learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents” (Rodriguez…
Throughout their journey they have faced some obstacles and barriers, which are manifested in the text through the use of language techniques. An example is evident in the quote “My parents have learnt that language barriers can be insurmountable as giant waves”. The use of simile highlights Hai-Van’s parent’s struggle to communicate with others due to their language disparity. This wasn’t as bad as it seems because it gives them a chance to open up a new learning experience which helps to benefit them throughout their journey, making a lot of it much less difficult. The repetition of “you” and use of inclusive language is very evident though out the text and that is because invite readers to experience the journey to give them a better insight and understanding of physical journeys. In the very last line, the author encourages the readers that, “we should listen to their words, hear their voices and document their stories”, Inclusive language is used to evoke a sense of community between the migrants, author and reader. From this text it is revealed that the author is tryinwg to cajole other people into being more thoughtful and that physical journey’s may have positive influences on other people as well as the…
Experiencing cultural shock like learning a new language is one of the first challenges an immigrant must encounter when arriving to a new country. Dealing with this challenge can change the way you look at the world and the way you are as a person. For example, in Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas’ voice is shaped by the experiences of her and her family learning the English language. She uses humor in her voice to describe the different experiences she and her family go through when trying to learn how to speak English. One of the…
Richard Rodriquez describes his childhood as a child of Mexican immigrant parents studying in an English school in America who had problems in communicating at school because he did not know English. In the beginning, Richard was timid because he felt uncomfortable with English. However, with the help of the teachers and family, he started to “raise his hand to volunteer an answer,” and eventually he “moved very far from the disadvantaged child.” After learning the new language, it certainly fortifies his bond with the community and makes him feel like an American citizen, but at the same time, it also weakens his family’s unity. However, he attributes this to his departure from childhood.…
Amy Tan, the author of “Mother Tongue,” gives the audience a new outlook and better understanding of the struggles that every immigrant who lives in United States had gone through every day. Amy Tan gives the audience the positive view on the “broken” English speakers by using herself and her mother as an example. Her mother did not get respect from the hospital and also the stockbroker due to her limited use of English. In contrast, Amy Tan was treated very well because of speaking proper English. This shows that there is discrimination between people who speak proper English and people who do not. Further, Amy Tan points out that although her mother speaking is not fluent, her comprehension is really good. The author argues that people should not judge the others (especially immigrants) based on their spoken language successfully because she uses most of rhetorical appeals pathos, ethos, and logos to show that language is not a credible indicator in measuring individual’s competency.…
Every day, Americans of all races encounter the problem of walking into a store and hearing people of other ethnicities speaking other languages. It is frustrating to have to interrelate with other individuals and not be able to connect fully with them because of a linguistic barrier. In the articles, The F Word by Dumas, Mother Tongue by Tan and Aria by Rodriguez, the difficulties of being an immigrant are stated. Many immigrants have problems adapting to a new society and sometimes society does not understand. Every day, they endure many problems such as not being understood, having to learn a new language, and discrimination.…
When Julie hears her parents talk in English it upsets he, the reasoning being is that her parents would talk in English just so that she wouldn’t understand what their saying which made her angry and anxious by the look on their face. Which made her want to learn English. She was trying to express that there are many ways for people to motivate themselves is through hard life expirnces. She went to a school that her just enrolled in the Dominican Republic called the Carol Morgan School which helped her many ways including the American customs. For Julie English would it was embarrassing when all the kids in her new school would laugh at her all the time. What she is also trying to say is, imagine yourself learning a Chinese or French for example, and you made a mistake or a grammatical error, how would you feel?…
Language is the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. Language has an impulse on a person that allows them to make ties with a certain society, thus giving them a cultural identification. When residents of another country come to America and speak a contrasting language to English, immigrants most likely feel uneasy having to adapt to a completely new culture and learn the English language. During this journey, the individuals’ cultural identities might fade away as well as losing their efficient fluency on their native language. In Amy Tan’s, “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez “Aria: A Memoir of A Bilingual Childhood”, both authors experience the difficulties of language barrier and adjusting to a different lifestyle in order to develop as an individual in the United States.…
If you turn over a permission slip or handout from a public school in Southern California on the backside you will find the same English words translated into Spanish. The act of translating the paper for the “child’s” wellbeing only provides a false illusion to the parent’s that the need to learn English is trivial. In reality it actually hinders the immigrants’ chances of success by denying the full language immersion in English that is needed to thrive in America, not just survive. And once one group of immigrants is catered for, it unjustly secludes others of equal treatment. The responsibility of speaking English falls on the shoulders of every immigrant. The lack of a shared proficiency in the English language…
My parents, like countless immigrants, relocated my family of five in pursuit of the highly sought after “American Dream.” The excitement quickly wore off once I was confronted with the realization that we will now be residing in a one bedroom, one bathroom basement apartment in Brooklyn, New York. While my parents attempted to provide for my brothers and me, I undertook the task of mastering the English language. In contrast to my classmates, my learning recommenced after school; I spent countless hours reviewing index cards struggling to obtain a grasp of the English language. For added support I attended an English as a second language class, where I received one on one attention. The alienation from the classmates that surpassed me with ease triggered feelings of inadequacy; this only fueled my determination to succeed.…
When promoting effective communication we consider how hard and frustrating it can be for the families who speak no English, so we communicate the best we can and use a friendly…
In both essays, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” written by Richard Rodriguez, the two types of language used by bicultural people are distinguished: private and public. Moreover, both articles illustrate the challenge of expressing complete thoughts with limited English and it influences on a bilingual growing child. The first one, as Rodriguez describes, “The words would come quickly, with ease. Conveyed through those sounds was the pleasing, soothing, consoling reminder that one was at home” (213). On the other hand, “The English that I learned in school and through books” by Tan’s definition, is a language that gives individuals a public identity. The parents accented and broken English in society, although,…
Education is an essential part of the American Dream, and should be attainable for all who avidly seek it. Unfortunately, many immigrant families discover nothing but rejection and indifference from the American schools. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells us of a young boy by the name of Neeraj, a boy whose family immigrated to America for a chance at a better life, that gets placed in the back of the classroom for not knowing or understanding the language and he cannot learn because the teacher is “far up in front” and “makes word sounds that he does not know”(223). Like my family I am sure that Neeraj’s parents wanted to come from India to seek a better life and better education for their children. Neeraj reminds me a lot of my dad based on the stories he tells me from when he came to America. He did not know the language and at first he was put into a class room where the teacher did not care about teaching my dad the language or any of the other concepts.…
year. The study revolved around a total 1,500 Latino immigrants who migrated into the United States. The researchers operationally defined transnational ties into a percentage of how much the total of the remittances amounted to and how often it was sent to their family members. They diagnosed Major Depressive Episodes by interviewing participants with trained interviewers using the World Mental Health-Composite International Diagnostics Interview. This interview diagnoses Major Depressive Episodes based on the criteria used in the DSM-IV-TR (pg. 4-p). It was found that higher cases of transnational ties were associated with Major Depressive Episodes, and this was present in the many different countries they studied.…
Despite my efforts to trying to learn English over the short summer break, I barely could speak anything. By the first day of school, I only knew how to introduce myself with verses I had memorized. I was very anxious because I was so new. I felt as if everyone were staring at me because of my complexion and more stressed by the fact that I didn’t understand anything people were saying. And the food; it was so different. I was like a newborn baby, learning everything over again.…