Amy Tan's How To Tame A Wild Tongue
Most people may have some form of language barrier, no matter what background they came from. Difference are what define the world around us. Whether a soft contrast of two colors or a comparison of nations, the diversity shapes our identities. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, both have similar subject as they both discussed how different forms of the same language are recognized in society. They emphasize the fact that a person can unconsciously develop different ideas through a language and categorizes an individual by the way they speak. How can identity be molded by language? Language is part of one’s identity.
Both articles reflect how the language an individual speak is linked with their identity. Anzaldúa and Tan’s article both displayed a strong aid for their claim that many languages one’s speaks has a major impact on the way they interact with the society. They both demonstrate the essence of language, using their own experiences. They both talked about how they grew up surrounded with limited …show more content…
English speakers.
Coming or going to America and speaking more than one language, immigrants often face similar situations as Gloria Anzaldúa and Amy Tan experienced.
American values are frequently forced upon students or workers. There are few times, where people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa wrote, “So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (Anzaldúa 445). Linguistic identity can be difficult for a bilingual person, being somewhere in-between two different culture is confusing and sometimes uncomfortable. A person can’t simply identify with one or the other because each culture has impacted an individual’s life. Being a bilingual also creates boundaries and limitations because the feeling of being disconnected from the language and culture a person is
learning.
Each of the languages has a specific origin and cultural basis that differs from the others. One cannot separate culture from a person or language from a person, so the situations of immigrants produce the development of new language. Having to learn and understand the many ways of speaking has it’s positive and negative effects on one’s identity and the process of acculturating.
When a person is at home, they let their guard down when surrounded by those who are close and dear to them. The languages people speak around their families are often different from the ones they use on their work place or on the professional word. Amy Tan states this opinion in her essay. She remembered a time when she was conscious of the English she was using around her mother. Tan was walking down the street with her mother and using the same English she uses around her mother. She even states that it wasn’t the same type of English she uses with her husband. Tan writes “It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with” (Tan 504).
Anzaldúa has a similar viewpoint when it comes to the language of their family. She writes “My “home” are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends.” (Anzaldúa 440). Her type of language is considered a subcategory of Spanish, called Chicano Spanish. She also explains that in her culture, she had to learn different dialects of Spanish per region where the person was from. Anzaldúa and Tan blending in perfectly with their surroundings like a chameleon, wearing a mask to the world until they were home. At home, where they feel safe to use the language they grew up without the judgmental eyes of people.
It has been observed that some people are insecure with how they speak English. Sometimes a person’s perception about their own language develops into feeling of insecurity, thinking it’s a low status language. Due to linguistic insecurity, a person will try to use a higher status language. In order to overcome such feeling of linguistic insecurity people switch from the low status considered language to the higher status language. One thing that shapes a person’s standpoint of themselves is how society view them. Amy Tan, at young age, would frequently speak on behalf of her mother. Her mother’s English was viewed as “broken” or “limited” by society. This had overwhelming effect on how Tan viewed her mother’s English. She writes “she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect.” (Tan 505). Anzaldúa’s Chicano Spanish was viewed as “poor” Spanish by the society. “If a person, Chicana or Latina, has a low estimation of my 25 native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me.” (Anzaldúa 444). The society and the community in which they both lived has looked down on the English they speak. Both women feel that their language was “poor”, “broken” and “limited” by the society’s standards.
Both articles reflect how the language an individual speak is linked with their identity. Anzaldúa and Tan’s article both displayed a strong aid for their claim that many languages one’s speaks has a major impact on the way they interact with the society. They both demonstrate the essence of language, using their own experiences. They both talked about how they grew up surrounded with limited …show more content…
English speakers.
Coming or going to America and speaking more than one language, immigrants often face similar situations as Gloria Anzaldúa and Amy Tan experienced.
American values are frequently forced upon students or workers. There are few times, where people look down on people who do not accept the American Way of Life. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa wrote, “So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (Anzaldúa 445). Linguistic identity can be difficult for a bilingual person, being somewhere in-between two different culture is confusing and sometimes uncomfortable. A person can’t simply identify with one or the other because each culture has impacted an individual’s life. Being a bilingual also creates boundaries and limitations because the feeling of being disconnected from the language and culture a person is
learning.
Each of the languages has a specific origin and cultural basis that differs from the others. One cannot separate culture from a person or language from a person, so the situations of immigrants produce the development of new language. Having to learn and understand the many ways of speaking has it’s positive and negative effects on one’s identity and the process of acculturating.
When a person is at home, they let their guard down when surrounded by those who are close and dear to them. The languages people speak around their families are often different from the ones they use on their work place or on the professional word. Amy Tan states this opinion in her essay. She remembered a time when she was conscious of the English she was using around her mother. Tan was walking down the street with her mother and using the same English she uses around her mother. She even states that it wasn’t the same type of English she uses with her husband. Tan writes “It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with” (Tan 504).
Anzaldúa has a similar viewpoint when it comes to the language of their family. She writes “My “home” are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends.” (Anzaldúa 440). Her type of language is considered a subcategory of Spanish, called Chicano Spanish. She also explains that in her culture, she had to learn different dialects of Spanish per region where the person was from. Anzaldúa and Tan blending in perfectly with their surroundings like a chameleon, wearing a mask to the world until they were home. At home, where they feel safe to use the language they grew up without the judgmental eyes of people.
It has been observed that some people are insecure with how they speak English. Sometimes a person’s perception about their own language develops into feeling of insecurity, thinking it’s a low status language. Due to linguistic insecurity, a person will try to use a higher status language. In order to overcome such feeling of linguistic insecurity people switch from the low status considered language to the higher status language. One thing that shapes a person’s standpoint of themselves is how society view them. Amy Tan, at young age, would frequently speak on behalf of her mother. Her mother’s English was viewed as “broken” or “limited” by society. This had overwhelming effect on how Tan viewed her mother’s English. She writes “she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect.” (Tan 505). Anzaldúa’s Chicano Spanish was viewed as “poor” Spanish by the society. “If a person, Chicana or Latina, has a low estimation of my 25 native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me.” (Anzaldúa 444). The society and the community in which they both lived has looked down on the English they speak. Both women feel that their language was “poor”, “broken” and “limited” by the society’s standards.