Wild Tongue
A person's language can help us to identify their values. In the passage, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua and "Mother Tongue" by Any Tan, discussed about the difficulties they faced while adapting to a new culture and acquiring a new language. It shows the role of a new language and how it effects their private as well. People from different culture always shows difficulty in adjusting within a new culture and when they do so, they would more likely to lose their own values.
Language that we use in our private life may affect our public life. Anzaldua describes her life as a young Spanish woman who is more like Spanish for American and more like American for Spanish. On the other hand, Amy Tan recalls growing up with a mother
who does not speak perfect English. Even though those women are from two different background, their experience with language is same. Both women have expressed the idea that the language they use with family and society shape them as an individual.
A person is free of language when they are with their nearest and dearest people. Tan have mentioned in the passage that the language she speaks around her family was often different from the one's she uses in her professional world. Tan also remembers a time when she was walking down a street with her mother and using the English that she did not used to use around her. The same type of incident happens with her husband also, while discussing a price of a new and used furniture she said "Not waste money that way", but he did not notice it. She identifies this type of English as a language of intimacy which relates to family talk. Similarly, Anzaldua said that her home tongue is a language that she speaks with her family. She speaks different variation of Spanish according to the region that each person is from. These two women uses different languages to blend with their surroundings but at home they are free to use the language they grew up using without fear.
In conclusion, the role of language is an important thing not only Anzaldua and Tan's life but also in everyone's life. Both of them were viewed by their communities as being limited because their home language was not standard. But they fought with the system that wished to limit their voices and became writers. They wrote in their stories how their conflicts with languages shaped who they are.
Language that we use in our private life may affect our public life. Anzaldua describes her life as a young Spanish woman who is more like Spanish for American and more like American for Spanish. On the other hand, Amy Tan recalls growing up with a mother
who does not speak perfect English. Even though those women are from two different background, their experience with language is same. Both women have expressed the idea that the language they use with family and society shape them as an individual.
A person is free of language when they are with their nearest and dearest people. Tan have mentioned in the passage that the language she speaks around her family was often different from the one's she uses in her professional world. Tan also remembers a time when she was walking down a street with her mother and using the English that she did not used to use around her. The same type of incident happens with her husband also, while discussing a price of a new and used furniture she said "Not waste money that way", but he did not notice it. She identifies this type of English as a language of intimacy which relates to family talk. Similarly, Anzaldua said that her home tongue is a language that she speaks with her family. She speaks different variation of Spanish according to the region that each person is from. These two women uses different languages to blend with their surroundings but at home they are free to use the language they grew up using without fear.
In conclusion, the role of language is an important thing not only Anzaldua and Tan's life but also in everyone's life. Both of them were viewed by their communities as being limited because their home language was not standard. But they fought with the system that wished to limit their voices and became writers. They wrote in their stories how their conflicts with languages shaped who they are.