How Does Amy Tan Use The Different Types Of Language

1 a). The significance of the quote “And I use them all — all the Englishes I grew up with.” (Tan, 1) is the fact that language is the “tool of her trade”, meaning she uses it on a daily basis to preform her daily work and accomplish tasks. The different types of English, being proper or broken English, are useful to a writer because she can use them to work to create meaning with certain audience members, whether it be her mother, who uses more limited English, or an academic paper, which uses proper, academic English. The fact that as a writer, Tan still uses both forms of language is significant because it proves to the reader that the language is still valid, and still has meaning. In Group Discussion on October 3rd, my group discussed
The significance of the quote “It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ‘broken’, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.” (Tan, 2) is that every different type of language has meaning, no matter if it is slightly skewed or has poor grammar. In this case, as a Mother, Tan’s mother’s verbal communication skills have a lot of direct and vivid meaning, especially to people who already understand and can interpret the grammar. In this quote, Amy also discusses how the public misinterprets her mother’s ideas, and think that they are ‘less than’ just because of the language skills of her mother. In Group Discussion, we talked a lot about the discrimination her Mother faced because of her language skills. I think one of the most important points that was said in Group discussion was the fact that how you speak language doesn't define who you are. I believe that this is one of the main points of this essay, and it was strongly supported and argued. In this case, Tan’s mother was defined as an outsider, and unfairly discriminated against because of her poor language abilities even though, to someone who understands her language, it is viewed as fine. To Amy, her mother's language represents who she is, and is used to perfectly express her ideas and emotions in a direct, and vivid way. In addition to this, I brought up the question to my group about the description we give to people
This essay is formatted as a personal narrative essay, as the writer is talking in first person to the reader. This is a good idea for an essay, because it allows the reader to connect with the writer’s thoughts. However, if done poorly, the writer’s opinions can be seen as unimportant or unsupported, leading to little impact from the piece. Amy Tan did an excellent job of introducing the idea of a personal narrative essay, at the same time, backing up her ideas with credibility, making the reader trust what she was saying. In the essay, the first line was introducing the format of the essay, “I am not a scholar of the English language. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variation in this country or others” (Tan, 1). Throughout the essay, she continually increases her credibility through personal anecdotes, and background information about her life, education and personal experiences which helps the reader to trust her. One of the major credibility factors of Tan was her education and work experience, being an English major, and being a freelance writer. She experienced and overcame stereotypes of the asian culture, and explained to us her story, and why she does what she does right now. In Group Discussion, we came up with a list of reasons why we believe Amy Tan to be a credible source. She uses external sources of information, such as surveys of asian student success in English and Math assessments. She also connects and