My Mother, By Amy Tan
Tan explains the difference between the English she speaks at home and the English she speaks outside the home.
Tan identifies her mom as an educated woman however strangers pretend to ignore her because of the way how she speaks English and she is not able to receive the same respect as Tan does.
Claims that she had a limited perception of her mother.
Explains that speech changes with the people you interact with.
Tan concludes that she is proud of her mother’s way of speaking English and wants to write books that would be easier for people like her mother to understand. My experiences have been similar to the author as an immigrant. Like Tan, I am also growing up in an immigrant family whose English might seem “broken” to other people. Tan used to “call people on the phone to pretend” that she is her mom (Tan 419). Similar to Tan, I …show more content…
Sometimes, I become mad at my mom thinking why I have to speak for her. But, I do not want her to speak either because if she does they will not give her the same amount of respect or attention that they would have given to me for my better English. I believe it is wrong for people to categorize individuals by the way they speak. Unfortunately, I had categorized my mom by the way how she speaks. When my mom speaks in her “limited” English outside, I feel ashamed thinking that people will think that my mom is unsmart. For that reason, I try to stop my mom from talking wherever I go shopping with her. But, after reading Mother Tongue I have realized that intelligence is not judged by the way we speak. I could also relate to Tan when she mentions that the language spoken at home can affect “results on achievement tests, IQ tests, and the SAT” (Tan 421). Speaking only Bengali at home has greatly impacted my writing and SAT score too. It becomes hard for me to
Tan identifies her mom as an educated woman however strangers pretend to ignore her because of the way how she speaks English and she is not able to receive the same respect as Tan does.
Claims that she had a limited perception of her mother.
Explains that speech changes with the people you interact with.
Tan concludes that she is proud of her mother’s way of speaking English and wants to write books that would be easier for people like her mother to understand. My experiences have been similar to the author as an immigrant. Like Tan, I am also growing up in an immigrant family whose English might seem “broken” to other people. Tan used to “call people on the phone to pretend” that she is her mom (Tan 419). Similar to Tan, I …show more content…
Sometimes, I become mad at my mom thinking why I have to speak for her. But, I do not want her to speak either because if she does they will not give her the same amount of respect or attention that they would have given to me for my better English. I believe it is wrong for people to categorize individuals by the way they speak. Unfortunately, I had categorized my mom by the way how she speaks. When my mom speaks in her “limited” English outside, I feel ashamed thinking that people will think that my mom is unsmart. For that reason, I try to stop my mom from talking wherever I go shopping with her. But, after reading Mother Tongue I have realized that intelligence is not judged by the way we speak. I could also relate to Tan when she mentions that the language spoken at home can affect “results on achievement tests, IQ tests, and the SAT” (Tan 421). Speaking only Bengali at home has greatly impacted my writing and SAT score too. It becomes hard for me to