The essay “Mother Tongue” describes a writer who grew up with a mother of Asian origin and the limitations created by her mother’s speech. The author, Amy Tan, defines her mother’s English as “broken” and that it created communication barriers. For example, when Tan’s mother would need to call her boss about work, she would rely on her daughter to make the phone call and use proper english. When Tan decided to go into English in college, it seemed foolish since she was more skilled in math and science. The author also mentions how not everyone’s speech is the same, but that is not a bad thing. Tan decided to start writing fiction, and write a book in a way her mother would comprehend. Though the writing was harshly critiqued, Tan knew she…
Mother Tongue In this passage the author Amy Tan talks about the different ways people speak in America, as an example she uses herself and her mother, she tells us that one time she was giving a speech in front of a large group and she was using all this big words, and phrases like she had learned in school, but all of a sudden she remember her mother was in the audience and she started to think her speech was bad and all her words were wrong because it was an English she never spoke with her mom, because she explains to us that the English her moms speaks is very broken and very bad because of her Chinese roots, as an example she gives us a paragraph describing a story her mom told her once about a gangster that wanted to join her family, she also tells us that when she was younger she was very ashamed of her mothers broken English, which I think is very funny because I know a lot of people that go threw that problem, and hate going places were their parents have to speak English, luckily for me I didn’t encounter that problem because my mother grew up in Kansa City and learned English at a very young age, so her English has been very good all threw my childhood, the bad part was that since she knew perfect English she was able to communicate with my teachers…
Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” Tan grew up in a home with her Chinese mother who spoke English that she considered “broken”. It was difficult for others to understand what her mother was saying. Tan then realized that when she was with her mother that she spoke English differently than she did. She was trying to figure out how her background affected her life, such as her education; but she eventually learned to except her background. At the same time Tan wanted to become a writer and she found that by spending time with her mother who again spoke “broken” English. Even though she was told that writing was her worst skill by her boss, she was determined to make it work.…
The author believes that language likes an invisible wall that prevents her mother from getting respect from the others. “The fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her”(765). This is how the others treat the author’s mother as well as non-native English speakers. Therefore, Amy Tan understands that there are a lot of immigrants who have been like her mother: being disregarded due to limited use of English. In addition, Amy Tan’s main point of the article is letting the audience know that the way of speaking language cannot reflect someone’s competency. The second point the author tries to say that language is not just language itself; it is about culture, background, and…
Mother Tongue, written by Amy Tan, is a short story about her family. Amy’s family is Asian Americans, whom came to America later in their lives, the reason why they do not speak English very well. In her short story, Mother tongue, She emphasizes the idea that we all speak different languages without being consciously aware, and that we are categorized by the way we speak. Amy Tan said that she begin to realize the unusual differences that goes on with language, at least her own, because of the Chinese her mother grew up speaking and the English her mother now uses as her "second language," Amy's uses this version of her mother's English, and uses her own perception that her mother's…
Amy Tan’s story “Mother Tongue” starts by the affirmation that she is not a scholar of English or literature. She is just a writer and the person who understand the power of language. From Tan’s observations from her daily life, she realizes that there are different types of English that she uses. The first time Tan notices the difference is when she gives a speech on her book “The Joy Luck Club” using academic English, the one that she never uses to talk with her mother. The second time is when Tan talked using “fractured” English unconsciously with her mother when walking down the street. After that, Tan recalls her memories from her early age: the phone call for her mother to the stockbroker, the meeting with a doctor in the hospital for her mother’s CAT scan result to demonstrate her mother’s realization of “limited” English. Then Tan agrees with the idea that language spoken in…
Mother tongue by Army Tan employs the aspects of simplicity to appeal to the audience. In her introduction, she brings herself to the same level as his audience which makes them attentive and desires to know more. The author uses easily understood English which makes the readers easily relate to what she is saying. The author employs the aspect of the flashback where she tells her audiences about her experience speaking broken English and where this makes today, her viewers curious and to listen more. The author uses rhetoric to appeal to emotion to capture his audiences, in that her being limited to English is because of the influence of her mother this displays the personal experience.…
As you know, on Mondays my shift at the MVASC is 11:00 - 4:00, and Amy R’s is 4:00 - 8:00. At the moment I wouldn’t have a problem with switching over to evening/night hours on Monday. Either way is fine by me. I know that Amy R has some trouble with her eyes and driving at night, and that is why I brought this up.…
"Mother Tongue" written by Amy Tan, the author reveals that there's bias in spoken and written language when communicating. The speaker herself says she uses different Englishes when speaking to her Chinese immigrant mother whose second language is under developed compared to hers. Ms. Tan alternates between different events that support a change in her own awareness involving forms of English, such as when speaking to a group about her herself, she notices herself saying, '"The intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to..."' while confessing that this is not her daily language when conversing with her mother or husband, that it’s a language of intimacy, which I believe is to be more vulnerable…
In this article, Amy Tan shares her personal encounters growing up with a mother who spoke imperfect English. She examines the diverse forms of English that she uses in her daily life. Tan grew up with many variations of English including her mother's “broken English” which was seen as limited and fractured. However, Tan sees her mother's language as vibrant and easy to understand through her mother’s sense of detail and imagery. Tan began to write fiction towards a target audience who would read her stories and decided to write with her mother in mind. When her mother read her stories and thought they were "So easy to read", Tan knew she had accomplished something very important. Ultimately, she concluded that no one should ever be evaluated on their intellect based on how properly they speak a language.…
In her essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan does not describe her mother’s English as bad or incomplete.She instead, uses words like ‘broken’ or ‘fractured’ to give the reader a better images of how her mother spoke English. In her essay she gives some examples of these ‘fractured’ and ‘broken’ sentences such as, “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.” In this sentence her mother attempts to obtain money that a stockbroker had agreed to send, but the man tried to take advantage her instead because of her ‘limitations.’…
In Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” (1990), she emphasize that her mother’s way of speaking English has created a cultural wall. Tan used truth from her life and her mother’s personal experiences to express how society treats people who speak poor English. Tan’s purpose was to encourage the reader not to prejudge a person who speaks imperfect English and in spite of how the individual speak, they should be treated the same way as the person who speaks perfect English. Tan’s anticipated audience was anyone who’s been judge or mistreated because of their imperfect English and anyone who judged or look down on a person that speaks imperfect English.…
In “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan talks about her experience as a young child whose mother didn’t speak “proper” English; She Described her mother language as “Broken”. Tan recalls often having to translate for her mother in various time. She found herself feeling embarrassed of the way her mom spoke. One-day Tan was delivering a speech when she noticed her mom was in the crowded and it was the first time her mom heard her talk with such big words. After that she noticed she articulates different with everybody; she describes it as a “language of intimacy”(Tan 418) Throughout the article Tan argues that because of the way her mom spoke people didn’t take her serious, and perceived her as not very smart. Tan feels that if someone has limited English he/she will be heavily judged by those around them.I agree with Tan, my mom who has…
In the book, “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan asserts that language is a tool of communication.…
In “Mother Tongue” (1990) an essay written by Amy Tan, a Chinese-American author who has written a lot of beautiful novels, Tan argues that all languages have a purpose and value. Tan tells us how every language has a purpose by giving us examples from her own life, specifically, she talks about the way her and her mother talked; her mother wasn’t very fluent in English, but the little English she could speak she could say smart and brilliant things like, “ . Tan uses personal examples in order to make us believe in the importance of language. The people she directs this story to is to people who grew up in English homes from birth to see just because someone doesn’t talk perfect English doesn’t mean they don’t know things, they do have brilliant…