Shaun Tan Broken Language Summary

At first in the passage, Tan presents us her thoughts about English that creates a judgement base on their ways of speaking. When she is in a group of different people her English is lot different than the way she talks with her mother. Similarly, the way her mother talks to her she would understand but when her mother talk to someone they wouldn’t understand her “broken” English. Tan stated that the circumstances and struggles when her mother was ignored because how the way she speaks was not understandable. Such case, she pretended to be her mother so the stock broker could understand what was the problem. This demonstrates a person living with broken English requires another person to speak for them so their situation could be fix. Her mother’s language and her is a communication to that she was able to form who she is today. She was able to see the ignorance and the kindness of others because they would understand the struggle and meaning of a person “broken” language.
Continuing, Tan makes a bold statement on how her mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting her in life as well.
She contrasted math and English, math is more precise because it has only a direct solution while English is based on judgement calls, a matter of opinion and personal experience. For instant, Asian Americans always do significantly better on math than in English because they were heavily taught on those math subject instead of English. It simply does not mean they are stupid or being “limited” English speaker only. They have their own judgement of speaking and learning to communicate with people. Tan want to point out that being in an immigrant family her English was limited due to her mother broken
English.

Ongoing, she tries to draw the readers understanding that one who speaks different can draws another person attention away. To everyone her mother broken language was not understandable so in that case no one would care about her and simply ignore her comments. In the passage Tan stated her mother had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and when she went for the CAT scan report it was lost and the people in the hospital didn’t seem to care at all for the scan and her health concern. But when Tan came to translate everyone understand what she was saying. When the doctor finally Tan came to translate to them about the problems and that is when they understand and apologies. Since her mother cannot speak fluently they treated her in a disrespected manner. The limited English that her mother was able to say gave people like the doctors the sense of her not being smart, but rather dumb. This create the center of attention of separation in the society for the ones who can speak and the one who cannot.