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
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“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan‚ a famous Asian-American writer whose works focus a lot on mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese American experience. She grew up with a Chinese mother who spoke broken‚ or limited‚ English that was difficult for many people to understand. Amy Tan thinks because her mom spoke English differently‚ this caused Tan to speak English differently too. In her article‚ she talks about how language has the power to help shape the way people saw things‚ expressed things‚
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Soe Tun English 103 Professor: Lucero Date: 10/17/2014 Mother Tongue For many people‚ language is not recognized as a form of communication‚ but as a barrier that limit them to connect with the world. This is a very common problem for people who immigrated to United State from other countries and who grew up under nonnative English-speaking family as a first-generation Asian American. In the article “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan‚ she tells her personal story of how she overcomes her own language obstacles
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Deshanna Glenn Jomelyn Belcher Antonio Rivera Mother Tongue 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
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different English variations people use. I believe Amy Tan opened the essay with this quote to show the audience that the English Language can be used in May forms‚ Many styles ‚ and have different meanings. Everyone speaks‚ writes‚ and reads a different way. 2. Tan speaks in different types of English‚ the "broken/ fractured" English she speaks with her mother and the English she speaks at large group speeches using "carefully wrought grammatical phrases". These divisions are important to Tan because
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Limited English In Amy Tans’s short store "Mother Tongue"‚ readers are introduced to Tan who is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother. While in school‚ Tan always excelled in mathematics and science‚ but felt she had a disadvantage with English and Literature. This disadvantage was caused because her limited English she had to use with her mother. As a young girl growing up Tan was embarrassed because of her mothers poor English "I know this for a fact‚ because when I was growing
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After re-reading Mother Tongue‚ and per “about the author”; Amy Tan’s goal is to share a part of her life story as a first generation Asian-American as well as sharing some of the struggles she faced during her educational period. She talks about how she speaks one English with her mother‚ such as “broken” or “limited” English‚ and speaks “standard” English with the rest of the world‚ in which she learned in school. The author’s purpose really did not change much for me‚ I feel she still refers to
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Amy Tan’s short story‚ “Mother Tongue” is an admirable tale that discusses the implied meaning of languages and how language is not only a device of communication‚ but a social tool of measuring an individuals’ worth. Tan’s purpose was to show us how language separates‚ unites‚ or isolates those who don’t speak the common way as well as others. The differences between us and others do not make anyone less of a person. She tells us the different circumstances and struggles when her mother had been
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English 112 14 March 2014 What is Your Tongue? Language is developed to allow people to interact in communities and it allows oneself to create an identity. In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan‚ she writes about how her mother’s broken English‚ and about the extent that it affected her language. She writes this piece in a method that is easy to understand‚ and she simply expresses her personal opinion: That whenever someone doesn’t speak proper English they are susceptible to criticism and bad treatment
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Amy Tan Mother Tongue: In the short story "Mother Tongue" by author Amy Tan‚ she speaks of her mother’s English as "broken English" because her mother came from China and spoke as though she was unintelligent. Growing up Amy knew two languages. When she spoke to her mother she used elementary style words and spoke as though she did not know the language‚ while in front of fluent English speakers‚ she spoke eloquently with an impressive vocabulary. Amy becomes uncomfortable with the word broken
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