged due to the fact that they do not know perfect English. If there is an attempt being made to learn English then that is all that should matter.
In Amy Tans's short store "Mother Tongue", readers are introduced to Tan who is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother. While in school, Tan always excelled in mathematics and science, but felt she had a disadvantage with English and Literature. This disadvantage was caused because her limited English she had to use with her mother. As a young girl growing up
Tan was embarrassed because of her mothers poor English "I know this for a fact, because when
I was growing up, my mothers limited English limited my perception of her" (Tan, pg#70). As time went on Amy accepted her mothers "broken"English and grew to dislike the term "limited
English". Do people judge others based on their inability to speak …show more content…
perfect English? Should one be required to speak the dominate language of a certain country once they migrate to that country? Amy Tan's perception of "limited" English is not a good perception.
Tan feels that one should not be judged because that person is not flaunt in English. Tan feels that the way one speaks does not perceive ones educational status or how smart that person is. Tans mother is able to read magazines such as Forbes, but she is still being perceived as someone with lesser value "My mother has long realized the limitation of her English as well...I was forced to ask for information or even complain and yell at people who had been rude to her." (Tan,pg#70) People should not be perceived as anything less due to the fact that their English is not as good as a person who speaks fluently in English. Tan also feels that her mother was never taken seriously due to her mothers "limited" English. Not even Tan's mothers doctor took her seriously. Tan's mother had a doctors appointment to get CAT scans back of her brain to see if there were any tumors. Unfortunately, the CAT scans were lost. Tans mother was left without any help. Tans mother demanded for the doctor to contact her daughter. Since Tan spoke in an English that was more understandable to the doctor the doctor then was willing to help "When the doctor
finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English...we had assurance the CAT scan would be found promised that a conference call on Monday will be held." (Tan, pg#71) It is unfortunate that Tan's mother had to contact her daughter every time she was not getting help on a certain problem. I too can say I am a victim to this to a certain extent. I work in a retail company and I deal with a lot of customers that have"limited" English.
When I am involved with a customer that takes the time to try to speak English I try my best to understand what they have to say as well as helping them to my best ablilty. When I get a customer that does not attempt to speak English I do not give it my best effort to help the customer. When one goes into another country that person should have the respect to learn the mother language of that country. It seems disrespectful going into another country without giving it your all to try to learn the language. How is one supposed to get around? How is one supposed to communicate with the world around them? Learning the main language shows your giving an effort to fit in. Though one might have a "limited" amount of words they could express at least they are trying. One should not be judge based on the amount of English that the person knows. There could be someone that knows close to no English, but could have their PhD. It is shown in the short story "Mother Tongue" and in everyday life that people are judged due to the fact that they do not know perfect English. If there is an attempt being made to learn English then that is all that should matter.