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…
udwig Wittgenstein once said in his book Logico Tractatus Philosophicus ,“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” This quotation means language has no limit, it’s something that can be translated into a wide variety. Both Amy Tan in the essay, “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez in the essay, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” write about their struggle with their identities not only because of their race, but also the language there families speak. Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez both struggled with there families language conflicting with the need to speak the language of society. While children they share similarities with their struggles, and they differ in their perception of the importance of maintaining their families…
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…
Richard Rodriguez's "Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" and Gloria Anzalda's "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" present language identity subtly. Through his writings, Rodriguez indicates the effect of language assimilation on people’s sense of self, while Anzaldua urges to preserve cultural heritage by resisting language assimilation. These contrasting standpoints form the basis for the analysis, implying the interconnection of adjustment and genuineness accompanied by norms of the society within the perspective of different cultures. For Richard Rodriguez, language assimilation is when he becomes an English-dominant speaker and starts losing his personal experience. His self-perception has also changed.…
The languages we speak around our families are often different from the ones we use in the professional world. Tan states this opinion in her essay; she remembers a time when she was conscious of the English she was using around her mother. She was walking down the street with her mother and using the English that she did not use around her mother. She also states that this is the same type of English she uses with her husband. She writes that this type of language “has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.” (Tan, page 143) Anzaldua has a similar opinion when it comes to the language of our family; she writes “My “home” tongues are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, with my friends.”(Anzaldua, page 134) Her type of language is a considered a subcategory of Spanish, called Chicano Spanish. Anzaldua also explains that in her culture she had to learn different dialects of Spanish, according to region that person was from. These two women played chameleon with their languages, blending in perfectly with their surroundings, wearing a mask to the world until they were home. At home, they were safe to use the language they grew up using without fear of…
Have you ever been so sure of something that the simple consideration of the opposite seems to overwhelm you? I have been; or, I had been. Since the age of ten, I had considered myself bilingual. This course has given me an increasingly wide opportunity to acknowledge the fact that speaking a language does not necessarily mean I have sufficient tools to write in it. In fact, I have noticed many misconceptions, errors, and even some atrocities.…
In the essay, “Mother Tongue” author Amy Tan, discusses the “power of language – the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.” Tan began to explain that when she was speaking to a large group about her book, “The Joy Luck Club,” she suddenly realized the different “Englishes” she uses. As she proceeds, she mentions the time when she was walking down the street with her mother and husband discussing prices of new and old furniture, where she became aware once again of the switch in her English. She tells the reader that when she switches her Englishes to speak to her loved ones, their kind of English becomes their language of intimacy that relates to family talk and the language she grew up with. Tan later…
At first, I believed that Amy Tan views her “mother tongue” as an intimate thing between family. I believe this because she says “ It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with” (Tan, 1). This sentence demonstrates her opinion about her “mother tongue” because she values it and only uses it with those closest to her. Additionally, Tan views her “mother tongue” as a simple yet elegant language that she can clearly understand despite the fact that many other people are unable he dialect of English. I know this because she writes, “Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly…
In current times, educators are encouraged to allow students to use their native languages inside and outside of the classroom. Olga Kagan, another researcher who was interviewed in “Bilingualism: When Education and Assimilation Clash,” says, “We lose much of the nation’s capacity in languages by letting go of this resource” (5). Although that may be true today, it was not the case when Rodriguez was in school. In “Bilingualism: When Education and Assimilation Clash,” author Melissa Anderson explains that bilingual education has had a long and complicated history. She reports that there were not many bilingual programs in the United States until 1968 and that there was “tension between forced assimilation and educationally sound practices” (5) in the past. Consequently, this would have not been a realistic solution. It would have been better if Rodriguez’s parents had been the ones to keep Spanish alive for their…
In 1999, I moved to the Dallas -Fort Worth metro area and substituted at Crowley ISD. It was there, that I first experienced what it is like to be a minority. Hispanic students quickly bonded with me because I was “like them”. Teachers immediately concluded I was born in Mexico because of my surname and color of my skin. I informed them I was born in Texas and had no ties to…
In the short stories of Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and Public and Private Language by Richard Rodriquez, both essays describe an influence on the English language and what impact they had while coping with that language. For Amy tan in Mother Tongue, she roots the common source for who had what kind of impact on her learning of that language. In Public and Private Language, Richard Rodriguez establishes a view point on why it is important to be given a public identity. Both stories come together to validate a viewpoint on a second language they struggle to learn that helps them find their own identity.…
Mother Tongue, is an essay written by Amy Tan who was born in Oakland, California and grew up in a home where English was a second language. As Amy got older, she would have to translate and speak as her mother when talking to other people. She thought it was embarrassing at times because her mother’s English could come across a little hasty toward people. Amy Tan wrote this essay because she was an English major who loved English, but she also knew that there were differences in her speech at home with her mom than people she would speak too, out of the home. She wanted to know why her language would change, and drastically it would when her mother was around. I can easily relate to the essay because at my home English is a second language to my parents. Though it wasn’t as noticeable as Amy’s mother, but there were times where I heard my mother have a hard time speaking to people because she could not get her point across. There were times where I had to step in and just say “she means this, not that.” Growing up in a home where English is not the first language to me becomes your first Language because at the home everyone uses it to communicate and show affection with each other, before we head off to school to learn English that we use to speak to the world outside our homes.…
Growing up bilingual is perceived to be a compelling account of what it means to come of age in a very economically but linguistically cultural context. Bilingualism is an integral part of any family life as well as a core aspect in producing identity in the community. However, children are perceived to be less preoccupied with growing up bilingual that with the notion of surviving (Zentella, 1997). And so, to heighten bilingualism in children and the NYPR community, there is need to comprehend the impact of languages in the lives of children. On the other hand, language encompasses the features, evolution, and the implications that are as a result of education of Ebonics (Rickford, 1999). The fact that African American community has been affected by massive educational failure is because of the existing methods used that are not working. The point is; the kind of teaching of American children is far from satisfactory.…
Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” The New World Reader. Ed. Carrie Brandon. Boston: New York, 2008.…
When reading,” Mother Tongue,” written by Amy Tan, I discovered how Amy’s mother’s broken English, created a duality of different styles of English. Amy would use different speech in her profession then she would with her family and loved ones. Whereas when I read,” Mute in an English-Only World” by Chang-Rae Lee. He would make fun, or mimic his father’s friends, his father, and his mother’s basic English. The reason this information is so important is, consciously, the power of language can heal human beings. Identifying the experiences of Amy Tan and Chang-Rae Lee gives us an insight to just that.…