Mother Tongue, written by Amy Tan, is a short story about her family. Amy’s family is Asian Americans, whom came to America later in their lives, the reason why they do not speak English very well. In her short story, Mother tongue, She emphasizes the idea that we all speak different languages without being consciously aware, and that we are categorized by the way we speak. Amy Tan said that she begin to realize the unusual differences that goes on with language, at least her own, because of the Chinese her mother grew up speaking and the English her mother now uses as her "second language," Amy's uses this version of her mother's English, and uses her own perception that her mother's…
In the story “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan her mother was a Chinese immigrant who didn’t speak English correctly. Amy touches upon the subject of language barriers creating societal monsters. Amy Tan’s mother not being able to speak great English consistently…
Amy Tan’s story “Mother Tongue” starts by the affirmation that she is not a scholar of English or literature. She is just a writer and the person who understand the power of language. From Tan’s observations from her daily life, she realizes that there are different types of English that she uses. The first time Tan notices the difference is when she gives a speech on her book “The Joy Luck Club” using academic English, the one that she never uses to talk with her mother. The second time is when Tan talked using “fractured” English unconsciously with her mother when walking down the street. After that, Tan recalls her memories from her early age: the phone call for her mother to the stockbroker, the meeting with a doctor in the hospital for her mother’s CAT scan result to demonstrate her mother’s realization of “limited” English. Then Tan agrees with the idea that language spoken in…
In her story "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan describes her relationship with her mother, who speaks "broken" English. Essentially, Amy ending up changing her style of writing because of her mother, who changed Amy's perception of language. In the beginning of her life, Amy was always ashamed and embarrassed because of her mother; her mother, in speaking broken English, would often sound weird and not be understood by people in every day affairs. As an attempt to get away from this side of her heritage, Amy--once she becomes a writer--writes with great English and diction, and she uses a plethora of vocabulary. However, she soon realizes that she is being someone she is not; Amy eventually fully realizes her true relationship with her mother, and subsequently allows that newfound knowledge to affect her writing. Their relationship is one of wonderful love and comfort, one where they can speak broken English ("mother tongue") and have it mean something very special. Essentially, Amy Tan becomes authentic and true to her roots; inspired by her mother, she begins to right so that the 'common man' can understand…
Mother Tongue is about the authors struggles with her linguistic identity, her mothers "fractured" or "broken" variation of english and the relationship with her mother. At the beginning of the piece we are told about the different types of english she would speak with her mother and with everyone else; we are then told how english wasn't Amy's strongest subject and later on we are told about the difficulties her mother experienced because of the way she spoke english and the prejudice she faced.…
"Mother Tongue" written by Amy Tan, the author reveals that there's bias in spoken and written language when communicating. The speaker herself says she uses different Englishes when speaking to her Chinese immigrant mother whose second language is under developed compared to hers. Ms. Tan alternates between different events that support a change in her own awareness involving forms of English, such as when speaking to a group about her herself, she notices herself saying, '"The intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to..."' while confessing that this is not her daily language when conversing with her mother or husband, that it’s a language of intimacy, which I believe is to be more vulnerable…
In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan (1990), which discusses her mother’s way of speaking through “broken English”, Tan explores the different “Englishes” that she has come into contact with in her everyday life; these variations have presented struggles in her mother’s life. Tan illustrates this to her audience by giving examples of the struggles her mother was faced with due to “her” English and the many versions of English that surrounds Tan. Tan examines the different versions of English people use in order to make the reader realize that English takes many different forms which leads to difficulty and confusion to those who are attempting to learn and speak the language like her mother. This work of literature is directed towards those who do not have an understanding of the variations of languages and the complications that come along with trying to learn a new language like English.…
In the story “Mother Tongue” Amy Tan tells the story of her mother and how her use of English within the family affected her early in life. She describes how that limited use of English had the potential to affect Tan’s choice of careers and her influence on literature. She begins by describing how she assumed the role of translator for her Asian born mother, who spoke with “broken English.” She describes situations where she assumed the role of translator for her mother. She was thrown into adult situations where she often told people on the other end of the phone that she was, in fact, her mother. She believes that growing up with an immigrant family affected her scores on the SAT and I.Q tests because standardized tests are geared towards those who grew up in households who were accustomed to a more proper use of the English language. As she matured, Tan observed that more Asian Americans specialized in the fields of engineering and science. She also noticed that there were not many Asian Americans writing literature. Tan writes that this is because of the type of English many Asian Americans are speaking within their own families which the mainstream…
Tan portrays her experiences as a child of Chinese parents growing up in an American culture. She constructs a view showing the reader the vast differences between language at home and language in public. She explains some of these languages through instances with her own mother. Tan often explains her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured” and is often feels embarrassed by this because she feels it shows lack of…
Throughout the passage of “Mother Tongue,” the author Amy Tan uses strategies in a way to have the reader influenced by the point she is trying to prove. And in this case she is explaining the idea of language in the Asian-American community. She is speaking through multiple perspectives in her own life to show how society is not very understanding to people who are native speakers or can not speak as fluently, in a way that people view their English speaking in different ways and even have less respect for.…
In Amy Tans "Mother Tongue" the emphasizes on american english, views on Amy's mothers "Broken English". When speaking from amy's mother tongue she rights using all sorts of different grammatical. When she is addressing an American professional Amy's english is very proper. Amy views her mothers "broken english as normal. Amy knows her mother is not a dumb lady by any means she understands things like the stock market. Amy is frustrate by how society looks down on her mother as if she is not as smart because Her mothers English is "limited" The passage speaks on how the educational system steers Chinese American away from English and has them focus on Math and engineering.…
Mother tongue by Amy Tan begins by explaining herself as a writer. How she feel in love with the English language, how it has had in impact with all her emotions, the way she thinks, and the way she sees things. Not to long ago she recently discovered of the variations of English’s that she uses. When she talked to a large group of people she spoke to them in a language that her mother was not familiar with. With the group she would talk to them with complex English but with her mother it was completely different. She would use language such as “Not waste money that way” which was the only way she had ever talked to her mother. Not only is it just with her mother but with the rest of her Chinese family. They did not choose to speak English like this but rather that is how it stuck with them. Amy says that the English that her mothers speaks is rather “broken” meaning, it is damage and needs some repairs.…
A writing that I really connected with was 'Mother Tongue' by Amy Tan. It seemed to me that Amy Tan's message to her readers was to show them and make them understand how people are treated differently due to their different register of the English language. Amy Tan's mother was a Chinese immigrant entering the United States; being originally from China, she had to learn English, a whole new language for her. However, even through the hardships of learning a new language, she never let herself be viewed down by others. She was firm and persistent; I got to see Amy Tan's mother stubbornness when I read in the text, "So she said she would not leave until the doctor called her daughter. She wouldn't budge."…
I think there are two points in Tan’s essay. One main point is that her mother’s language has the power to shape not only Tan’s identity, but also the relationship she has with her mother. Her mother’s language helped shaped the way she saw things, expressed things, and made sense of the world. Though her mother’s English was broken or limited, she had no trouble understanding it, because she grew up with this language and she has adapted her mother’s way expression. She took part of what her mother said about a wedding as an example to show that this is intimacy. Words like “Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind” cannot be understood by all. Because of her mother’s limited English, which the author believed reflected the quality of what she had to say, she was ashamed of her mother. She provided plenty of evidence to support her perspectives: the fact that people who served her mother did not respect her. Furthermore, Tan thought her mother’s English almost had an effect on her possibilities in life. She provided some examples that also applied to most Asian…
In “Mother Tongue” (1990) an essay written by Amy Tan, a Chinese-American author who has written a lot of beautiful novels, Tan argues that all languages have a purpose and value. Tan tells us how every language has a purpose by giving us examples from her own life, specifically, she talks about the way her and her mother talked; her mother wasn’t very fluent in English, but the little English she could speak she could say smart and brilliant things like, “ . Tan uses personal examples in order to make us believe in the importance of language. The people she directs this story to is to people who grew up in English homes from birth to see just because someone doesn’t talk perfect English doesn’t mean they don’t know things, they do have brilliant…